--limit

---
- name: Force limit
  # 'all' is okay here, because the fail task will force the user to specify a limit on the command line, using -l or --limit
  hosts: 'all'

  tasks:
  - name: checking limit arg
    fail:
      msg: "you must use -l or --limit - when you really want to use all hosts, use -l 'all'"
    when: ansible_limit is not defined
    run_once: true

--inventory

See also

• ansible-playbook, ansible-playbook --check, --tags, -i, --limit, --inventory, --connection, --vvv