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Ansible in a Minute · Ansible Core ·

Use query in loop instead of lookup

Short answer

Use query with loop so lookup plugin results are a list. lookup returns a comma-joined string by default.

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loop query ansible.builtin.inventory_hostnames all and print each host

Example

A quick heads-up: Every environment is different. Review and test this example before you run it on systems you care about.

YAML
---
- name: Loop inventory hostnames from query
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: false
  tasks:
    - name: Print each inventory hostname
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: "{{ item }}"
      loop: "{{ query('ansible.builtin.inventory_hostnames', 'all') }}"

How it works

loop requires a list. lookup returns a comma-separated string unless you set wantlist=True. query always returns a list, so it is the input loop expects.

When to use it

  • Looping inventory hostnames from a lookup plugin
  • Looping fileglob or other lookup results without splitting a string

Requirements

  • Ansible: >=2.14

Validation

  • Syntax validated
  • Not execution-tested
  • Last verified 2026-09-17

Notes

These two expressions do the same work: query('ansible.builtin.inventory_hostnames', 'all') and lookup('ansible.builtin.inventory_hostnames', 'all', wantlist=True). Prefer query with loop. q is an alias for query.

Reference

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Use query in loop instead of lookup · Level Up Labs