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.

Parameters

Parameter	Choices/Defaults	Comments
chdir		set the specified path as the current working directory before executing a command
creates		a path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path exists on the target host, the task will be skipped.
executable		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 required		The `win_shell` module takes a free form command to run. There is no parameter actually named 'free form'. See the examples!
removes		a path or path filter pattern; when the referenced path does not exist on the target host, the task will be skipped.
stdin (added in 2.5)		Set the stdin of the command directly to the specified value.

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

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

- name: run multi-lined shell commands
  win_shell: |
    $value = Test-Path -Path C:\temp
    if ($value) {
        Remove-Item -Path C:\temp -Force
    }
    New-Item -Path C:\temp -ItemType Directory

- name: retrieve the input based on stdin
  win_shell: '$string = [Console]::In.ReadToEnd(); Write-Output $string.Trim()'
  args:
    stdin: Input message

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

Support

For more information about Red Hat’s support of this module, please refer to this Knowledge Base article

Author

Matt Davis (@nitzmahone)

Hint

If you notice any issues in this documentation you can edit this document to improve it.

© 2012–2018 Michael DeHaan
© 2018–2019 Red Hat, Inc.
Licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/2.5/modules/win_shell_module.html

Docs

Docs4dev

Title here