Restructure data using Ansible

I am trying to use the set_fact module to create a new variable based on data from another variable. I have tried the groupby and lists_mergeby filters with no success.

How can I, from this list:

"myVms": [
        {
            "SubscriptionId": "564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c",
            "VirtualMachine": "K606WS625"
        },
        {
            "SubscriptionId": "564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c",
            "VirtualMachine": "K606WS626"
        },
        {
            "SubscriptionId": "564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c",
            "VirtualMachine": "K606WS812"
        },
        {
            "SubscriptionId": "564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c",
            "VirtualMachine": "K606WS817"
        }
]

Turn it into a new list with a structure like the following?

"myVmsModified": [
    {
        "SubscriptionId": "564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c",
        "MyBeautifulVms": [
            "K606WS817",
            "K606WS812",
            "K606WS626",
            "K606WS625"
        ]
    }
]

Solution

The filter lists_mergeby can append lists. Convert the attributes VirtualMachine to lists

 myVmsModified: "{{ myVms | json_query('[].{SubscriptionId: SubscriptionId,
                                            VirtualMachine: [VirtualMachine]}') }}"

gives

  myVmsModified:
    - SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c
      VirtualMachine: [K606WS625]
    - SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c
      VirtualMachine: [K606WS626]
    - SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c
      VirtualMachine: [K606WS812]
    - SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c
      VirtualMachine: [K606WS817]

The filter is designed to merge two or more lists. If you want to merge items in a single list merge it into an empty list

  myVmsModified: "{{ [myVms | json_query('[].{SubscriptionId: SubscriptionId,
                                              VirtualMachine: [VirtualMachine]}'), []] |
                     community.general.lists_mergeby('SubscriptionId', list_merge='append') }}"

gives what you want

  myVmsModified:
    - SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c
      VirtualMachine: [K606WS625, K606WS626, K606WS812, K606WS817]

^{Example of a complete playbook for testing

- hosts: localhost

vars:

myVms:
- {SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c, VirtualMachine: K606WS625}
- {SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c, VirtualMachine: K606WS626}
- {SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c, VirtualMachine: K606WS812}
- {SubscriptionId: 564aba40-77683-4426-84ac-d195769c826c, VirtualMachine: K606WS817}

myVmsModified: "{{ myVms | json_query('[].{SubscriptionId: SubscriptionId,
VirtualMachine: [VirtualMachine]}') }}"
myVmsModifie2: "{{ [myVms | json_query('[].{SubscriptionId: SubscriptionId,
VirtualMachine: [VirtualMachine]}'), []] |
community.general.lists_mergeby('SubscriptionId', list_merge='append') }}"

tasks:

- debug:
var: myVmsModified | to_yaml
- debug:
var: myVmsModifie2 | to_yaml

Replace the attribute(s) if you want to

target:
- before: 'VirtualMachine'
after: 'MyBeautifulVms'
myVmsModified: "{{ [myVms | json_query('[].{SubscriptionId: SubscriptionId,
VirtualMachine: [VirtualMachine]}'), []] |
community.general.lists_mergeby('SubscriptionId', list_merge='append') |
community.general.replace_keys(target=target) }}"}