Documentation

win_shell - Execute shell commands on target hosts.

New in version 2.2.

Synopsis

  • The win_shell module takes the command name followed by a list of space-delimited arguments. It is similar to the win_command module, but runs the command via a shell (defaults to PowerShell) on the target host.
  • For non-Windows targets, use the shell module instead.

Options

parameter required default choices comments
chdir
 no
set the specified path as the current working directory before executing a command
creates
 no
a path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
executable
 no
change the shell used to execute the command (eg, cmd). The target shell must accept a /c parameter followed by the raw command line to be executed.
free_form
 yes
The win_shell module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named 'free form'. See the examples!
removes
 no
a path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.

Examples

# Execute a command in the remote shell; stdout goes to the specified
# file on the remote.
- win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> c:\somelog.txt

# Change the working directory to somedir/ before executing the command.
- win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> c:\somelog.txt chdir=c:\somedir

# 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
# somedir/somelog.txt doesn't exist.
- win_shell: C:\somescript.ps1 >> c:\somelog.txt
  args:
    chdir: c:\somedir
    creates: c:\somelog.txt

# Run a command under a non-Powershell interpreter (cmd in this case)
- win_shell: echo %HOMEDIR%
  args:
    executable: cmd
  register: homedir_out

Return Values

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

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


Notes

Note

  • If you want to run an executable securely and predictably, it may be better to use the win_command module instead. Best practices when writing playbooks will follow the trend of using win_command unless win_shell is explicitly required. When running ad-hoc commands, use your best judgement.
  • WinRM will not return from a command execution until all child processes created have exited. Thus, it is not possible to use win_shell to spawn long-running child or background processes. Consider creating a Windows service for managing background processes.
  • For non-Windows targets, use the shell module instead.
  • See also win_command, raw

Status

This module is flagged as preview which means that it is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface.

Maintenance Info

For more information about Red Hat’s this support of this module, please refer to this knowledge base article<https://access.redhat.com/articles/rhel-top-support-policies>

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