BashOperator¶

Use the BashOperator to execute commands in a Bash shell.

airflow/example_dags/example_bash_operator.pyView Source

run_this = BashOperator(
    task_id='run_after_loop',
    bash_command='echo 1',
    dag=dag,
)

Templating¶

You can use Jinja templates to parameterize the bash_command argument.

airflow/example_dags/example_bash_operator.pyView Source

also_run_this = BashOperator(
    task_id='also_run_this',
    bash_command='echo "run_id={{ run_id }} | dag_run={{ dag_run }}"',
    dag=dag,
)

Warning

Care should be taken with “user” input or when using Jinja templates in the bash_command, as this bash operator does not perform any escaping or sanitization of the command.

This applies mostly to using “dag_run” conf, as that can be submitted via users in the Web UI. Most of the default template variables are not at risk.

For example, do not do this:

bash_task = BashOperator(
    task_id="bash_task",
    bash_command='echo "Here is the message: \'{{ dag_run.conf["message"] if dag_run else "" }}\'"',
)

Instead, you should pass this via the env kwarg and use double-quotes inside the bash_command, as below:

bash_task = BashOperator(
    task_id="bash_task",
    bash_command='echo "here is the message: \'$message\'"',
    env={'message': '{{ dag_run.conf["message"] if dag_run else "" }}'},
)

Troubleshooting¶

Jinja template not found¶

Add a space after the script name when directly calling a Bash script with the bash_command argument. This is because Airflow tries to apply a Jinja template to it, which will fail.

t2 = BashOperator(
    task_id='bash_example',

    # This fails with 'Jinja template not found' error
    # bash_command="/home/batcher/test.sh",

    # This works (has a space after)
    bash_command="/home/batcher/test.sh ",
    dag=dag)