shell – Execute shell commands on targets — Ansible Documentation

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# shell – Execute shell commands on targets

- Synopsis
- Parameters
- Notes
- See Also
- Examples
- Return Values
- Status

## Synopsis

- The `shell` module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments.
- Either a free form command or `cmd` parameter is required, see the examples.
- It is almost exactly like the command module but runs the command through a shell (`/bin/sh`) on the remote node.
- For Windows targets, use the win_shell module instead.

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
chdir path |  | Change into this directory before running the command.
cmd string |  | The command to run followed by optional arguments.
creates path |  | A filename, when it already exists, this step will not be run.
executable path |  | Change the shell used to execute the command. This expects an absolute path to the executable.
free_form string |  | 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.
removes path |  | A filename, when it does not exist, this step will not be run.
stdin string added in 2.4 |  | Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.
stdin_add_newline boolean added in 2.8 | Choices: no yes ← | Whether to append a newline to stdin data.
warn boolean | Choices: no yes ← | Whether to enable task warnings.

## Notes

Note

- If you want to execute a command securely and predictably, it may be better to use the command module instead. Best practices when writing playbooks will follow the trend of using command unless the `shell` module is explicitly required. When running ad-hoc commands, use your best judgement.
- Check mode is supported when passing `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.
- 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 script module possibly together with the template module.
- For rebooting systems, use the reboot or win_reboot module.

## See Also

See also

command – Execute commands on targets
  The official documentation on the command module.
raw – Executes a low-down and dirty command
  The official documentation on the raw module.
script – Runs a local script on a remote node after transferring it
  The official documentation on the script module.
win_shell – Execute shell commands on target hosts
  The official documentation on the win_shell module.

## Examples

    - name: Execute the command in remote shell; stdout goes to the specified file on the remote.
      shell: somescript.sh >> somelog.txt

    - name: Change the working directory to somedir/ before executing the command.
      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.
      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/.
      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)
      shell: cat < /tmp/*txt
      args:
        executable: /bin/bash

    - name: Run a command using a templated variable (always use quote filter to avoid injection)
      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
      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

    # Disabling warnings
    - name: Using curl to connect to a host via SOCKS proxy (unsupported in uri). Ordinarily this would throw a warning.
      shell: curl --socks5 localhost:9000 http://www.ansible.com
      args:
        warn: no

## Return Values

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

Key | Returned | Description
--- | --- | ---
cmd string | always | The command executed by the task Sample: rabbitmqctl join_cluster rabbit@master
delta string | always | The command execution delta time Sample: 0:00:00.325771
end string | always | The command execution end time Sample: 2016-02-25 09:18:26.755339
msg boolean | always | changed Sample: True
rc integer | always | The command return code (0 means success)
start string | always | The command execution start time Sample: 2016-02-25 09:18:26.429568
stderr string | always | The command standard error Sample: ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory
stdout string | always | The command standard output Sample: Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@master ...
stdout_lines list | always | The command standard output split in lines Sample: ["u'Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@master ...'"]

## Status

- This module is guaranteed to have backward compatible interface changes going forward. [stableinterface]
- This module is maintained by the Ansible Core Team. [core]

### Red Hat Support

More information about Red Hat’s support of this module is available from this Red Hat Knowledge Base article.

### Authors

- Ansible Core Team
- Michael DeHaan

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