ansible.builtin.command – Execute commands on targets

• Synopsis
• Parameters
• Notes
• See Also
• Examples
• Return Values

Synopsis

• The command module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments.
• The given command will be executed on all selected nodes.
• The command(s) will not be processed through the shell, so variables like $HOSTNAME and operations like "*", "<", ">", "|", ";" and "&" will not work. Use the ansible.builtin.shell module if you need these features.
• To create command tasks that are easier to read than the ones using space-delimited arguments, pass parameters using the args task keyword or use cmd parameter.
• Either a free form command or cmd parameter is required, see the examples.
• For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_command module instead.

Parameters

Notes

See Also

Examples

- name: Return motd to registered var
  ansible.builtin.command: cat /etc/motd
  register: mymotd

# free-form (string) arguments, all arguments on one line
- name: Run command if /path/to/database does not exist (without 'args')
  ansible.builtin.command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name creates=/path/to/database

# free-form (string) arguments, some arguments on separate lines with the 'args' keyword
# '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' keyword)
  ansible.builtin.command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name
  args:
    creates: /path/to/database

# 'cmd' is module parameter
- name: Run command if /path/to/database does not exist (with 'cmd' parameter)
  ansible.builtin.command:
    cmd: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name
    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
  ansible.builtin.command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh db_user db_name
  become: yes
  become_user: db_owner
  args:
    chdir: somedir/
    creates: /path/to/database

# argv (list) arguments, each argument on a separate line, 'args' keyword not necessary
# 'argv' is a parameter, indented one level from the module
- name: Use 'argv' to send a command as a list - leave 'command' empty
  ansible.builtin.command:
    argv:
      - /usr/bin/make_database.sh
      - Username with whitespace
      - dbname with whitespace
    creates: /path/to/database

- name: Safely use templated variable to run command. Always use the quote filter to avoid injection issues
  ansible.builtin.command: cat {{ myfile|quote }}
  register: myoutput

Return Values

Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:

Authors

• Ansible Core Team
• Michael DeHaan