The following parameters can be used to loop through an array / dictionary / list.

• loop (preferred)
• with_items
• with_list

IMPORTANT

When possible, Ansible recommends using the loop parameter, as the loop parameter is meant to supercede the with_items option.

In this example, the loop parameter is used to loop over the food hash.

- name: loop through the 'food' hash
  debug: 
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop:
    - { key: 'fruit', value: 'banana' }
    - { key: 'fruit', value: 'orange' }
    - { key: 'veggy', value: 'onion' }
    - { key: 'veggy', value: 'pepper' }

Which should return the following.

TASK [loop through the 'food' hash] 
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item=apple) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "fruit",
        "value": "apple"
    }
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'fruit', 'value': 'banana'}) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "fruit",
        "value": "banana"
    }
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'onion'}) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "veggy",
        "value": "onion"
    }
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'pepper'}) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "veggy",
        "value": "pepper"
    }
}

Better yet, the hash can be defined. Here is how you would create a hash of food using the vars plugin.

vars:
  food: 
    - { key: 'fruit', value: 'banana' }
    - { key: 'fruit', value: 'orange' }
    - { key: 'veggy', value: 'onion' }
    - { key: 'veggy', value: 'pepper' }

And then looped through like this.

- name: loop through the 'food' hash
  debug: 
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ food }}"

when parameter

Often, the when parameter is used to only return items in the hash that contain a certain key or value. In this example, only items in the hash that contain the 'fruit' key will be returned.

- name: loop through the 'food' hash
  debug: 
    msg: "{{ item }}"
  loop: "{{ food }}"
  when: item.key == 'fruit'

Which should return the following. Note that some or all of the output can be suppressed or limited using the no_log or loop_control parameters.

TASK [loop through the 'food' hash] 
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item=apple) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "fruit",
        "value": "apple"
    }
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'fruit', 'value': 'banana'}) => {
    "msg": {
        "key": "fruit",
        "value": "banana"
    }
}
skipping: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'onion'})
skipping: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'pepper'})

Accessing keys / values

Here is how you would return the key and value in a loop.

- name: loop through the 'food' hash
  debug: 
    msg: "{{ item.value }} is a {{ item.key }}"
  loop: "{{ food }}"

Which should return the following.

TASK [loop through the 'food' hash] 
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'fruit', 'value': 'apple'}) => {
    "msg": "apple is a fruit"
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'fruit', 'value': 'banana'}) => {
    "msg": "banana is a fruit"
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'onion'}) => {
    "msg": "onion is a veggy"
}
ok: [server1.example.com] => (item={'key': 'veggy', 'value': 'pepper'}) => {
    "msg": "pepper is a veggy"
}