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ansible.windows.win_command – Executes a command on a remote Windows node

Note

This plugin is part of the ansible.windows collection (version 1.8.0).

You might already have this collection installed if you are using the ansible package. It is not included in ansible-core. To check whether it is installed, run ansible-galaxy collection list.

To install it, use: ansible-galaxy collection install ansible.windows.

To use it in a playbook, specify: ansible.windows.win_command.

Synopsis

• The win_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 $env:HOME and operations like "<", ">", "|", and ";" will not work (use the ansible.windows.win_shell module if you need these features).

• For non-Windows targets, use the ansible.builtin.command module instead.

Parameters

Parameter	Comments
chdir path	Set the specified path as the current working directory before executing a command.
creates path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
free_form string / required	The win_command module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named ‘free form’. See the examples!
output_encoding_override string	This option overrides the encoding of stdout/stderr output. You can use this option when you need to run a command which ignore the console’s codepage. You should only need to use this option in very rare circumstances. This value can be any valid encoding Name based on the output of [System.Text.Encoding]::GetEncodings(). See https://docs.microsoft.com/dotnet/api/system.text.encoding.getencodings.
removes path	A path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.
stdin string	Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.

Notes

Note

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

• 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.

See Also

See also

ansible.builtin.command

The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.command module.

community.windows.psexec

The official documentation on the community.windows.psexec module.

ansible.builtin.raw

The official documentation on the ansible.builtin.raw module.

community.windows.win_psexec

The official documentation on the community.windows.win_psexec module.

ansible.windows.win_shell

The official documentation on the ansible.windows.win_shell module.

Examples

- name: Save the result of 'whoami' in 'whoami_out'
  ansible.windows.win_command: whoami
  register: whoami_out

- name: Run command that only runs if folder exists and runs from a specific folder
  ansible.windows.win_command: wbadmin -backupTarget:C:\backup\
  args:
    chdir: C:\somedir\
    creates: C:\backup\

- name: Run an executable and send data to the stdin for the executable
  ansible.windows.win_command: powershell.exe -
  args:
    stdin: Write-Host test

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@main”
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”
stdout string	The command standard output Returned: always Sample: “Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main …”
stdout_lines list / elements=string	The command standard output split in lines Returned: always Sample: [“u\u0027Clustering node rabbit@slave1 with rabbit@main …\u0027”]

Authors

• Matt Davis (@nitzmahone)