Output Formats

Control output format with the --format / -F global flag, available on all commands.

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format table
lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' -F csv

Format Reference

Format	Description	Auto-selected when
auto	Auto-detect based on context (default)	Always the default
json	Newline-delimited JSON, one object per line	Pipe (non-TTY) output
ndjson	Alias for json	Never auto-selected
table	Box table with headers	TTY output with multiple columns
box	Box table with headers	Never auto-selected
ascii	ASCII table for terminals without box drawing	Never auto-selected
markdown	Markdown table	Never auto-selected
vertical	One record per block, one field per line	Never auto-selected
line	Alias for vertical	Never auto-selected
G	Alias for vertical	Never auto-selected
csv	RFC 4180 CSV with header row	Never auto-selected
tsv	Tab-separated values with header row	Never auto-selected
raw	_raw field value per line, or tab-separated k=v	Never auto-selected

Auto Behavior

The default --format auto adapts based on context:

Context	Behavior
TTY + single scalar result	Plain value (just the number or string)
TTY + multiple results	Human table
Non-TTY (pipe)	json (one JSON object per line)

Examples by Format

json and ndjson

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format json

{"source":"nginx","count":340}
{"source":"api-gateway","count":120}

ndjson uses the same byte format:

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format ndjson

{"source":"nginx","count":340}
{"source":"api-gateway","count":120}

table

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format table

┌─────────────┬───────┐
│ source      │ count │
├─────────────┼───────┤
│ nginx       │   340 │
│ api-gateway │   120 │
└─────────────┴───────┘
(2 rows)

Use --format ascii when box-drawing characters are not desired:

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format ascii

Use --format markdown for README or issue comments:

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format markdown

vertical

lynxdb query 'level=error | head 1' --format vertical

  record 1
    _time  2026-01-15T00:00:00Z
   source  nginx
    level  error
  message  upstream timeout

The query suffix \G is equivalent to --format vertical when --format is still auto:

lynxdb query 'level=error | head 1 \G'

csv

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format csv

source,count
nginx,340
api-gateway,120

tsv

lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count by source' --format tsv

source	count
nginx	340
api-gateway	120

raw

lynxdb query '_source=nginx | head 3' --format raw

192.168.1.1 - - [14/Feb/2026:14:23:01 +0000] "GET /api HTTP/1.1" 200 1234
192.168.1.1 - - [14/Feb/2026:14:23:02 +0000] "POST /login HTTP/1.1" 302 0
192.168.1.1 - - [14/Feb/2026:14:23:03 +0000] "GET /dashboard HTTP/1.1" 200 5678

Disabling Colors

Colors are enabled by default when output goes to a TTY. Disable them with:

# Flag
lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count' --no-color

# Environment variable (any non-empty value)
NO_COLOR=1 lynxdb query 'level=error | stats count'

Human Table Controls

These global flags apply to table, box, ascii, markdown, vertical, line, G, and TTY auto output:

Flag	Description
--compact	Reduce table spacing
`--theme auto	dark
--max-rows <n>	Show at most n rows in human output
--max-width <n>	Wrap tables to n columns (0 = terminal width)
--null-value <text>	Placeholder for null or empty values

Piping and Scripting

When stdout is not a terminal, --format auto produces clean JSON suitable for piping:

# Pipe to jq
lynxdb query 'FROM main | stats count by host' | jq '.host'

# Export to file
lynxdb query 'FROM main | where level="ERROR"' --since 24h > errors.json

# Export as CSV for spreadsheets
lynxdb query 'FROM main | stats count by host' --format csv > report.csv

# Chain with other tools
lynxdb query '| stats count by status' --format csv | sort -t, -k2 -rn

Metadata to stderr

Stats and summary lines are written to stderr so they do not pollute piped output:

# Only JSON goes to the file; stats go to the terminal
lynxdb query --file access.log '| stats count' > result.json
# stderr shows: Scanned 50,000 events | 1 results | 89ms

See Also

• CLI Overview for global flags and TTY behavior
• query for query-specific output details
• Shell Completion for setting up tab completion