Create a list of dictionaries from a list of strings

Question

I'm attempting to pass a list of dictionaries to an Ansible role that expects a variable defined per the below.

var1:
  - path: /A/1
    state: directory
  - path: /B/1
    state: directory

Let's say I have a list of root directories:

root_dirs:
  - A
  - B

And a list of common sub directories:

sub_dirs:
  - 1
  - 2
  - 3

Is there an easy way to construct the above var1 list that doesn't involve typing out all of the path combinations?

I know how to combine the paths (root_dirs | product(sub_dirs) | map("join", "\")), but I am not sure how to turn that into var1.

I am trying to do this in an AWX template and want to avoid creating a playbook with loops.
Is this possible?

Answer 1

The dict_kv filter can help you turn a single value into a dictionary.
You can, off course, map it on a list.

From there on, you can also map a combine filter to add the desired state.

Given the task:

# Mind that the extra empty string item 
# is there to prefix the `root_dirs` with a slash
- debug:
    msg: >-
      {{
        ['']
          | product(root_dirs)
          | map('join', '/')
          | product(sub_dirs)
          | map('join', '/')
          | map('community.general.dict_kv', 'path')
          | map('combine', {'state': 'directory'})
      }}
  vars:
    root_dirs:
      - A
      - B
    sub_dirs:
      - 1
      - 2
      - 3

You get your expected a list of dictionaries:

ok: [localhost] => 
  msg:
  - path: /A/1
    state: directory
  - path: /A/2
    state: directory
  - path: /A/3
    state: directory
  - path: /B/1
    state: directory
  - path: /B/2
    state: directory
  - path: /B/3
    state: directory