ansible - using lookup to get a date timestamp into a variable

output

...
TASK: [debug var=mydate] ******************************************************
ok: [localhost] => {
    "mydate": "20140605101824"
}
...

play.yml

---
- hosts: all
  tasks:
    - set_fact: mydate="{{lookup('pipe','date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S')}}"
    - debug: var=mydate

For anyone interested in nanoseconds aswell, this is an example of getting the first 5 digits ---

• hosts: all
  tasks:
  • set_fact: mydate="{{lookup('pipe','date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S**.%5N**')}}"
  • debug: var=mydate

This is the way to set variable. The example above is for setting fact, and it won't be on all hosts same value.
If you want something like a timestamp for the entire run, do this at the beginning of your playbook:

hosts: localhost
  tasks:
  - shell: 'date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S.%5N'
    register: current_run_timestamp

Is my impression or the register approach will not be able to use it as expected, you will be forced to refer to the variable as current_run_timestamp.stdout which is quite ugly.

@ssbarnea: true, but that can be amended by adding another step: set_fact: the_timestamp = " {{ current_run_timestamp.stdout }}"