# ansible-playbook inline help

**URL:** <https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-inline-help/31127>\
**Category:** Ansible Project\
**Created:** [August 26, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-inline-help/31127 "2019-08-26T14:05:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Emmanuel\_Lacour1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/77aa72/32.png) [@Emmanuel\_Lacour1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emmanuel_Lacour1)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-inline-help/31127/1 "2019-08-26T14:05:02Z")

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Dear ansible users,

is it possible to have some kind of way to write a custom help inside a playbook that would be printed once (not for each host) when you issue a command like: ansible-playbook playbooks/myplay.yml --help

?

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**Author:** ![vbotka](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/ansible/user_avatar/forum.ansible.com/vbotka/32/359_2.png) [@vbotka](https://forum.ansible.com/u/vbotka)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 2:38pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-inline-help/31127/2 "2019-08-26T14:38:59Z")

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No. It's not possible. Such an option "--help" will be evaluated by  
"ansible-playbook".

Instead, it is possible to use tags. For example the playbook below will  
print the help and stop the play "ansible-playbook myplay.yml -t help"

- hosts: all  
&nbsp;&nbsp;vars:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;help\_only: false  
&nbsp;&nbsp;tasks:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- block:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- debug:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;msg: |  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This is the help for this playbook. It will be printed with  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the command:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;ansible-playbook myplay.yml -t help  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;This play will stopped now.  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- set\_fact:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;help\_only: true  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;run\_once: true  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;tags: [help, never]

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- meta: end\_play  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;when: help\_only

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- debug:  
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;msg: Continue play.  
...

Cheers,

&nbsp;&nbsp;-vlado

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Emmanuel\_Lacour1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/77aa72/32.png) [@Emmanuel\_Lacour1](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Emmanuel_Lacour1)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 2:43pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/ansible-playbook-inline-help/31127/3 "2019-08-26T14:43:11Z")

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Nice, thank you very much !