ansible.builtin.to_nice_json filter – Convert variable to ‘nicely formatted’ JSON string

Note

This filter plugin is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible installations. In most cases, you can use the short plugin name to_nice_json. However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.to_nice_json for easy linking to the plugin documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have the same filter plugin name.

Synopsis

  • Converts an Ansible variable into a ‘nicely formatted’ JSON string representation

  • This filter functions as a wrapper to the Python json.dumps function.

  • Ansible automatically converts JSON strings into variable structures so this plugin is used to forcibly retain a JSON string.

Input

This describes the input of the filter, the value before | ansible.builtin.to_nice_json.

Parameter

Comments

Input

any / required

A variable or expression that returns a data structure.

Keyword parameters

This describes keyword parameters of the filter. These are the values key1=value1, key2=value2 and so on in the following example: input | ansible.builtin.to_nice_json(key1=value1, key2=value2, ...)

Parameter

Comments

allow_nan

boolean

When False, strict adherence to float value limits of the JSON specification, so nan, inf and -inf values will produce errors. When True, JavaScript equivalents will be used (NaN, Infinity, -Infinity).

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

check_circular

boolean

Controls the usage of the internal circular reference detection, if off can result in overflow errors.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

ensure_ascii

boolean

Escapes all non ASCII characters.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

indent

integer

Specifies an indentation level. Passed to an underlying json.dumps call.

Default: 4

preprocess_unsafe

boolean

added in Ansible 2.9

Toggle to represent unsafe values directly in JSON or create a unsafe object in JSON.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

skipkeys

boolean

If True, keys that are not basic Python types will be skipped.

Choices:

  • false ← (default)

  • true

sort_keys

boolean

Affects sorting of dictionary keys. Passed to an underlying json.dumps call.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

vault_to_text

boolean

added in Ansible 2.9

Toggle to either unvault a vault or create the JSON version of a vaulted object.

Choices:

  • false

  • true ← (default)

Notes

Note

  • Both vault_to_text and preprocess_unsafe defaulted to False between Ansible 2.9 and 2.12.

  • These parameters to json.dumps will be ignored, they are overridden for internal use: cls, default, separators.

Examples

# dump variable in a template to create a nicely formatted JSON document
{{ docker_config | to_nice_json }}

Return Value

Key

Description

Return value

string

The ‘nicely formatted’ JSON serialized string representing the variable structure inputted.

Returned: success

Authors

  • core team

Hint

Configuration entries for each entry type have a low to high priority order. For example, a variable that is lower in the list will override a variable that is higher up.