ansible.builtin.csvfile lookup – read data from a TSV or CSV file
Note
This lookup plugin is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible
installations. In most cases, you can use the short
plugin name
csvfile.
However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.csvfile for easy linking to the
plugin documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have
the same lookup plugin name.
Synopsis
The csvfile lookup reads the contents of a file in CSV (comma-separated value) format. The lookup looks for the row where the first column matches keyname (which can be multiple words) and returns the value in the
colcolumn (default 1, which indexed from 0 means the second column in the file).At least one keyname is required, provided as a positional argument(s) to the lookup.
Keyword parameters
This describes keyword parameters of the lookup. These are the values key1=value1, key2=value2 and so on in the following
examples: lookup('ansible.builtin.csvfile', key1=value1, key2=value2, ...) and query('ansible.builtin.csvfile', key1=value1, key2=value2, ...)
Parameter |
Comments |
|---|---|
column to return (0 indexed). Default: |
|
what to return if the value is not found in the file. |
|
field separator in the file, for a tab you can specify Default: |
|
Encoding (character set) of the used CSV file. Default: |
|
name of the CSV/TSV file to open. Default: |
|
column to search in (0 indexed). Default: |
Notes
Note
The default is for TSV files (tab delimited) not CSV (comma delimited) … yes the name is misleading.
As of version 2.11, the search parameter (text that must match the first column of the file) and filename parameter can be multi-word.
For historical reasons, in the search keyname, quotes are treated literally and cannot be used around the string unless they appear (escaped as required) in the first column of the file you are parsing.
See Also
See also
- Task paths
Search paths used for relative files.
Examples
- name: Match 'Li' on the first column, return the second column (0 based index)
ansible.builtin.debug: msg="The atomic number of Lithium is {{ lookup('ansible.builtin.csvfile', 'Li file=elements.csv delimiter=,') }}"
- name: msg="Match 'Li' on the first column, but return the 3rd column (columns start counting after the match)"
ansible.builtin.debug: msg="The atomic mass of Lithium is {{ lookup('ansible.builtin.csvfile', 'Li file=elements.csv delimiter=, col=2') }}"
# Contents of bgp_neighbors.csv
# 127.0.0.1,10.0.0.1,24,nones,lola,pepe,127.0.0.2
# 128.0.0.1,10.1.0.1,20,notes,lolita,pepito,128.0.0.2
# 129.0.0.1,10.2.0.1,23,nines,aayush,pepete,129.0.0.2
- name: Define values from CSV file, this reads file in one go, but you could also use col= to read each in it's own lookup.
ansible.builtin.set_fact:
'{{ columns[item|int] }}': "{{ csvline }}"
vars:
csvline: "{{ lookup('csvfile', bgp_neighbor_ip, file='bgp_neighbors.csv', delimiter=',', col=item) }}"
columns: ['loop_ip', 'int_ip', 'int_mask', 'int_name', 'local_as', 'neighbour_as', 'neight_int_ip']
bgp_neighbor_ip: '127.0.0.1'
loop: '{{ range(columns|length|int) }}'
delegate_to: localhost
delegate_facts: true
# Contents of people.csv
# # Last,First,Email,Extension
# Smith,Jane,jsmith@example.com,1234
- name: Specify the column (by keycol) in which the string should be searched
assert:
that:
- lookup('ansible.builtin.csvfile', 'Jane', file='people.csv', delimiter=',', col=0, keycol=1) == "Smith"
# Contents of debug.csv
# test1 ret1.1 ret2.1
# test2 ret1.2 ret2.2
# test3 ret1.3 ret2.3
- name: "Lookup multiple keynames in the first column (index 0), returning the values from the second column (index 1)"
debug:
msg: "{{ lookup('csvfile', 'test1', 'test2', file='debug.csv', delimiter=' ') }}"
- name: Lookup multiple keynames using old style syntax
debug:
msg: "{{ lookup('csvfile', term1, term2) }}"
vars:
term1: "test1 file=debug.csv delimiter=' '"
term2: "test2 file=debug.csv delimiter=' '"
Return Value
Key |
Description |
|---|---|
value(s) stored in file column Returned: success |