How to use if-else condition on gitlabci

Question

How to use if else condition inside the gitlab-CI.

I have below code:

deploy-dev:   image: testimage   environment: dev   tags:     - kubectl   script:    - kubectl apply -f demo1 --record=true    - kubectl apply -f demo2 --record=true 

Now I want to add a condition something like this

script:     - (if [ "$flag" == "true" ]; then kubectl apply -f demo1 --record=true; else kubectl apply -f demo2 --record=true); 

Could someone provide the correct syntax for the same? Is there any documentation for the conditions (if-else, for loop) in gitlabci?

Answer 1

Hereunder three syntax options for that kind of statement. From gitlab-ci documentation :

Using shell variable

deploy-dev: image: testimage environment: dev tags:  - kubectl script:  - if [ "$flag" == "true" ]; then MODULE="demo1"; else MODULE="demo2"; fi  - kubectl apply -f ${MODULE} --record=true 

Using shell variable with yaml multiline block

deploy-dev: image: testimage environment: dev tags:   - kubectl script:   - >     if [ "$flag" == "true" ]; then       kubectl apply -f demo1 --record=true     else       kubectl apply -f demo2 --record=true     fi 

Using gitlab rules

workflow:   rules:     - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "schedule"'       when: never     - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"'       when: never     - when: always 

Using gitlab templates and variables

demo1-deploy-dev:   extends: .deploy-dev   only:     variables: [ $flag == "true" ]   variables:     MODULE: demo1          demo2-deploy-dev:   extends: .deploy-dev   only:     variables: [ $flag == "false" ]   variables:     MODULE: demo2          .deploy-dev: image: testimage environment: dev tags:   - kubectl script:   - kubectl apply -f ${MODULE} --record=true 

Answer 2

Note that with GitLab 13.3 (August 2020), there is an improvement to the if-else rule syntax:

CI/CD rules:if support logical expressions with parentheses

If you use the rules keyword with if clauses, it’s now even more powerful, with support for bracketed expressions evaluated by the pipeline processor.

You can use more complex and efficient AND (&&) / OR (||) expressions, making your pipelines rules more logical, powerful, and easier to manage.

See Documentation and Issue.

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And, with GitLab 13.8 (January 2021)

Support variables for pipeline rules

Previously, the rules keyword was limited in scope and only determined if a job should be included or excluded from pipelines. In this release, you can now decide if certain conditions are met and subsequently override variables in jobs, providing you with more flexibility when configuring your pipelines.

See Documentation and Issue.

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With GitLab 13.12 (May 2021):

Support variables in CI/CD pipeline 'workflow:rules'

Previously, the rules keyword was limited in scope and only determined if a job should be included or excluded from pipelines. In 13.8, we added the ability to use the variables keyword with rules to set variable values in a job based on which rule matched.

In this release we’ve extended this ability to workflow: rules, so you can set variable values for the whole pipeline if certain conditions match.
This helps you make your pipelines even more flexible.

See Documentation and Issue.