command
module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments.$HOME
and operations like "<"
, ">"
, "|"
, ";"
and "&"
will not work. Use the shell module if you need these features.command
tasks that are easier to read, pass parameters using the args
task keyword.Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments |
---|---|---|
argv
list
added in 2.6 |
Passes the command as a list rather than a string.
Use
argv to avoid quoting values that would otherwise be interpreted incorrectly (for example "user name").Only the string or the list form can be provided, not both. One or the other must be provided.
|
|
chdir
path
|
Change into this directory before running the command.
|
|
creates
path
|
A filename or (since 2.0) glob pattern. If it already exists, this step won't be run.
|
|
free_form
-
/ required
|
The command module takes a free form command to run.
There is no actual parameter named 'free form'.
See the examples on how to use this module.
|
|
removes
path
|
A filename or (since 2.0) glob pattern. If it already exists, this step will be run.
|
|
stdin
-
added in 2.4 |
Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.
|
|
stdin_add_newline
boolean
added in 2.8 |
|
If set to
yes , append a newline to stdin data. |
strip_empty_ends
boolean
added in 2.8 |
|
Strip empty lines from the end of stdout/stderr in result.
|
warn
boolean
|
|
Enable or disable task warnings.
|
Note
<
, >
, |
, etc), you actually want the shell module instead. Parsing shell metacharacters can lead to unexpected commands being executed if quoting is not done correctly so it is more secure to use the command
module when possible.creates
, removes
, and chdir
can be specified after the command. For instance, if you only want to run a command if a certain file does not exist, use this.creates
or removes
. If running in check mode and either of these are specified, the module will check for the existence of the file and report the correct changed status. If these are not supplied, the task will be skipped.executable
parameter is removed since version 2.4. If you have a need for this parameter, use the shell module instead.See also
- name: return motd to registered var
command: cat /etc/motd
register: mymotd
- name: Run command if /path/to/database does not exist (without 'args').
command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name creates=/path/to/database
# 'args' is a task keyword, passed at the same level as the module
- name: Run command if /path/to/database does not exist (with 'args').
command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name
args:
creates: /path/to/database
- name: Change the working directory to somedir/ and run the command as db_owner if /path/to/database does not exist.
command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name
become: yes
become_user: db_owner
args:
chdir: somedir/
creates: /path/to/database
# 'argv' is a parameter, indented one level from the module
- name: Use 'argv' to send a command as a list - leave 'command' empty
command:
argv:
- /usr/bin/make_database.sh
- Username with whitespace
- dbname with whitespace
- name: safely use templated variable to run command. Always use the quote filter to avoid injection issues.
command: cat {{ myfile|quote }}
register: myoutput
Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:
Key | Returned | Description |
---|---|---|
cmd
list
|
always |
the cmd that was run on the remote machine
Sample:
['echo', 'hello']
|
delta
string
|
always |
cmd end time - cmd start time
Sample:
0.001529
|
end
string
|
always |
cmd end time
Sample:
2017-09-29 22:03:48.084657
|
start
string
|
always |
cmd start time
Sample:
2017-09-29 22:03:48.083128
|
More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.
Hint
If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.