How to use variables in Ansible Playbook

Question

I have a silly ask. I am using roles and variables in my playbook but getting an error while executing. Here is the heriarchy of my plays

my-main.yml

---
 - include: validation-and-download-tasks.yml

validation-and-download-tasks.yml

---
- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: no
  roles:
     - role: valanddownload
       tags:
         - valanddownload

valanddownload main.yml

---
 - name: Validating the input variables
   #hosts: localhost
   #gather_facts: false

   vars:
     _allowed_envs:
       - dev
       - preprod
       - prod

 - name: Ensuring that directory exists to download the artifacts
   file:
     path: "{{ release_location }}/{{my_release_version}}"
     state: directory

Something wrong with my indentation? Error below

ERROR: vars is not a legal parameter in an Ansible task or handler

Answer 1

as written, you should define the vars on the play level, here's an example as you asked:

---
- hosts: localhost
  connection: local
  gather_facts: no
  roles:
     - role: valanddownload
       tags:
         - valanddownload
  vars:
    _allowed_envs:
      - dev
      - preprod
      - prod

You can't attach the vars part to the task level. This should work for you.

Tip: I would use a vars file. Define all your variables there. It is much more comfortable and editable to control all your vars in one file.