vars list (#43171)

* vars list

(cherry picked from commit 463b85cf0bcf7a557b857d1ebd3e8bf1b693fa4c)

* updated as per fb

docs/docsite/rst/reference_appendices/special_variables.rst

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+.. _special_variables:
+
+Special Variables
+=================
+
+Magic
+-----
+These variables are directly not settable by the user, Ansible will always override them to reflect internal state.
+
+ansible_check_mode
+    Boolean that indicates if we are in check mode or not
+
+ansible_diff_mode
+    Boolean that indicates if we are in diff mode or not
+
+ansible_forks
+    Integer reflecting the number of maximum forks available to this run
+
+ansible_inventory_sources
+    List of sources used as inventory
+
+ansible_play_batch
+    List of active hosts in the current play run limited by the serial, aka 'batch'. Failed/Unreachable hosts are not considered 'active'.
+
+ansible_play_hosts
+    The same as ansible_play_batch
+
+ansible_play_hosts_all
+    List of all the hosts that were targeted by the play
+
+ansible_playbook_python
+    The path to the python interpreter being used by Ansible on the controller
+
+ansible_serach_path
+    Current search path for action plugins and lookups, i.e where we search for relative paths when you do ``template: src=myfile``
+
+ansible_verbosity
+    Current verbosity setting for Ansible
+
+ansible_version
+   Dictionary/map that contains information about the current running version of ansible, it has the following keys: full, major, minor, revision and string.
+
+group_names
+    List of groups the current host is part of
+
+groups
+    A dictionary/map with all the groups in inventory and each group has the list of hosts that belong to it
+
+hostvars
+    A dictionary/map with all the hosts in inventory and variables assigned to them
+
+inventory_hostname
+    The inventory name for the 'current' host being iterated over in the play
+
+inventory_hostname_short
+    The short version of `inventory_hostname`
+
+inventory_dir
+    The directory of the inventory source in which the `inventory_hostname` was first defined
+
+inventory_file
+    The file name of the inventory source in which the `inventory_hostname` was first defined
+
+omit
+    Special variable that allows you to 'omit' an option in a task, i.e ``- user: name=bob home={{ bobs_home|default(omit)}}``
+
+play_hosts
+    Deprecated, the same as ansbile_play_batch
+
+playbook_dir
+    The path to the directory of the playbook that was passed to the ``ansible-playbook`` command line.
+
+role_names
+    The names of the rules currently imported into the current play.
+
+role_path
+    The path to the dir of the currently running role
+
+Facts
+-----
+These are variables that contain information pertinent to the current host (`inventory_hostname`), they are only available if gathered first.
+
+ansible_facts
+    Contains any facts gathered or cached for the `inventory_hostname`
+    Facts are normally gathered by the M(setup) module automatically in a play, but any module can return facts.
+
+ansible_local
+    Contains any 'local facts' gathred or cached for the `inventory_hostname`.
+    The keys available depend on the custom facts created.
+    See the M(setup) module for more details.
+
+Connection variables
+---------------------
+These are variables are normally used to set the specifics on how to execute actions on a target,
+most of them correspond to connection plugins but not all are specific to them, other plugins like shell, terminal and become are normally involved.
+Only the common ones are described as each connection/become/shell/etc plugin can define it's own overrides and specific variables.
+
+ansible_become_user
+    The user Ansible 'becomes' after using privilege escalation, this must be available to the 'login user'.
+
+ansible_connecion
+    The connection plugin actually used for the task on the target host.
+
+ansible_host
+    The ip/name of the target host to use instead of `inventory_hostname`.
+
+ansible_python_interpreter
+    The path to the Python executable Ansible should use on the target host.
+
+ansible_user
+    The user Ansible 'logs in' as.
+

docs/docsite/rst/user_guide/playbooks_variables.rst

@@ -1041,7 +1041,9 @@ For information about advanced YAML syntax used to declare variables and have mo
        Playbook organization by roles
    :doc:`playbooks_best_practices`
        Best practices in playbooks
-   `User Mailing List <https://groups.google.com/group/ansible-devel>`_
+   :ref:`special_variables`
+       List of special variables
+   `User Mailing List <http://groups.google.com/group/ansible-devel>`_
        Have a question?  Stop by the google group!
    `irc.freenode.net <http://irc.freenode.net>`_
        #ansible IRC chat channel