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Ansible in a Minute · Ansible Core ·

Use truthy to test whether a value is true

Short answer

Use the truthy test in when to treat a non-empty or true-like value as true.

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run debug when feature_flag is truthy

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: Test whether feature_flag is truthy
  hosts: all
  gather_facts: false
  vars:
    feature_flag: "yes"
  tasks:
    - name: Print when feature flag is truthy
      ansible.builtin.debug:
        msg: Feature flag is truthy
      when: feature_flag is truthy

How it works

truthy follows Python truth rules. A non-empty string is true. An empty string, 0, none, and an empty list are false. Use is falsy for the inverse.

When to use it

  • Branching on extra vars that arrive as strings
  • Skipping work when a flag is empty

Requirements

  • Ansible: >=2.14

Validation

  • Syntax validated
  • Not execution-tested
  • Last verified 2026-09-15

Notes

is truthy(convert_bool=True) converts strings such as yes, on, true, no, and off before the test. Without convert_bool, the string off is still truthy because it is not empty. Use Jinja test syntax (is truthy), not a filter.

Reference

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Use truthy to test whether a value is true · Level Up Labs