Flags
Flags are command arguments you add to control how Ansible runs.
--limit
--limit allows you to filter targets, either by group or host.
If you run a command on all and apply --limit to a specific group, only that group is targeted.
If that group does not exist in the command context, it returns nothing.
Example:
limit
ansible all -i inventory.ini -m cisco.ios.ios_command -a 'commands=["show ip int brief"]' --limit OSPFrouters
Target all, then keep only OSPFrouters. Unknown group = no hosts, empty run.
You can apply the same idea to playbooks:
limit
ansible-playbook -i inventory.ini site.yml --limit OSPFrouters
Same filter on a playbook run.