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--format argument fails to change output of command #47

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--format argument fails to change output of command#47
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command:plugin-verify-checksumsRelated to 'plugin verify-checksums' command

Description

@holtjohnson
holtjohnson
opened on Jul 30, 2018

Summary

While trying to use the --format argument with the wp plugin verify-checksums commands I found the output wouldn't change. I've tried all format options listed and none of them change the format outputted.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all’
  2. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all --format=json’
  3. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all --format=csv’
  4. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all --format=count’
  5. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all --format=yaml’
  6. Run command ‘wp plugin verify-checksums --all --format=table’
  7. Observe the output of all six commands is identical.

Environment

  • WP-CLI 1.5.1

Results and impacts

Severity – Moderate

Expected Results: Output in the format specified in the command line argument

Actual Results: The output does not follow the format specified.

This command has been incredibly useful to me in one off scenarios, but I can't use it effectively in scripts and Unix pipes without the option of a clean output format.

Activity

  1. holtjohnson
    changed the title [-]`--format` command fails to change output of command[/-] [+]--format argument fails to change output of command[/+] on Jul 30, 2018

  2. wojsmol commented on Jul 30, 2018

    @wojsmol
    wojsmol
    on Jul 30, 2018
    Contributor

    Hi @holtjohnson
    Try to cause checksum error in one of the plugins, if I read code correctly the formatter is run only in error conditions.

  3. schlessera
    added
    command:plugin-verify-checksumsRelated to 'plugin verify-checksums' command
    on Jul 31, 2018

  4. schlessera commented on Jul 31, 2018

    @schlessera
    schlessera
    on Jul 31, 2018
    Member

    I do get different output, but only for the issues that were actually detected. The status messages are added as normal STDOUT/STDERR labeled text.
    image 2018-07-31 at 6 22 04 pm

    I agree that this is less than ideal, and we should discuss how to better present the results for this command.

  5. schlessera commented on Jul 31, 2018

    @schlessera
    schlessera
    on Jul 31, 2018
    Member

    Right now, it is not easily possible to capture just the JSON/CSV output reliably.

    This is one of the basic requirements for making the command scriptable.

  6. swissspidy commented on Jul 31, 2018

    @swissspidy
    swissspidy
    on Jul 31, 2018
    Member

    Related: wp-cli/i18n-command#39

    I want to make that command scriptable as well and haven't found an ideal solution yet.

    However, looking at this issue here I realize that this is a more common problem so it would be great to have a universal solution.

    One thought was to just use a different logger that also catches STDOUT/STDERR output.

    WP_CLI::error() could still halt the script, everything else would go into a log that's presented at the end.

  7. holtjohnson commented on Aug 1, 2018

    @holtjohnson
    holtjohnson
    on Aug 1, 2018
    Author

    Thanks @wojsmol for pointing out the formatter only runs in error conditions. I can now get different output of the checksum errors, but the general warnings, errors, and details such as which plugins passed are not formatted.

    @schlessera I would agree it's less than ideal and prevents capturing the output reliably. I'd add to @schlessera's screenshot showing how the warnings are added as STDOUT text. I was trying to get the JSON output from the command, but this is the response I'm greeted with:
    screen shot 2018-08-01 at 11 31 20

    I was expecting the output of the command would include clean JSON with details about which plugins were skipped, failed, or passed and a list of the failure details.

    As always, thanks to all of you who work on this project. I love WP-CLI!

  8. swissspidy commented on Aug 23, 2018

    @swissspidy
    swissspidy
    on Aug 23, 2018
    Member

    Wouldn't using --quiet work for now in this case, when one isn't interested in the warnings or errors, but only the command's actual output?

    The thing is, for the i18n-command it wouldn't work. The warnings I use there contain relatively useful information. But I guess I should just use WP_CLI::log() instead.

  9. schlessera
    changed the title [-]--format argument fails to change output of command[/-] [+]`--format` argument fails to change output of command[/+] on Oct 2, 2018

  10. schlessera commented on Dec 12, 2018

    @schlessera
    schlessera
    on Dec 12, 2018
    Member

    I'll remove this from the v2.1.0 checklist again. Let's rediscuss and plan for v2.2.0.

  11. ma-04 commented on Nov 13, 2025

    @ma-04
    ma-04
    on Nov 13, 2025 · Hidden as outdated

  12. swissspidy commented on Nov 13, 2025

    @swissspidy
    swissspidy
    on Nov 13, 2025
    Member

    I don't think so. #140 was for core checksums, whereas this issue here is about plugin checksums.

  13. alaminfirdows commented on Jun 27, 2026

    @alaminfirdows
    alaminfirdows
    on Jun 27, 2026
    Contributor

    This appears to be resolved on the current main branch. I tested wp plugin verify-checksums against a plugin with a modified file, and each documented output format now produces the expected distinct output:

    --format=table

plugin_name   file    message
ai            ai.php  Checksum does not match

    --format=json

[{"plugin_name":"ai","file":"ai.php","message":"Checksum does not match"}]

    --format=csv

plugin_name,file,message
ai,ai.php,"Checksum does not match"

    --format=count

1

    --format=yaml

---
-
  plugin_name: ai
  file: ai.php
  message: Checksum does not match

    The --format flag now uses the standard WP_CLI\Formatter in Checksum_Plugin_Command.php, so JSON, CSV, count, and YAML outputs all work correctly for scripts and pipelines.

    Tested with WP-CLI 2.13.0-alpha.

    I think this issue can be closed. It would still be good to confirm that the core verify-checksums command behaves the same way.

  14. swissspidy
    marked wp plugin verify-checksums inconsistent output in JSON format #160 as a duplicate of this issue on Aug 17, 2026

  15. szepeviktor commented on Aug 17, 2026

    @szepeviktor
    szepeviktor
    on Aug 17, 2026
    Contributor

    How has the tokens to fix this ancient one? 🤖

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