How to define complex variable in inventory file of Ansible

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According to the official documentation you can define variables in the inventory the INI way with the following syntax (key=value):

[atlanta] 
host1
host2

[atlanta:vars]
ntp_server=ntp.atlanta.example.com
proxy=proxy.atlanta.example.com

Is it possible to define complex variables e.g.:

[atlanta] 
host1 
host2

[atlanta:vars]
userParameters:
  - { string: 'foo', list: ['foo', 'bar'] }

I usually define complex variables in roles e.g. vars/main.yml. On this case due to different environments I would like to define different complex variables in inventories file.

I tried to define the variables with both INI and YAML file format and I keep getting the error (sample):

[WARNING]:  * Failed to parse /home/user/dir/inventories/development/hosts.ini with ini plugin: /home/user/dir/inventories/development/hosts.ini:9: Expected key=value, got:
userParameters:

[WARNING]: Unable to parse /home/user/dir/inventories/development/hosts.ini as an inventory source

[WARNING]: No inventory was parsed, only implicit localhost is available

[WARNING]: provided hosts list is empty, only localhost is available. Note that the implicit localhost does not match 'all'
ansible environment-variables
1 Answers

Q: "Define variables in the inventory the INI way ... Is it possible to define complex variables?"

A: Yes. It is possible. e.g.

[atlanta:vars]
userParameters=[{'string': 'foo', 'list': ['foo', 'bar']}]
user_64825610
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