The shell module takes the command name followed by a list of arguments, space delimited. It is almost exactly like the \fIcommand\fR module but runs the command through the user's configured shell on the remote node.
."------OPTIONS
."
."
.SHOPTIONS
.IPcreates
a filename, when it already exists, this step will NOT be run
.IPchdir
cd into this directory before running the command (0.6 and later)
.IP(freeform)
The command module takes a free form command to run."
."
."------NOTES
.SHNOTES
.PP
If you want to execute a command securely and predicably, it may be better to use the \fIcommand\fR module instead. Best practices when writing playbooks will follow the trend of using \fIcommand\fR unless \fIshell\fR is explicitly required. When running ad-hoc commands, use your best judgement.