github.com/vchain-us/vcn@v0.9.11-0.20210921212052-a2484d23c0b3/docs/user-guide/formatted-output.md (about)

     1  # Formatted output (json/yaml)
     2  
     3  `vcn` can output results in `json` or `yaml` formats by using the [--output global flag](../cmd/vcn.md#options).
     4  > Although all commands support `--output`, some could return an empty results (ie. `vcn login`, `vcn logout`, and `vcn dashboard`).
     5  
     6  ## Examples
     7  
     8  ```
     9  vcn authenticate docker://nginx --output yaml
    10  ```
    11  
    12  ```
    13  vcn list --output json
    14  ```
    15  
    16  ```
    17  vcn notarize file.txt
    18  ```
    19  > You need to set `VCN_NOTARIZATION_PASSWORD` [environment variable](environments.md#other-environment-variables) to make `vcn` work in non-interactive mode
    20  
    21  ## Dealing with errors
    22  
    23  When an error is encountered, `vcn` will print the usual error message to the *Standard error* but also will return an error object (formatted accordingly to `--output`) to the *Standard output*.
    24  
    25  ### Example of mixed *Standard error* and *Standard output*
    26  ```
    27  $ vcn authenticate non-existing.txt --output json
    28  Error: open non-existing.txt: no such file or directory
    29  {
    30    "error": "open non-existing.txt: no such file or directory"
    31  }
    32  ```
    33  
    34  ### Example of redirecting the *Standard output* to get the formatted result
    35  ```
    36  $ vcn authenticate non-existing.txt --output json > output.json
    37  Error: open non-existing.txt: no such file or directory
    38  
    39  $ cat output.json
    40  {
    41    "error": "open non-existing.txt: no such file or directory"
    42  }
    43  ```