$ ansible -m debug -a 'msg="{{q("file", "/etc/nothere")}}"' localhost -vvv

[WARNING]: Unable to find '/etc/nothere' in expected paths (use -vvvvv to see paths)
exception during Jinja2 execution: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "ansible/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/file.py", line 84, in run
    raise AnsibleParserError()
ansible.errors.AnsibleParserError

During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "ansible/lib/ansible/template/__init__.py", line 831, in _lookup
    ran = instance.run(loop_terms, variables=self._available_variables, **kwargs)
  File "ansible/lib/ansible/plugins/lookup/file.py", line 86, in run
    raise AnsibleError("could not locate file in lookup: %s" % term)
ansible.errors.AnsibleError: could not locate file in lookup: /etc/nothere
localhost | FAILED! => {
    "msg": "An unhandled exception occurred while running the lookup plugin 'file'. Error was a <class 'ansible.errors.AnsibleError'>, original message: could not locate file in lookup: /etc/nothere. could not locate file in lookup: /etc/nothere"
}

localhost | FAILED! => {
    "msg": "The 'file' lookup had an issue accessing the file '/etc/nothere'. file not found, use -vvvvv to see paths searched"
}