From 130e00736e95995b5bba5992a4e1a9ba2b33c6c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Ariel Otilibili <30573755+ariel-anieli@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:06:07 +0100
Subject: [PATCH] executor: Remove RETURN_VARS (#86527)

RETURN_VARS was introduced for #70331, and last used in #70853.

    # git grep RETURN_VARS | wc -l
    1

Remove it.

Signed-off-by: Ariel Otilibili <a.otilibili@instadeep.com>
---
 changelogs/fragments/ansible-executor-remove-return-vars.yml | 3 +++
 lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py                        | 1 -
 2 files changed, 3 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
 create mode 100644 changelogs/fragments/ansible-executor-remove-return-vars.yml

diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/ansible-executor-remove-return-vars.yml b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-executor-remove-return-vars.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..967ce5b030e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/ansible-executor-remove-return-vars.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+---
+minor_changes:
+  - executor - remove unused RETURN_VARS
diff --git a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
index 681f8e382e9..0c546322ab9 100644
--- a/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
+++ b/lib/ansible/executor/task_executor.py
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ if t.TYPE_CHECKING:
 display = Display()
 
 
-RETURN_VARS = [x for x in C.MAGIC_VARIABLE_MAPPING.items() if 'become' not in x and '_pass' not in x]
 _INJECT_FACTS, _INJECT_FACTS_ORIGIN = C.config.get_config_value_and_origin('INJECT_FACTS_AS_VARS')
 
 __all__ = ['TaskExecutor']