Add support for -t/--tuples-only option to print rows without extra output

[DiegoDAF]

Summary

This PR implements the -t/--tuples-only option, similar to psql's -t flag, which prints query results without status messages or timing information. This is useful for scripting and piping output to other commands.

Features

• Default csv-noheader: pgcli -t outputs rows in CSV format without headers
• Custom format: pgcli -t minimal allows specifying any table format
• Suppresses extra output:
  • No "SELECT X" status messages
  • No "Time: X.XXXs" timing information
• Clean for piping: Perfect for shell scripts and automation

Use Cases

# Get just the data, no headers or status
pgcli -t -c "SELECT oid FROM pg_roles WHERE rolname='postgres';"
# Output: 10

# Use with custom format
pgcli -t minimal -c "SELECT name, age FROM users LIMIT 3;"
# Output: aligned columns without headers

# Pipe to other commands
pgcli -t -c "SELECT email FROM users;" | while read email; do
  echo "Sending to $email"
done

Implementation Details

• Added tuples_only field to OutputSettings namedtuple
• Added tuples_only parameter to PGCli.__init__()
• Modified format_output() to skip status when tuples_only=True
• Modified timing output logic to respect tuples_only flag
• Click option configured as is_flag=False with flag_value="csv-noheader"
  • Using -t alone defaults to csv-noheader
  • Using -t <format> allows custom formats

Compatibility

• Does not affect existing functionality when flag is not used
• Works independently of other flags
• Compatible with all existing table formats
• Follows psql behavior

Made with ❤️ and 🤖 Claude Code

[j-bennet]

Thank you for the PR! I have some problems with it, for two reasons:

1. It's targeting a non-interactive use-case. Pgcli is a user-interactive tool, and if you want scripting / automation, psql is a better tool for that. We will never be able to keep up with psql in all the features it supports.
2. It's adding a new option to turn a knob that already exists. We already have \T to change table formats. Exposing -t as the startup flag to set format for just one session may be useful. Perhaps limit the PR to that.

This does not solve your header / status suppression requirement, but I think that should be a separate change. Perhaps pgcli should be aware of noheader output formats and suppress extra output on those. Or we need new flags for --no-timings and --no-status.

[DiegoDAF]

Thanks for the feedback, makes total sense!

I'll rework this PR so that -t [FORMAT] only sets the table format at startup (like a CLI shortcut for \T), defaulting to csv-noheader. No header/status suppression in this PR.

The --no-timings / --no-status flags sound like a good approach for a separate PR — I'll work on that next.

[j-bennet]

This has conflicts.

[DiegoDAF]

Reworked per your feedback: -t/--tuples-only is now just a startup shortcut for \T (sets the table format to csv-noheader), with no header/status suppression. Conflicts with main are resolved. Ready for another look, thanks!