diff --git a/changelogs/fragments/4777-cmd-runner-deprecate-fmt.yaml b/changelogs/fragments/4777-cmd-runner-deprecate-fmt.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6057cf38e8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelogs/fragments/4777-cmd-runner-deprecate-fmt.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+deprecated_features:
+  - cmd_runner module utils - deprecated ``fmt`` in favour of ``cmd_runner_fmt`` as the parameter format object (https://github.com/ansible-collections/community.general/pull/4777).
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/cmd_runner.py b/plugins/module_utils/cmd_runner.py
index d154dbb7ee..7d6a690224 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/cmd_runner.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/cmd_runner.py
@@ -294,4 +294,12 @@ class _CmdRunnerContext(object):
         return False
 
 
-fmt = _Format()
+cmd_runner_fmt = _Format()
+
+#
+# The fmt form is deprecated and will be removed in community.general 7.0.0
+# Please use:
+#   cmd_runner_fmt
+# Or, to retain the same effect, use:
+#   from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.cmd_runner import cmd_runner_fmt as fmt
+fmt = cmd_runner_fmt
diff --git a/plugins/module_utils/gconftool2.py b/plugins/module_utils/gconftool2.py
index df9608fb30..f4ee34325d 100644
--- a/plugins/module_utils/gconftool2.py
+++ b/plugins/module_utils/gconftool2.py
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 from __future__ import absolute_import, division, print_function
 __metaclass__ = type
 
-from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.cmd_runner import CmdRunner, fmt
+from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.cmd_runner import CmdRunner, cmd_runner_fmt as fmt
 
 
 def gconftool2_runner(module, **kwargs):
diff --git a/tests/integration/targets/cmd_runner/library/cmd_echo.py b/tests/integration/targets/cmd_runner/library/cmd_echo.py
index 4b9cb8b547..4fd32a7ac6 100644
--- a/tests/integration/targets/cmd_runner/library/cmd_echo.py
+++ b/tests/integration/targets/cmd_runner/library/cmd_echo.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ EXAMPLES = ""
 RETURN = ""
 
 from ansible.module_utils.basic import AnsibleModule
-from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.cmd_runner import CmdRunner, fmt
+from ansible_collections.community.general.plugins.module_utils.cmd_runner import CmdRunner, cmd_runner_fmt as fmt
 
 
 def main():