Title: WP_CLI\Utils\format_items()
Published: June 12, 2025
Last modified: April 19, 2026

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# WP_CLI\Utils\format_items()

## In this article

 * [Usage](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#usage)
 * [Notes](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#notes)
 * [Related](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#related)

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Render a collection of items as an ASCII table, JSONJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object
Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily
to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML.,
CSV, YAML, list of ids, or count.

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## 󠀁[Usage](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#usage)󠁿

    ```
    WP_CLI\Utils\format_items( $format, $items, $fields )
    ```

 **$format** (string) Format to use: ‘table’, ‘json’, ‘csv’, ‘yaml’, ‘ids’, ‘count’.
**
$items** (array<mixed>) An array of items to output. **$fields** (array<string>|
string) Named fields for each item of data. Can be array or comma-separated list.

---

## 󠀁[Notes](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#notes)󠁿

Given a collection of items with a consistent data structure:

    ```
    $items = array(
        array(
            'key'   => 'foo',
            'value'  => 'bar',
        )
    );
    ```

Render `$items` as an ASCII table:

    ```
    WP_CLI\Utils\format_items( 'table', $items, array( 'key', 'value' ) );

    # +-----+-------+
    # | key | value |
    # +-----+-------+
    # | foo | bar   |
    # +-----+-------+
    ```

Or render `$items` as YAML:

    ```
    WP_CLI\Utils\format_items( 'yaml', $items, array( 'key', 'value' ) );

    # ---
    # -
    #   key: foo
    #   value: bar
    ```

_Internal APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary
that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly
defined ways. documentation is generated from the WP-CLIWP-CLI WP-CLI is the Command
Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in
a programmatic way. The project page is [http://wp-cli.org/](http://wp-cli.org/)
[https://make.wordpress.org/cli/](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/) codebase on every
release. To suggest improvements, please submit a pull request._

---

## 󠀁[Related](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/references/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-format-items/?output_format=md#related)󠁿

 * **[WP_CLI\Utils\make_progress_bar()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-utils-make-progress-bar/)**–
   Create a progress bar to display percent completion of a given operation.
 * **[WP_CLI::colorize()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-colorize/)**–
   Colorize a string for output.
 * **[WP_CLI::line()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-line/)**–
   Display informational message without prefix, and ignore `–quiet`.
 * **[WP_CLI::log()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-log/)**–
   Display informational message without prefix.
 * **[WP_CLI::success()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-success/)**–
   Display success message prefixed with "Success: ".
 * **[WP_CLI::debug()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-debug/)**–
   Display debug message prefixed with "Debug: " when `–debug` is used.
 * **[WP_CLI::warning()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-warning/)**–
   Display warning message prefixed with "Warning: ".
 * **[WP_CLI::error()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-error/)**–
   Display error message prefixed with "Error: " and exit script.
 * **[WP_CLI::halt()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-halt/)**–
   Halt script execution with a specific return code.
 * **[WP_CLI::error_multi_line()](https://make.wordpress.org/cli/handbook/internal-api/wp-cli-error-multi-line/)**–
   Display a multi-line error message in a red box. Doesn’t exit script.

First published

June 12, 2025

Last updated

April 19, 2026

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