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# Including and Importing

Topics

- Including and Importing
  - Includes vs. Imports
  - Importing Playbooks
  - Including and Importing Task Files
  - Including and Importing Roles

## Includes vs. Imports

As noted in Creating Reusable Playbooks, include and import statements are very similar, however the Ansible executor engine treats them very differently.

- All `import*` statements are pre-processed at the time playbooks are parsed.
- All `include*` statements are processed as they encountered during the execution of the playbook.

Please refer to Creating Reusable Playbooks for documentation concerning the trade-offs one may encounter when using each type.

Also be aware that this behaviour changed in 2.4; prior to that Ansible version only `include` was available, and it behaved differently depending on context.

New in version 2.4.

## Importing Playbooks

It is possible to include playbooks inside a master playbook. For example:

    ---
    - import_playbook: webservers.yml
    - import_playbook: databases.yml

The plays and tasks in each playbook listed will be run in the order they are listed, just as if they had been defined here directly.

Prior to 2.4 only `include` was available and worked for both playbooks and tasks as both import and include.

New in version 2.4.

## Including and Importing Task Files

Use of included task lists is a great way to define a role that system is going to fulfill. A task include file simply contains a flat list of tasks:

    # common_tasks.yml
    ---
    - name: placeholder foo
      command: /bin/foo
    - name: placeholder bar
      command: /bin/bar

You can then use `import_tasks` or `include_tasks` to include this file in your main task list:

    tasks:
    - import_tasks: common_tasks.yml
    # or
    - include_tasks: common_tasks.yml

You can also pass variables into imports and includes:

    tasks:
    - import_tasks: wordpress.yml wp_user=timmy
    - import_tasks: wordpress.yml wp_user=alice
    - import_tasks: wordpress.yml wp_user=bob

Variables can also be passed to include files using an alternative syntax, which also supports structured variables like dictionaries and lists:

    tasks:
    - include_tasks: wordpress.yml
      vars:
        wp_user: timmy
        ssh_keys:
        - "{{ lookup('file', 'keys/one.pub') }}"
        - "{{ lookup('file', 'keys/two.pub') }}"

Using either syntax, variables passed in can then be used in the included files. These variables will only be available to tasks within the included file. See Variable Precedence: Where Should I Put A Variable? for more details on variable inheritance and precedence.

Task include statements can be used at arbitrary depth.

Note

Static and dynamic can be mixed, however this is not recommended as it may lead to difficult-to-diagnose bugs in your playbooks.

Includes and imports can also be used in the `handlers:` section; for instance, if you want to define how to restart apache, you only have to do that once for all of your playbooks. You might make a handlers.yml that looks like:

    # more_handlers.yml
    ---
    - name: restart apache
      service: name=apache state=restarted

And in your main playbook file:

    handlers:
    - include_tasks: more_handlers.yml
    # or
    - import_tasks: more_handlers.yml

Note

Be sure to refer to the limitations/trade-offs for handlers noted in Creating Reusable Playbooks.

You can mix in includes along with your regular non-included tasks and handlers.

## Including and Importing Roles

Please refer to Roles for details on including and importing roles.

See also

YAML Syntax
  Learn about YAML syntax
Playbooks
  Review the basic Playbook language features
Best Practices
  Various tips about managing playbooks in the real world
Variables
  All about variables in playbooks
Conditionals
  Conditionals in playbooks
Loops
  Loops in playbooks
About Modules
  Learn about available modules
Developing Modules
  Learn how to extend Ansible by writing your own modules
GitHub Ansible examples
  Complete playbook files from the GitHub project source
Mailing List
  Questions? Help? Ideas? Stop by the list on Google Groups