# expect – Executes a command and responds to prompts

- Synopsis

- Requirements

- Parameters

- Notes

- See Also

- Examples

- Status

## Synopsis

- The `expect` module executes a command and responds to prompts.

- The given command will be executed on all selected nodes. It will not be processed through the shell, so variables like `$HOME` and operations like `"<"`, `">"`, `"|"`, and `"&"` will not work.

## Requirements

The below requirements are needed on the host that executes this module.

- python >= 2.6

- pexpect >= 3.3

## Parameters

Parameter | Choices/Defaults | Comments
--- | --- | ---
chdir path |  | Change into this directory before running the command.
command - / required |  | The command module takes command to run.
creates path |  | A filename, when it already exists, this step will not be run.

echo
boolean

Choices:
- no ←
- yes

Whether or not to echo out your response strings.

removes path |  | A filename, when it does not exist, this step will not be run.
responses dictionary / required |  | Mapping of expected string/regex and string to respond with. If the response is a list, successive matches return successive responses. List functionality is new in 2.1.
timeout integer | Default: 30 | Amount of time in seconds to wait for the expected strings. Use `null` to disable timeout.

## Notes

Note

- If you want to run a command through the shell (say you are using `<`, `>`, `|`, etc), you must specify a shell in the command such as `/bin/bash -c "/path/to/something | grep else"`.

- The question, or key, under responses is a python regex match. Case insensitive searches are indicated with a prefix of `?i`.

- By default, if a question is encountered multiple times, its string response will be repeated. If you need different responses for successive question matches, instead of a string response, use a list of strings as the response. The list functionality is new in 2.1.

- The expect module is designed for simple scenarios. For more complex needs, consider the use of expect code with the shell or script modules. (An example is part of the shell module documentation)

## See Also

See also

script – Runs a local script on a remote node after transferring it

  The official documentation on the script module.

shell – Execute shell commands on targets

  The official documentation on the shell module.

## Examples

    - name: Case insensitive password string match
      expect:
        command: passwd username
        responses:
          (?i)password: "MySekretPa$$word"
      # you don't want to show passwords in your logs
      no_log: true

    - name: Generic question with multiple different responses
      expect:
        command: /path/to/custom/command
        responses:
          Question:
            - response1
            - response2
            - response3

## Status

- This module is not guaranteed to have a backwards compatible interface. [preview]

- This module is maintained by the Ansible Community. [community]

### Authors

- Matt Martz (@sivel)

Hint

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