Output Formatting

Every command's output goes through the same pipe pipeline, whether you're poking around interactively or scripting against ze. One operator set, three ways to use it: set a persistent default, pipe it inline, or apply it offline to already-captured output.

The simple way: set a default once

set cli format <name> in the interactive CLI picks a default so every command already displays that way, with no piping needed at all:

set cli format table
set cli format          # shows the current default
Format Description
text Space-aligned columns, no box-drawing (default)
table Box-drawing table
json Pretty-printed JSON
yaml YAML output
ndjson One compact JSON object per line

The choice persists for the session via the ze.cli.format setting; it can also be set permanently through YANG config.

Piping inline

Append | <operator> to any command, shell-like:

show bgp peer list | table
show bgp peer list | json compact
show bgp rib | match established
show bgp peer list | first 5

Only one format operator (json, ndjson, table, text, yaml) is allowed per chain; combining two is rejected. Filter and display operators chain freely.

Operator Kind Description
table format Box-drawing table rendering
text format Space-aligned columns, no box-drawing
json [compact] format Pretty (default) or compact JSON
ndjson format One compact JSON object per line
yaml format YAML output
match <pattern> filter Case-insensitive grep on output lines
count filter Count items (JSON-aware: array length or map size)
first <n> / last <n> filter Take first or last N items
resolve display Add reverse DNS names for IP address values
origin display Add ASN and network name for IP address values
log display Append each update instead of replacing (monitor commands)
✕ display Disable paging (currently a no-op)

The offline way: ze format

Scripts and pipelines outside an interactive session apply the same operators to any captured JSON via ze format:

ze show host cpu | ze format table
ze debug show | ze format match reactor
ze debug show | ze format count
ze show bgp peer list | ze format yaml
ze show bgp peer list | ze format first 5

ze format reads stdin (up to 256 MB), applies the pipe chain given as arguments, and writes the result to stdout. It's the same operator table above, minus the display-only operators that only make sense inside a live session (log, no-more).

Command-specific filters

Some commands extend the generic set with their own filter vocabulary, folded into the command itself rather than staying client-side. show bgp rib, for example, adds:

Filter Description
received / advertised Select the Adj-RIB-In or Adj-RIB-Out side
peer <selector> Filter by peer
family <afi/safi> Filter by address family
prefix <pattern> Filter by prefix
path <pattern> Filter by AS path
community <value> Filter by standard community
match <pattern> Cross-field structured match
count Count matching routes without serializing rows
first <n> / last <n> Take first or last N routes
prefix-summary Summarize by family and prefix length
graph Render an AS-path topology graph (box-drawing)
reason Explain best-path selection (show bgp rib best only)

These are parsed and validated the same way as generic pipes, but resolved into command arguments before the command runs, rather than filtering output afterward -- so show bgp rib | peer 10.0.0.1 | count counts only that peer's routes server-side instead of fetching everything and counting client-side.