Ansible in a Minute · Ansible Core ·
Combine list and dictionary variables
Short answer
Join two lists with + and merge two dictionaries with the combine filter.
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merge two fruit lists with plus and two profile dicts with combine
Example
A quick heads-up: Every environment is different. Review and test this example before you run it on systems you care about.
---
- name: Combine list and dictionary variables
hosts: all
gather_facts: false
vars:
list1:
- apple
- banana
list2:
- peach
- plum
dict1:
name: Leeroy Jenkins
age: 25
dict2:
location: Galway
country: Ireland
tasks:
- name: Combine list1 and list2
ansible.builtin.set_fact:
merged_list: "{{ list1 + list2 }}"
- name: Combine dict1 and dict2
ansible.builtin.set_fact:
merged_dict: "{{ dict1 | ansible.builtin.combine(dict2) }}"
- name: Print the merged values
ansible.builtin.debug:
msg: "{{ merged_list }} / {{ merged_dict.name }} in {{ merged_dict.country }}"How it works
list1 + list2 creates one list. combine copies keys from dict2 onto dict1. Matching keys from the right-hand dictionary replace the left-hand values.
When to use it
- Building one package list from two sources
- Merging a shared profile with a host-specific overlay
Requirements
- Ansible: >=2.14
Validation
- Syntax validated
- Not execution-tested
- Last verified 2026-09-28
Notes
+ concatenates lists. It does not merge dictionaries. Use combine for mappings. Later keys win. For a recursive merge of nested dictionaries, pass recursive=True to combine.
Reference
- Combining variables (Ansible docs)
Built for every Ansible use case in every organization
BacklogZero can generate this kind of automation in your environment, just like it did here.