Output formats

Every command that emits records renders through the same formatter. Pick a format with --output (or -o), or let reddit choose: a table when writing to a terminal, JSONL when piped.

Formats

reddit posts golang -o table   # aligned columns for reading
reddit posts golang -o jsonl   # one JSON object per line, for piping
reddit posts golang -o json    # a single JSON array
reddit posts golang -o csv     # spreadsheet friendly
reddit posts golang -o tsv     # tab-separated
reddit posts golang -o url     # just the URL of each row
reddit posts golang -o raw     # the underlying bytes, unformatted

Format	Best for
table	Reading on a terminal
jsonl	Piping into another tool, one object at a time
json	Loading a whole result as an array
csv / tsv	Spreadsheets and quick column math
url	Feeding URLs into other commands
raw	The unformatted bytes

Narrowing fields

Keep only the fields you want:

reddit posts golang --fields title,score,num_comments

--no-header drops the header row in table, csv, and tsv output, which is handy when a downstream tool expects bare rows.

Templating records

For full control over each line, apply a Go text/template. The fields are the record's keys:

reddit posts golang --template '{{.title}} ({{.score}})'
reddit comments 1abc23 --template '{{.author}}	{{.body}}'

Why auto-detection helps

Because the default adapts to the destination, the same command reads well by hand and parses cleanly in a pipe:

reddit posts golang                  # a table, because this is a terminal
reddit posts golang | jq -r .url     # JSONL, because this is a pipe

You only reach for --output when you want something other than that default.

Color

--color is auto by default: reddit colors table output on a terminal and drops color when piped. Force it with --color always or turn it off with --color never.