# negating a command **URL:** \ **Category:** Ansible Project\ **Created:** [December 19, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/negating-a-command/17111 "2014-12-19T17:03:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rambius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rambius](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rambius)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/negating-a-command/17111/1 "2014-12-19T17:03:34Z")
Hello, I am new to ansible and I am experimenting with a simple playbook I created. My question is how to negate the return code of a command. I use pgrep to check if a server is running and if it is not running I will back it up. If it is running the playbook should fail with an appropriate message. I use the following snippet that works: - name: ensure server is not running command: pgrep -f programname register: is\_server\_running ignore\_errors: True - name: backup server when: is\_server\_running|failed command: serverbackup.sh This looks clumsy though. I tried with the following but does not work: - name: ensure server is not running command: ! pgrep -f programname ! pgrep -f programname works fine when I execute it directly from the command line. I would be very grateful for any help. Regards Rambius ---
**Author:** ![Brian\_Coca](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@Brian\_Coca](https://forum.ansible.com/u/Brian_Coca)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 5:15pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/negating-a-command/17111/2 "2014-12-19T17:15:06Z")
look at the failed\_when directive, it allows you to chose the failure condition of a task. ---
**Author:** ![rambius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rambius](https://forum.ansible.com/u/rambius)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2014, 5:57pm UTC](https://forum.ansible.com/t/negating-a-command/17111/3 "2014-12-24T17:57:47Z")
Hello, 19 декември 2014, петък, 12:15:09 UTC-5, Brian Coca написа: > look at the failed\_when directive, it allows you to chose the failure > condition of a task. Thank you. failed\_when did the job. My playbook now looks like