ansible.builtin.shell module – Execute shell commands on targets

https://docs.ansible.com/projects/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/builtin/shell_module.html

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

Parameters

Attributes

Notes

See Also

Examples

Return Values

Synopsis The ansible.builtin.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 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

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

Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.

stdin_add_newline boolean

added in Ansible 2.8

Whether to append a newline to stdin data.

Choices:

false

true ← (default)

Attributes Attribute

Support

Description

check_mode partial

while the command itself is arbitrary and cannot be subject to the check mode semantics it adds creates/removes options as a workaround

Can run in check_mode and return changed status prediction without modifying target, if not supported the action will be skipped.

diff_mode none

Will return details on what has changed (or possibly needs changing in check_mode), when in diff mode

platform Platform: posix

Target OS/families that can be operated against

raw 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 sanitise 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 Execute shell commands on target hosts.

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

cmd string

The command executed by the task.

Returned: always

Sample: “rabbitmqctl join_cluster rabbit@master”

delta string

The command execution delta time.

Returned: always

Sample: “0:00:00.325771”

end string

The command execution end time.

Returned: always

Sample: “2016-02-25 09:18:26.755339”

msg boolean

changed

Returned: always

Sample: true

rc integer

The command return code (0 means success).

Returned: always

Sample: 0

start string

The command execution start time.

Returned: always

Sample: “2016-02-25 09:18:26.429568”

stderr string

The command standard error.

Returned: always

Sample: “ls: cannot access foo: No such file or directory”

stderr_lines list / elements=string

The command standard error split in lines.

Returned: always

Sample: [{“u’ls cannot access foo”: “No such file or directory’”}, “u’ls \u2026’”]

stdout string

The command standard output.

Returned: always

Sample: “Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@master \u2026”

stdout_lines list / elements=string

The command standard output split in lines.

Returned: always

Sample: [“u’Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@master \u2026’”]

Authors Ansible Core Team

Michael DeHaan

Collection links Issue Tracker Repository (Sources) Communication © Copyright Ansible project contributors. Last updated on Dec 29, 2025.

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