Skip to content

Output modes

← Home

By default nfind prints one path per line, like find. When your prompt asks for extra per-file information, the generated filter attaches it to each result and you choose how to surface it.

Internally nfind always works with structured records — each result is an object with at least a path key, plus any extra fields the prompt produced. The output mode is just how those records are formatted for display.

Default — paths only

nfind "Python files that import os"

/path/to/a.py
/path/to/b.py

Clean and pipeable. Any extra fields the filter produced are ignored in this mode.

--verbose / -v — path plus fields

nfind "Python files, and for each the number of lines" --verbose

/path/to/a.py   lines=42
/path/to/b.py   lines=7

Each path is followed by a tab and its extra fields as key=value, comma-separated. When a result has no extra fields, only the path is printed — so --verbose degrades gracefully to the default for prompts that don't ask for data.

--json — machine-readable records

nfind "Python files, and for each the number of lines" --json

{
  "count": 2,
  "results": [
    { "path": "/path/to/a.py", "lines": 42 },
    { "path": "/path/to/b.py", "lines": 7 }
  ]
}

results is the list of records (host paths plus extra fields); count is their number. Pipe it into jq for further processing:

nfind "Python files, and for each the number of lines" --json \
  | jq '.results | sort_by(.lines) | reverse | .[0]'

Notes

  • --json and --verbose are mutually exclusive (using both exits with code 2).
  • Whether extra fields appear depends entirely on the prompt. "Python files" yields bare paths; "Python files and their line count" yields a lines field.
  • The field names are chosen by the model from your wording. Ask explicitly (e.g. "…with a field named lines") if you need a stable schema for scripting.
  • From Python, search() returns these records directly as a list of dicts.