Return Values

    This document covers return values common to all modules.

    Note

    Some of these keys might be set by Ansible itself once it processes the module’s return information.

    For those modules that implement backup=no|yes when manipulating files, a path to the backup file created.

    changed

    A boolean indicating if the task had to make changes.

    failed

    A boolean that indicates if the task was failed or not.

    invocation

    msg

    A string with a generic message relayed to the user.

    Some modules execute command line utilities or are geared for executing commands directly (raw, shell, command, etc), this field contains ‘return code’ of these utilities.

    results

    If this key exists, it indicates that a loop was present for the task and that it contains a list of the normal module ‘result’ per item.

    skipped

    A boolean that indicates if the task was skipped or not

    stderr

    Some modules execute command line utilities or are geared for executing commands directly (raw, shell, command, etc), this field contains the error output of these utilities.

    stderr_lines

    When stderr is returned we also always provide this field which is a list of strings, one item per line from the original.

    stdout_lines

    When stdout is returned, Ansible always provides a list of strings, each containing one item per line from the original output.

    Internal use

    These keys can be added by modules but will be removed from registered variables; they are ‘consumed’ by Ansible itself.

    ansible_facts

    This key should contain a dictionary which will be appended to the facts assigned to the host. These will be directly accessible and don’t require using a registered variable.

    exception

    This key can contain traceback information caused by an exception in a module. It will only be displayed on high verbosity (-vvv).

    warnings

    This key contains a list of strings that will be presented to the user.

    This key contains a list of dictionaries that will be presented to the user. Keys of the dictionaries are msg and version, values are string, value for the version key can be an empty string.