ansible.builtin.shell module – Execute shell commands on targets
Note
This module is part of ansible-core and included in all Ansible
installations. In most cases, you can use the short
module name
shell even without specifying the collections keyword.
However, we recommend you use the Fully Qualified Collection Name (FQCN) ansible.builtin.shell for easy linking to the
module documentation and to avoid conflicting with other collections that may have
the same module name.
Synopsis
The ansible.builtin.shell module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments.
Either a free form command or
cmdparameter is required, see the examples.It is almost exactly like the ansible.builtin.command module but runs the command through a shell (
/bin/sh) on the remote node.For Windows targets, use the ansible.windows.win_shell module instead.
Note
This module has a corresponding action plugin.
Parameters
Parameter |
Comments |
|---|---|
Change into this directory before running the command. |
|
The command to run followed by optional arguments. |
|
A filename, when it already exists, this step will not be run. |
|
Change the shell used to execute the command. This expects an absolute path to the executable. |
|
The shell module takes a free form command to run, as a string. There is no actual parameter named ‘free form’. See the examples on how to use this module. |
|
A filename, when it does not exist, this step will not be run. |
|
Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value. |
|
Whether to append a newline to stdin data. Choices:
|
Attributes
Attribute |
Support |
Description |
|---|---|---|
Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped. |
||
Support: none |
Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode |
|
Platform: posix |
Target OS/families that can be operated against |
|
Support: full |
Indicates if an action takes a ‘raw’ or ‘free form’ string as an option and has it’s own special parsing of it |
Notes
Note
If you want to execute a command securely and predictably, it may be better to use the ansible.builtin.command module instead. Best practices when writing playbooks will follow the trend of using ansible.builtin.command unless the ansible.builtin.shell module is explicitly required. When running ad-hoc commands, use your best judgement.
To sanitize any variables passed to the shell module, you should use
{{ var | quote }}instead of just{{ var }}to make sure they do not include evil things like semicolons.An alternative to using inline shell scripts with this module is to use the ansible.builtin.script module possibly together with the ansible.builtin.template module.
For rebooting systems, use the ansible.builtin.reboot or ansible.windows.win_reboot module.
If the command returns non UTF-8 data, it must be encoded to avoid issues. One option is to pipe the output through
base64.
See Also
See also
- ansible.builtin.command
Execute commands on targets.
- ansible.builtin.raw
Executes a low-down and dirty command.
- ansible.builtin.script
Runs a local script on a remote node after transferring it.
- ansible.windows.win_shell
The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_shell module.
Examples
- name: Execute the command in remote shell; stdout goes to the specified file on the remote
ansible.builtin.shell: somescript.sh >> somelog.txt
- name: Change the working directory to somedir/ before executing the command
ansible.builtin.shell: somescript.sh >> somelog.txt
args:
chdir: somedir/
# You can also use the 'args' form to provide the options.
- name: This command will change the working directory to somedir/ and will only run when somedir/somelog.txt doesn't exist
ansible.builtin.shell: somescript.sh >> somelog.txt
args:
chdir: somedir/
creates: somelog.txt
# You can also use the 'cmd' parameter instead of free form format.
- name: This command will change the working directory to somedir/
ansible.builtin.shell:
cmd: ls -l | grep log
chdir: somedir/
- name: Run a command that uses non-posix shell-isms (in this example /bin/sh doesn't handle redirection and wildcards together but bash does)
ansible.builtin.shell: cat < /tmp/*txt
args:
executable: /bin/bash
- name: Run a command using a templated variable (always use quote filter to avoid injection)
ansible.builtin.shell: cat {{ myfile|quote }}
# You can use shell to run other executables to perform actions inline
- name: Run expect to wait for a successful PXE boot via out-of-band CIMC
ansible.builtin.shell: |
set timeout 300
spawn ssh admin@{{ cimc_host }}
expect "password:"
send "{{ cimc_password }}\n"
expect "\n{{ cimc_name }}"
send "connect host\n"
expect "pxeboot.n12"
send "\n"
exit 0
args:
executable: /usr/bin/expect
delegate_to: localhost
Return Values
Common return values are documented here, the following are the fields unique to this module:
Key |
Description |
|---|---|
The command executed by the task. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command execution delta time. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command execution end time. Returned: always Sample: |
|
changed Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command return code (0 means success). Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command execution start time. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command standard error. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command standard error split in lines. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command standard output. Returned: always Sample: |
|
The command standard output split in lines. Returned: always Sample: |