Sometimes I need a timestamp string in Ansible. Specifically, I need the same timestamp string available across all my hosts. This seems like the most elegant way to achieve that.

timestamp.yml

---
- name: "Get Timestamp on Local Host"
  hosts: localhost
  gather_facts: False
  tasks:
  - name: "Setting Time Stamp"
    set_fact:
      time_stamp: "{{ lookup('pipe', 'date +%Y%m%d%H%M%S') }}"

- name: "Now we can go to work."
  hosts: webservers
  gather_facts: True
  pre_tasks:
  - name: "Add the Stamp to each Host"
    set_fact:
      time_stamp: "{{ hostvars['localhost'].time_stamp}}"

  roles:
    - Timestamp_Role