DOCUMENTATION:
  name: version
  author: Ansible Core
  version_added: "1.6"
  short_description: compare version strings
  aliases: [version_compare]
  description:
    - Compare version strings using various versioning schemes
  options:
    _input:
      description: Left hand version to compare
      type: string
      required: True
    version:
      description: Right hand version to compare
      type: string
      required: True
    operator:
      description: Comparison operator
      type: string
      required: False
      choices:
        - ==
        - '='
        - eq
        - <
        - lt
        - <=
        - le
        - '>'
        - gt
        - '>='
        - ge
        - '!='
        - <>
        - ne
      default: eq
    strict:
      description: Whether to use strict version scheme. Mutually exclusive with C(version_type)
      type: boolean
      required: False
      default: False
    version_type:
      description: Version scheme to use for comparison. Mutually exclusive with C(strict). See C(notes) for descriptions on the version types.
      type: string
      required: False
      choices:
        - loose
        - strict
        - semver
        - semantic
        - pep440
      default: loose
  notes:
    - C(loose) - This type corresponds to the Python C(distutils.version.LooseVersion) class. All version formats are valid for this type. The rules for comparison are simple and predictable, but may not always give expected results.
    - C(strict) - This type corresponds to the Python C(distutils.version.StrictVersion) class. A version number consists of two or three dot-separated numeric components, with an optional "pre-release" tag on the end. The pre-release tag consists of a single letter C(a) or C(b) followed by a number.  If the numeric components of two version numbers are equal, then one with a pre-release tag will always be deemed earlier (lesser) than one without.
    - C(semver)/C(semantic) - This type implements the L(Semantic Version,https://semver.org) scheme for version comparison.
    - C(pep440) - This type implements the Python L(PEP-440,https://peps.python.org/pep-0440/) versioning rules for version comparison. Added in version 2.14.
EXAMPLES: |
  - name: version test examples
    assert:
      that:
        - "'1.0' is version_compare('1.0', '==')"  # old name
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '==')"
        - "'1.0' is version('2.0', '!=')"
        - "'1.0' is version('2.0', '<')"
        - "'2.0' is version('1.0', '>')"
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '<=')"
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '>=')"
        - "'1.0' is version_compare('1.0', '==', strict=true)"  # old name
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '==', strict=true)"
        - "'1.0' is version('2.0', '!=', strict=true)"
        - "'1.0' is version('2.0', '<', strict=true)"
        - "'2.0' is version('1.0', '>', strict=true)"
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '<=', strict=true)"
        - "'1.0' is version('1.0', '>=', strict=true)"
        - "'1.2.3' is version('2.0.0', 'lt', version_type='semver')"
        - "'2.14.0rc1' is version('2.14.0', 'lt', version_type='pep440')"
RETURN:
  _value:
    description: Returns C(True) or C(False) depending on the outcome of the comparison.
    type: boolean