Variables & Data¶

"Why isn't my variable taking effect?" is the most common Ansible support question there is. This section is the complete, definitive answer — starting broad, then narrowing to the exact precedence order.

Read in this order¶

1. Variable Types and Sources
2. Variable Precedence — the definitive order, highest to lowest
3. Facts
4. Registered Variables
5. Magic Variables and Hostvars
6. set_fact and combine

Related¶

• Variable Precedence Cheat Sheet — the pyramid, no prose
• Jinja2 & Templates — what you do with a variable once you have it

Next¶

Continue to Jinja2 & Templates.