Ansible — Nested when statement using the playbook block

Don’t be afraid to be confused.

Most of the time I confused and struggled using If else condition in ansible-playbook, It’s really very easy in other programming language and it’s straightforward synthetically. I found when which is useful for conditioning statements like if But I didn't find any else part usage in ansible-playbook.

Playbook block is another usage that allows logical grouping of tasks in play error handling. filter data from a complex dynamic json structure with limited dynamic condition statements is a frustrating task for developers. In the case of the dynamic condition, this nested when may help sometimes but still else is a blocker.

Here is an example for nested when statement using block ,

---
--
  connection: local
  gather_facts: false
  hosts: hosts
  vars:
    complex_json: {
      "status": {
        "name": "nested condition ",
        "details": {
          "data": {
            "data_details": [{"Id": 1}, {"Id": 2}]
          }
        }
      }
    }
  
  tasks:
    - block:
        - block:
            - debug:
                msg: "{{ complex_json.status.detils }}"                        
          when: "'data2' not in complex_json.status.details"
      when: "'data1' not in complex_json.status.details"

I hope this example may help to get rid of complex structures with a nested condition statement. If any more clear document please leave it into the comment box.