Running the underlying module command with cmd.retcode:

[root@hd-qa-apps1 salt]# salt-call cmd.retcode 'hdfs dfs -stat /tmp_salt';
[INFO    ] Executing command 'hdfs dfs -stat /tmp_salt' in directory '/root'
[INFO    ] output: 2014-06-20 01:01:05
local:
    0
[root@hd-qa-apps1 salt]# salt-call cmd.retcode 'hdfs dfs -stat /non-existent-dir'
[INFO    ] Executing command 'hdfs dfs -stat /non-existent-dir' in directory '/root'
[ERROR   ] Command 'hdfs dfs -stat /non-existent-dir' failed with return code: 1
[ERROR   ] output: stat: `/non-existent-dir': No such file or directory
local:
    1



Execution the hadoop module with --out json:

[root@hd-qa-apps1 salt]# salt-call hadoop.dfs_absent /tmpasd --out json
[INFO    ] Executing command 'hdfs dfs -stat /tmpasd' in directory '/root'
[ERROR   ] Command 'hdfs dfs -stat /tmpasd' failed with return code: 1
[ERROR   ] output: stat: `/tmpasd': No such file or directory
{
    "local": true
}
[root@hd-qa-apps1 salt]# salt-call hadoop.dfs_absent /tmp --out json
[INFO    ] Executing command 'hdfs dfs -stat /tmp' in directory '/root'
[INFO    ] output: 2014-06-18 19:45:28
{
    "local": false
}