How to use template module with different set of variables?

With Ansible 2.x you can use vars: with tasks.

Template test.j2:

mkdir -p {{myTemplateVariable}}

Playbook:

- template: src=test.j2 dest=/tmp/File1
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: myDirName

- template: src=test.j2 dest=/tmp/File2
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: myOtherDir

This will pass different myTemplateVariable values into test.j2.

For Ansible 2.x:

- name: template test
  template: 
    src: myTemplateFile
    dest: result1
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: File1

- name: template test
  template: 
    src: myTemplateFile
    dest: result2
  vars:
    myTemplateVariable: File2

---

For Ansible 1.x:

Unfortunately the template module does not support passing variables to it, which can be used inside the template. There was a feature request but it was rejected.

I can think of two workarounds:

1. Include

The include statement supports passing variables. So you could have your template task inside an extra file and include it twice with appropriate parameters:

my_include.yml:

- name: template test
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=destination

main.yml:

- include: my_include.yml destination=result1 myTemplateVariable=File1

- include: my_include.yml destination=result2 myTemplateVariable=File2

2. Re-define myTemplateVariable

Another way would be to simply re-define myTemplateVariable right before every template task.

- set_fact:
     myTemplateVariable: File1

- name: template test 1
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result1

- set_fact:
     myTemplateVariable: File2

- name: template test 2
  template: 
        src=myTemplateFile
        dest=result2