ansible/docsite/rst/playbooks_blocks.rst
Brian Coca c433289a8b clarified how block applies directives to tasks
previous text could be interpreted as the block itself doing the evaluation and skipping
2016-02-03 14:34:08 -05:00

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ReStructuredText

Blocks
======
In 2.0 we added a block feature to allow for logical grouping of tasks and even
in play error handling. Most of what you can apply to a single task can be applied
at the block level, which also makes it much easier to set data or directives common
to the tasks.
.. code-block:: YAML
:emphasize-lines: 2
:caption: Block example
tasks:
- block:
- yum: name={{ item }} state=installed
with_items:
- httpd
- memcached
- template: src=templates/src.j2 dest=/etc/foo.conf
- service: name=bar state=started enabled=True
when: ansible_distribution == 'CentOS'
become: true
become_user: root
In the example above the each of the 3 tasks will be executed after appending the `when` condition from the block
and evaluating it in the task's context. Also they inherit the privilege escalation directives enabling "become to root"
for all the enclosed tasks.
.. _block_error_handling:
Error Handling
``````````````
Blocks also introduce the ability to handle errors in a way similar to exceptions in most programming languages.
.. code-block:: YAML
:emphasize-lines: 2,6,10
:caption: Block error handling example
tasks:
- block:
- debug: msg='i execute normally'
- command: /bin/false
- debug: msg='i never execute, cause ERROR!'
rescue:
- debug: msg='I caught an error'
- command: /bin/false
- debug: msg='I also never execute :-('
always:
- debug: msg="this always executes"
The tasks in the ``block`` would execute normally, if there is any error the ``rescue`` section would get executed
with whatever you need to do to recover from the previous error. The ``always`` section runs no matter what previous
error did or did not occur in the ``block`` and ``rescue`` sections.
.. seealso::
:doc:`playbooks`
An introduction to playbooks
:doc:`playbooks_roles`
Playbook organization by roles
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