Command lineExport reports
Reports and exports
Save a scan as JSON, Markdown, a self-contained HTML page or CSV, with home-folder names hidden when you share it.
census exportRead-only
Usage
census export json|md|html|csv [SCOPE] [--output PATH] [--force] [--sections LIST] [--limit N] [--redact] [--refresh] [--progress] [--json]Saves one saved scan as a report. Without --output, the report goes to stdout.
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
--scope KIND | drive (the default) or data |
-p, --path PATH | A folder’s own scan |
--output PATH | Write to this file or folder (default: stdout) |
--force | Replace an existing file |
--sections LIST | Comma-separated sections. duplicates isn’t included by default. |
--limit N | Rows per list (default: 50; 0 means all) |
--redact | Hide names beneath home folders |
--refresh | Rescan first; otherwise the saved scan is read |
--progress | Write progress as NDJSON to stderr |
--json | With --output, print a JSON summary of the file written |
# A JSON report on the Desktop, named after the scan
census export json --output ~/Desktop/
# A Markdown report of four sections
census export md --sections summary,findings,folders,files --output report.md
# An HTML page you can share, with home-folder names hidden
census export html --redact --output ~/Desktop/shared-report.html
# Every row, as CSV
census export csv --limit 0 --output ~/Desktop/disk-usage.csv
Sections
Sections come in this order: summary, breakdown, findings, folders, files, types, apps, leftovers and duplicates. By default a report has every section that applies, except duplicates, which has to read file contents; add it with --sections. --limit applies only to folders, files and duplicate groups. apps and leftovers need a drive or data scan; sections that don’t apply are left out and named in warnings.
Where the file goes
- No
--output: the report is written to stdout.--jsonisn’t allowed then, since stdout already holds the report. - An existing folder: it receives
census-<scan_id>.<format>. - A file that exists: kept, unless you add
--force(output_existsotherwise).
With --output and --json, census prints an envelope whose results has format, path, bytes and sections:
census export json --sections summary,duplicates --limit 5 --output report.json --json
Formats
| Format | What you get |
|---|---|
json | The v5 envelope, one scan object, and results with generated_at_unix_ms, redacted and sections |
md | A Markdown report |
html | One self-contained page, with no scripts and no external resources |
csv | CRLF records, exact byte columns, and a guard against formula injection |
--redact replaces names in home-folder paths with salted tokens, and Markdown and HTML reports say that names are hidden. Export is available only on macOS.