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command - Executes a command on a remote node

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. It will not be processed through the shell, so variables like $HOME and operations like "<", ">", "|", ";" and "&" will not work (use the shell module if you need these features).

Options

parameter required default choices comments
chdir
 no
cd into this directory before running the command
creates
 no
a filename or (since 2.0) glob pattern, when it already exists, this step will not be run.
executable
 no
change the shell used to execute the command. Should be an absolute path to the executable.
free_form
 yes
the command module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named 'free form'. See the examples!
removes
 no
a filename or (since 2.0) glob pattern, when it does not exist, this step will not be run.
warn
(added in 1.8)
 no True
if command warnings are on in ansible.cfg, do not warn about this particular line if set to no/false.

Examples

# Example from Ansible Playbooks.
- command: /sbin/shutdown -t now

# Run the command if the specified file does not exist.
- command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh arg1 arg2 creates=/path/to/database

# You can also use the 'args' form to provide the options. This command
# will change the working directory to somedir/ and will only run when
# /path/to/database doesn't exist.
- command: /usr/bin/make_database.sh arg1 arg2
  args:
    chdir: somedir/
    creates: /path/to/database

Notes

Note

If you want to run a command through the shell (say you are using <, >, |, etc), you actually want the shell module instead. The command module is much more secure as it’s not affected by the user’s environment.

Note

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.

This is a Core Module

For more information on what this means please read Core Modules

For help in developing on modules, should you be so inclined, please read Community Information & Contributing, developing_test_pr and Developing Modules.

© 2012–2016 Michael DeHaan
© 2016 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/command_module.html