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The CLI supports multiple output formats to suit different workflows — interactive terminal use, scripting, data export, and AI agent integration.

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Format Selection

The output format is determined by this priority chain:
  1. --raw flag (shorthand for --format json)
  2. --format <type> flag (table, json, csv, markdown)
  3. format: in .ibmi/config.yaml
  4. Auto-detect: table when output is a TTY, json when piped
This means interactive terminal sessions default to human-readable tables, while piped commands automatically switch to machine-parseable JSON.

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Table (Default for TTY)

Formatted tables with box-drawing characters, column alignment, and a footer showing the system name, host, row count, and elapsed time. 
ibmi sql "SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME, LASTNAME FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY"

┌────────┬───────────┬──────────┐
│ EMPNO  │ FIRSTNME  │ LASTNAME │
├────────┼───────────┼──────────┤
│ 000010 │ CHRISTINE │ HAAS     │
│ 000020 │ MICHAEL   │ THOMPSON │
│ 000030 │ SALLY     │ KWAN     │
└────────┴───────────┴──────────┘
[dev] myhost.com · 3 rows · 0.12s

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JSON

Structured JSON envelope with metadata. Default when output is piped to another command. 
ibmi sql "SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE FETCH FIRST 2 ROWS ONLY" --raw

{
  "ok": true,
  "system": "dev",
  "host": "myhost.com",
  "command": "execute_sql",
  "data": [
    {"EMPNO": "000010", "FIRSTNME": "CHRISTINE"},
    {"EMPNO": "000020", "FIRSTNME": "MICHAEL"}
  ],
  "meta": {
    "rows": 2,
    "hasMore": false,
    "elapsed_ms": 120
  }
}
On error: 
{
  "ok": false,
  "error": {
    "code": "SQL_ERROR",
    "message": "SQL0204 - BADTABLE not found in SAMPLE"
  }
}

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NDJSON (Streaming)

One JSON object per row, separated by newlines. Ideal for streaming processing and large result sets. 
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --stream

{"EMPNO":"000010","FIRSTNME":"CHRISTINE","LASTNAME":"HAAS"}
{"EMPNO":"000020","FIRSTNME":"MICHAEL","LASTNAME":"THOMPSON"}
{"EMPNO":"000030","FIRSTNME":"SALLY","LASTNAME":"KWAN"}
Process rows incrementally: 
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --stream | while IFS= read -r row; do
  echo "$row" | jq '.EMPNO'
done

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CSV

Comma-separated values with a header row. Useful for data export and spreadsheet import. 
ibmi sql "SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME, LASTNAME FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --format csv

EMPNO,FIRSTNME,LASTNAME
000010,CHRISTINE,HAAS
000020,MICHAEL,THOMPSON
000030,SALLY,KWAN
Export directly to a file: 
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --format csv --output employees.csv

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Markdown

Markdown-formatted table. Useful for documentation, reports, and chat tool output. 
ibmi sql "SELECT EMPNO, FIRSTNME, LASTNAME FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE FETCH FIRST 3 ROWS ONLY" --format markdown

| EMPNO  | FIRSTNME  | LASTNAME |
|--------|-----------|----------|
| 000010 | CHRISTINE | HAAS     |
| 000020 | MICHAEL   | THOMPSON |
| 000030 | SALLY     | KWAN     |

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File Output

Write output to a file instead of stdout using --output: 
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --format csv --output /tmp/employees.csv
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM SAMPLE.EMPLOYEE" --raw --output /tmp/employees.json
Combine with --watch to continuously update a file: 
ibmi sql "SELECT * FROM TABLE(QSYS2.ACTIVE_JOB_INFO()) WHERE JOB_STATUS='RUN'" \
  --format csv --output /tmp/active-jobs.csv --watch 10