@@ -1457,7 +1457,12 @@ class AnsibleModule(object):

         # in reporting later, which strips out things like

         # passwords from the args list

         if isinstance(args, basestring):

-            to_clean_args = shlex.split(args.encode('utf-8'))

+            if isinstance(args, unicode):

+                b_args = args.encode('utf-8')

+            else:

+                b_args = args

+            to_clean_args = shlex.split(b_args)

+            del b_args

         else:

             to_clean_args = args

@@ -41,6 +41,15 @@

     - name: 'A task with unicode host vars'

       debug: var=unicode_host_var

+    - name: 'A task with unicode shell parameters'

+      shell: echo '¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö ×'

+      register: output

+

+    - name: 'Assert that the unicode was echoed'

+      assert:

+        that:

+          - "'¯ ° ± ² ³ ´ µ ¶ · ¸ ¹ º » ¼ ½ ¾ ¿ À Á Â Ã Ä Å Æ Ç È É Ê Ë Ì Í Î Ï Ð Ñ Ò Ó Ô Õ Ö ×' in output.stdout_lines"

+

 - name: 'A play for hosts in group: ĪīĬĭ'

   hosts: 'ĪīĬĭ'

   gather_facts: true