Changes from PR Review:

- Remove ^task syntax from `defer`
- Support task call syntax in defer

task_test.go

@@ -1062,8 +1062,8 @@ task: [task-2] echo 'failing' && exit 2
 failing
 task: [task-2] echo 'echo ran'
 echo ran
-task: [task-1] echo 'task-1 ran'
-task-1 ran
+task: [task-1] echo 'task-1 ran successfully'
+task-1 ran successfully
 `)
 	assert.Error(t, e.Run(context.Background(), taskfile.Call{Task: "task-2"}))
 	fmt.Println(buff.String())

taskfile/cmd.go

@@ -39,11 +39,19 @@ func (c *Cmd) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
 	}
 	if err := unmarshal(&deferredCmd); err == nil && deferredCmd.Defer != "" {
 		c.Defer = true
-		if strings.HasPrefix(deferredCmd.Defer, "^") {
-			c.Task = strings.TrimPrefix(deferredCmd.Defer, "^")
-		} else {
 		c.Cmd = deferredCmd.Defer
+		return nil
 	}
+	var deferredCall struct {
+		Defer struct {
+			Task string
+			Vars *Vars
+		}
+	}
+	if err := unmarshal(&deferredCall); err == nil && deferredCall.Defer.Task != "" {
+		c.Defer = true
+		c.Task = deferredCall.Defer.Task
+		c.Vars = deferredCall.Defer.Vars
 		return nil
 	}
 	var taskCall struct {

taskfile/defer.go

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+package taskfile
+
+// Defer is the parameters to a defer operation.
+// It can be exactly one of:
+// - A string command
+// - A task call
+type Defer struct {
+	Cmd  string
+	Call *Call
+}
+
+// isValid returns true when Defer describes a valid action.
+// In order for a Defer to be valid, one of Cmd or Call.Task
+// must be non-empty.
+func (d *Defer) isValid() bool {
+	return d.Cmd != "" || (d.Call != nil && d.Call.Task != "")
+}
+
+// UnmarshalYAML implements yaml.Unmarshaler interface
+func (d *Defer) UnmarshalYAML(unmarshal func(interface{}) error) error {
+	var cmd string
+	if err := unmarshal(&cmd); err == nil {
+		d.Cmd = cmd
+		return nil
+	}
+	var taskCall struct {
+		Task string
+		Vars *Vars
+	}
+	if err := unmarshal(&taskCall); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	d.Call = &Call{
+		Task: taskCall.Task,
+		Vars: taskCall.Vars,
+	}
+	return nil
+}

taskfile/taskfile_test.go

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ vars:
   PARAM1: VALUE1
   PARAM2: VALUE2
 `
-		yamlDeferredTask = `defer: ^some_task`
+		yamlDeferredCall = `defer: { task: some_task, vars: { PARAM1: "var" } }`
 		yamlDeferredCmd  = `defer: echo 'test'`
 	)
 	tests := []struct {
@@ -49,9 +49,14 @@ vars:
 			&taskfile.Cmd{Cmd: "echo 'test'", Defer: true},
 		},
 		{
-			yamlDeferredTask,
+			yamlDeferredCall,
 			&taskfile.Cmd{},
-			&taskfile.Cmd{Task: "some_task", Defer: true},
+			&taskfile.Cmd{Task: "some_task", Vars: &taskfile.Vars{
+				Keys: []string{"PARAM1"},
+				Mapping: map[string]taskfile.Var{
+					"PARAM1": taskfile.Var{Static: "var"},
+				},
+			}, Defer: true},
 		},
 		{
 			yamlDep,

testdata/deferred/Taskfile.yml

@@ -2,10 +2,10 @@ version: "3"
 
 tasks:
   task-1:
-    - echo 'task-1 ran'
+    - echo 'task-1 ran {{.PARAM}}'
 
   task-2:
-    - defer: "^task-1"
+    - defer: { task: "task-1", vars: { PARAM: "successfully" } }
     - defer: echo 'echo ran'
     - defer: echo 'failing' && exit 2
     - echo 'cmd ran'