Output Formats

HANA CLI supports multiple output formats for flexibility and integration with external tools.

Output Format Variations by Command

Different commands handle output formats differently:

• inspectTable: Uses --output to specify format type (e.g., json, yaml, sql, cds)
• export: Uses --output (or -o) for file path and --format for format type
• dataProfile: Uses --output for file path (optional) and --format for format type

Always check the command's help documentation (hana-cli <command> --help) to understand its specific output options.

Supported Formats

Table (Default)

Most commands default to human-readable table format for console output:

hana-cli tables -s HR

Example Output:

Table Name         Type     Rows    Comment
EMPLOYEES          TABLE    1000    Employee records
DEPARTMENTS        TABLE    50      Department info
SALARIES           TABLE    5000    Salary history

This format is optimized for terminal viewing and quick inspection.

JSON

Structured data format ideal for programmatic processing:

hana-cli dataProfile -s HR -t EMPLOYEES --format json

Example Output:

{
  "schema": "HR",
  "table": "EMPLOYEES",
  "rowCount": 1000,
  "columnCount": 10,
  "columns": [
    {
      "name": "ID",
      "type": "INTEGER",
      "nullCount": 0,
      "distinctCount": 1000,
      "nullPercentage": 0
    }
  ]
}

Supported by: dataProfile, export, inspectTable, and others.

CSV

Comma-separated values format compatible with spreadsheet applications:

hana-cli export -s HR -t EMPLOYEES --format csv -o employees.csv

Example Output:

ID,FIRST_NAME,LAST_NAME,EMAIL,HIRE_DATE,SALARY
1,John,Doe,john.doe@example.com,2020-01-15,75000
2,Jane,Smith,jane.smith@example.com,2019-03-22,82000
3,Mike,Johnson,mike.j@example.com,2021-06-10,68000

Supported by: export, dataProfile.

Excel

Modern XLSX format with automatic column formatting:

hana-cli export -s HR -t EMPLOYEES --format excel -o employees.xlsx

Creates a formatted Excel workbook with proper data types preserved. Supported by: export.

Other Formats

The inspectTable command supports many additional formats for schema conversion:

• SQL: --output sql (CREATE TABLE statement)
• CDS: --output cds (SAP CAP entity definition)
• YAML: --output yaml (YAML representation)
• OpenAPI: --output openapi (OpenAPI schema)
• GraphQL: --output graphql (GraphQL type definition)
• HDI: --output hdbtable (HANA HDI table artifact)
• And more...

See inspectTable documentation for the complete list.

Using Output Formats

Exporting to File

# Export table data to CSV file
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv

# Export to JSON file
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.json --format json

# Export to Excel with all columns
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o report.xlsx --format excel

# Save data profile analysis
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o profile.json

Piping to Other Tools

# Parse with jq
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json | jq '.columns[] | select(.nullPercentage > 10)'

# Get table structure as SQL
hana-cli inspectTable -t EMPLOYEES --output sql > create_table.sql

# Convert to CDS and save
hana-cli inspectTable -t EMPLOYEES --output cds > employees.cds

Processing in Scripts

Bash Example:

#!/bin/bash

# Export data and count rows
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o employees.json
row_count=$(jq '. | length' employees.json)
echo "Exported $row_count employee records"

# Profile data and check quality
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o profile.json
null_columns=$(jq '.columns[] | select(.nullPercentage > 50) | .name' profile.json)
echo "Columns with >50% nulls: $null_columns"

PowerShell Example:

# Export and parse JSON
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o employees.json
$data = Get-Content employees.json | ConvertFrom-Json
Write-Host "Total records: $($data.Count)"

# Generate profile report
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format csv -o profile.csv
Import-Csv profile.csv | Where-Object { $_.nullPercentage -gt 10 }

Format Selection Guide

Use Case	Recommended Format	Example Command
Manual inspection	Table (default)	hana-cli tables -s HR
Scripting/automation	JSON	hana-cli dataProfile -t DATA --format json
Spreadsheet analysis	CSV or Excel	hana-cli export -t DATA -o file.xlsx --format excel
Schema conversion	SQL, CDS, etc.	hana-cli inspectTable -t DATA --output cds
API integration	JSON	hana-cli dataProfile -t DATA --format json
Business reporting	Excel	hana-cli export -t SALES -o report.xlsx --format excel

Format-Specific Options

CSV Options

The export command provides several CSV customization options:

# Export with headers (default behavior)
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv

# Export without headers
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv --includeHeaders false

# Custom delimiter (semicolon for European Excel compatibility)
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv --delimiter ';'

# Custom delimiter (tab-separated)
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.tsv --format csv --delimiter '\t'

# Handle NULL values with custom replacement
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv --nullValue 'N/A'

CSV Encoding:

• All CSV exports use UTF-8 encoding by default
• Fully compatible with Unicode characters
• Works with modern spreadsheet applications (Excel 2016+, LibreOffice, Google Sheets)
• For older Excel versions, use Excel import wizard and select UTF-8 encoding

Excel Options

# Basic Excel export
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o report.xlsx --format excel

# Excel with NULL value handling
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o report.xlsx --format excel --nullValue '-'

# Excel with row limit
hana-cli export -t LARGE_TABLE -o sample.xlsx --format excel --limit 100000

Excel exports automatically format columns based on data types (numbers, dates, text).

JSON Options

# Output JSON to console
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json

# Save JSON to file
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o profile.json

# Export data as JSON
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.json --format json

JSON output is formatted with indentation for readability.

Command-Specific Format Support

dataProfile

Format option: --format <type>

• summary (default): Human-readable table format with statistics
• csv: Comma-separated values with column metrics
• json: Structured JSON with full profiling data

Output option: --output <filepath> (optional)

# Display summary to console
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format summary

# Save JSON profile to file
hana-cli dataProfile -t EMPLOYEES --format json -o profile.json

export

Format option: --format <type>

• csv (default): Comma-separated values
• json: JSON array of row objects
• excel: XLSX workbook with formatting

Output option: --output <filepath> or -o <filepath> (required in non-interactive mode)

# Export to CSV
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.csv --format csv

# Export to Excel
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.xlsx --format excel

# Export to JSON
hana-cli export -t EMPLOYEES -o data.json --format json

inspectTable

Format option: --output <type> (different from other commands!)

• tbl (default): Human-readable table structure
• sql: CREATE TABLE SQL statement
• json: JSON metadata
• yaml: YAML representation
• cds: SAP CAP CDS entity
• hdbtable: HANA HDI table artifact
• Plus many more (see inspectTable docs)

# Display structure in table format
hana-cli inspectTable -t EMPLOYEES --output tbl

# Generate SQL DDL
hana-cli inspectTable -t EMPLOYEES --output sql

# Convert to CDS entity
hana-cli inspectTable -t EMPLOYEES --output cds

Note that inspectTable uses --output for format type (not file path), which differs from export and dataProfile.

Common Pitfalls

Using -o for Format Instead of File Path

Incorrect:

hana-cli export -t DATA -o json  # This creates a file named "json"

Correct:

hana-cli export -t DATA -o data.json --format json

Mixing Up Command Options

• export and dataProfile: Use --format for format type and -o/--output for file path
• inspectTable: Uses --output for format type (no file path option, use redirection instead)

Forgetting to Specify File Extension

While the CLI may auto-generate extensions, it's clearer to be explicit:

# Explicit and clear
hana-cli export -t DATA -o employees.xlsx --format excel

# May work but less clear
hana-cli export -t DATA -o employees --format excel

See Also

• export command
• dataProfile command
• inspectTable command
• CLI Features