Ansible: Store command's stdout in new variable?
<p>Inside my playbook I'd like to create a variable holding the output of an external command. Afterwards I want to make use of that variable in a couple of templates.  </p>

<p>Here are the relevant parts of the playbook:</p>

<pre><code>  tasks:
    - name: Create variable from command
      command: "echo Hello"
      register: command_output
    - debug: msg="{{command_output.stdout}}"

    - name: Copy test service
      template: src=../templates/test.service.j2 dest=/tmp/test.service
    - name: Enable test service
      shell: systemctl enable /tmp/test.service
    - name: Start test service
      shell: systemctl start test.service
</code></pre>

<p>and let's say this is my template:</p>

<pre><code>[Unit]
Description=MyApp
After=docker.service
Requires=docker.service

[Service]
TimeoutStartSec=0
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker kill busybox1
ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/docker rm busybox1
ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/docker pull busybox
ExecStart=/usr/bin/docker run --name busybox1 busybox /bin/sh -c "while true; do echo {{ string_to_echo }}; sleep 1; done"

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
</code></pre>

<p>(Notice the <code>{{ string_to_echo }}</code>)</p>

<p>So what I'm basically looking for is a way to store the contents of <code>command_output.stdout</code> (which is generated/retrieved during the first task) in a new variable <code>string_to_echo</code>.<br>
That variable I'd like to use in multiple templates afterwards.  </p>

<p>I guess I could just use <code>{{command_output.stdout}}</code> in my templates, but I want to get rid of that <code>.stdout</code> for readability.</p>