In the last Ansible post I’ve noted that there’s a difference when choosing between vars_files and include_vars. So, let’s explore the differences on a surface level.
Prerequisites
- Ansible
vars_files
- vars_files is a directive which can only be used on a playbook level.
- vars_files is a type of import, so it’s considered as static reuse, meaning
- It’s pre-processed during playbook parsing.
- Cannot be used in a loop.
include_vars
- include_vars is an Ansible module.
- include_vars is a type of include, so it’s considered as dynamic reuse, meaning
- Processed at runtime.
- Mostly used when you want to include variables dynamically.
- It has a higher priority than vars_files, thus can override default variable values.
Conclusion
Which one to use then? It’s not kind of a straight forward answer. Mostly, it all comes down to static vs dynamic reuse – Comparing includes and imports: dynamic and static re-use. On a side note, follow our official channel on Telegram.