Output formats for Azure CLI commands
The Azure CLI uses JSON as its default output format, but offers other formats. Use the --output
(--out
or -o
) parameter
to format CLI output. The argument values and types of output are:
--output | Description |
---|---|
json |
JSON string. This setting is the default |
jsonc |
Colorized JSON |
table |
ASCII table with keys as column headings |
tsv |
Tab-separated values, with no keys |
yaml |
YAML, a human-readable alternative to JSON |
yamlc |
Colorized YAML |
none |
No output other than errors and warnings |
Warning
Use an output format of none
or store command output in a variable to avoid exposing secrets such as API keys and credentials. Note: Certain CI/CD environments may store the output of the executed commands in logs. It is a good practice to confirm what is written in those log files and who has access to the logs.
For more information, see None output format.
JSON output format (default)
The following example displays the list of virtual machines in your subscriptions in the default JSON format.
az vm list --output json
The following output has some fields omitted for brevity, and identifying information replaced.
[
{
"availabilitySet": null,
"diagnosticsProfile": null,
"hardwareProfile": {
"vmSize": "Standard_DS1"
},
"id": "/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/DemoVM010",
"instanceView": null,
"licenseType": null,
"location": "westus",
"name": "DemoVM010",
"networkProfile": {
"networkInterfaces": [
{
"id": "/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/demorg1/providers/Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/DemoVM010VMNic",
"primary": null,
"resourceGroup": "demorg1"
}
]
},
...
...
...
]
YAML output format
The yaml
format prints output as YAML, a plain-text data serialization format. YAML tends to be easier to read than JSON, and easily maps to
that format. Some applications and CLI commands take YAML as configuration input, instead of JSON.
az vm list --output yaml
The following output has some fields omitted for brevity, and identifying information replaced.
- availabilitySet: null
diagnosticsProfile: null
hardwareProfile:
vmSize: Standard_DS1_v2
id: /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/DemoVM010
identity: null
instanceView: null
licenseType: null
location: westus
name: ExampleVM1
networkProfile:
networkInterfaces:
- id: /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DemoRG1/providers/Microsoft.Network/networkInterfaces/DemoVM010Nic
primary: null
resourceGroup: DemoRG1
...
...
Table output format
The table
format prints output as an ASCII table, making it easy to read and scan. Nested objects aren't included in table output, but can still be filtered as part of a query. Some fields aren't included in the table, so this format is best when you want a quick, human-searchable overview of data.
az vm list --output table
Name ResourceGroup Location
----------- --------------- ----------
DemoVM010 DEMORG1 westus
demovm212 DEMORG1 westus
demovm213 DEMORG1 westus
KBDemo001VM RGDEMO001 westus
KBDemo020 RGDEMO001 westus
You can use the --query
parameter to customize the properties and columns you want to show in the list output. The following example shows how to select just the VM Name and the Resource Group Name in the list
command.
az vm list --query "[].{resource:resourceGroup, name:name}" --output table
Resource Name
---------- -----------
DEMORG1 DemoVM010
DEMORG1 demovm212
DEMORG1 demovm213
RGDEMO001 KBDemo001VM
RGDEMO001 KBDemo020
Note
Some keys are not printed in the table view by default. These are id
, type
, and etag
. If you need to see these
in your output, you can use the JMESPath re-keying feature to change the key name and avoid filtering.
az vm list --query "[].{objectID:id}" --output table
For more about using queries to filter data, see Use JMESPath queries with Azure CLI.
TSV output format
The tsv
output format returns tab- and newline-separated values without extra formatting, keys, or other symbols. This format makes it easy to consume the output into other commands and tools that need to process the text in some form. Like the table
format, tsv
doesn't print nested objects.
Using the preceding example with the tsv
option outputs the tab-separated result.
az vm list --output tsv
None None /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/DemoVM010 None None westus DemoVM010 None Succeeded DEMORG1 None Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines cbd56d9b-9340-44bc-a722-25f15b578444
None None /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/demovm212 None None westus demovm212 None Succeeded DEMORG1 None Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines 4bdac85d-c2f7-410f-9907-ca7921d930b4
None None /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/demovm213 None None westus demovm213 None Succeeded DEMORG1 None Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines 2131c664-221a-4b7f-9653-f6d542fbfa34
None None /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/RGDEMO001/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/KBDemo001VM None None westus KBDemo001VM None Succeeded RGDEMO001 None Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines 14e74761-c17e-4530-a7be-9e4ff06ea74b
None None /subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/RGDEMO001/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/KBDemo020 None None westus KBDemo020 None Succeeded RGDEMO001 None Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines 36baa9-9b80-48a8-b4a9-854c7a858ece
One restriction of the TSV output format is that there isn't a guarantee on output ordering. The CLI makes a best effort to preserve ordering by sorting keys in the response JSON alphabetically, and then printing their values in order for TSV output. There is no guarantee that the order is always identical, since the Azure service response format can change.
In order to enforce consistent ordering, you'll need to use the --query
parameter and the multiselect list format. When a CLI command returns a single
JSON dictionary, use the general format [key1, key2, ..., keyN]
to force a key order. For CLI commands that return an array, use the general format [].[key1, key2, ..., keyN]
to order column values.
For example, to order the information displayed above by ID, location, resource group, and VM name:
az vm list --output tsv --query '[].[id, location, resourceGroup, name]'
/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/DemoVM010 westus DEMORG1 DemoVM010
/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/demovm212 westus DEMORG1 demovm212
/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/DEMORG1/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/demovm213 westus DEMORG1 demovm213
/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/RGDEMO001/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/KBDemo001VM westus RGDEMO001 KBDemo001VM
/subscriptions/.../resourceGroups/RGDEMO001/providers/Microsoft.Compute/virtualMachines/KBDemo020 westus RGDEMO001 KBDemo020
The next example shows how tsv
output can be piped to other commands in bash. The query is used to filter output and force ordering, grep
selects items that have text "RGD" in them, then the cut
command selects the fourth field to show the name of the VM in output.
az vm list --output tsv --query '[].[id, location, resourceGroup, name]' | grep RGD | cut -f4
KBDemo001VM
KBDemo020
The tsv
output format is often used when assigning values to variables. This example gets the active subscription ID and stores it into a variable for use in a script.
# Bash Script
subscriptionID=$(az account show --query id --output tsv)
echo "Using subscription ID $subscriptionID"
For more --query
parameter examples, see How to query Azure CLI command output.
None output format
Some Azure CLI commands output information you must protect. Here are four examples:
- passwords
- connection strings
- secrets
- keys
To protect secrets and keys when using Azure CLI commands, choose one of these options:
Option | Benefit | Use case |
---|---|---|
--output none output format |
Keeps sensitive information from being displayed in your console. If your command fails, you'll still receive error messages. | 1. Use when command output can be retrieved at a later time. |
2. Use when you have no need for output. | ||
3. A common choice when a managed identity or a service principal is being used to manage Azure resources. | ||
--query parameter |
Stores output in a variable. | 1. Use when command output can't be retrieved at a later time. |
2. Use when you need to use a command output value in a script. |
Use none
and retrieve security information at a later time
Some Azure secrets can be retrieved at a later time. A good example is secrets stored in Azure Key Vault. In this example, create an Azure Key Vault secret using az keyvault secret set with the --output none
option. You can retrieve the secret later using the az keyvault secret show command.
az keyvault secret set --name MySecretName \
--vault-name MyKeyVaultName \
--value MySecretValue\
--output none
Use --query
and return security information to a variable
The use of --query
to store output in a variable is technically not an output format. It is a solution to protect secrets, and is an alternative to using --output none
. For example, when you reset a service principal credential, the password can't be retrieved again.
Reset a service principal credential returning output in the default json format:
# reset service principal credentials using default output format (json).
az ad sp credential reset --id myServicePrincipalID --output json
Console output showing the new password in the console.
{
"appId": "myServicePrincipalID",
"password": "myServicePrincipalNewPassword",
"tenant": "myTenantID"
}
A better solution is to return sensitive information to a variable.
# Bash Script
# reset service principal credentials returning results to a variable
myNewPassword=$(az ad sp credential reset --id myServicePrincipalID --query password --output tsv)
# Display the new password (remove this line in production for security)
echo "New password: $myNewPassword"
For more examples on storing output to a variable, see Use the Azure CLI successfully - pass values to another command. To learn more about --query
parameter syntax, see How to query Azure CLI command output.
Set the default output format
Azure CLI commands provide output that can be controlled in two ways:
Output control | Benefit | How-to |
---|---|---|
Global setting | Select a default output value that you use the most so you don't have to continually provide an --output parameter for each reference command. |
Specify a default output format using az config set. |
Command parameter | Specify output at the command level and give your scripts maximum flexibility. You control console output and variable input for each reference command. | Override the default setting using a reference command's --output parameter. |
The default output for the Azure CLI is json
. Set the default output to none
when console output isn't needed.
az config set core.output=none
You can overwrite the default output of any Azure CLI reference command by using the --output
parameter. Here's a script of commands that alter and test command output:
# set your default output to table
az config set core.output=table
# show your active subscription in table format
# notice how only a subset of properties are returned in the table
az account show
# override your table default and show your active subscription in jsonc format
az account show --output jsonc
# reset your default output to json
az config set core.output=json