2.3. Using the --print option

To actually see the buffer, use the --print option. It takes a single argument, called a report. Here is an example for starters:

Example 2.1. Introducing the --print option

$ pantry --name Bananas --print names master
Bananas, dehydrated, or banana powder
Bananas, raw
Cereals ready-to-eat, KELLOGG'S, CORN FLAKES With Real Bananas

As you can see, --print names simply prints the name of each food in the buffer. Here the name of the report is names. Other handy reports are traits, units, and nuts, to print the traits, available units, and nutrient breakdown of each food in the buffer.

The traits report always shows the qty and unit traits. Other traits are shown only if they are equal to a non-zero-length string or, in the case of the pctRefuse trait, if it is not equal to zero.

Example 2.2. Using --print traits

$ pantry --name Bananas --print traits master
Bananas, dehydrated, or banana powder
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
100 g (100g)
Bananas, raw
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
Refuse: 36 percent Skin
100 g (100g)
Cereals ready-to-eat, KELLOGG'S, CORN FLAKES With Real Bananas
Group: Breakfast Cereals
100 g (100g)

The units report prints each food's available units. It does not print g, oz, or lb as these are available for every food.

Example 2.3. Using --print units

$ pantry --name "Bananas, raw" --print units master
   cup, mashed
   large (8" to 8-7/8" long)
   medium (7" to 7-7/8" long)
   extra small (less than 6" long)
   small (6" to 6-7/8" long)
   NLEA serving
   cup, sliced
   extra large (9" or longer)

The nuts report prints a food's nutrient breakdown. Later we will talk about why pantry printed these particular nutrients, as there are many more nutrients for Bananas, raw than were printed here. Also, later we will learn what the two rightmost columns in the report mean (you probably can tell what the first two columns are for.)

Example 2.4. Using --print nuts

$ pantry --name "Bananas, raw" --print nuts master
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  89   kcal       4      100   
Total Fat                 0    g          1      100   
Saturated Fat             0    g          1      100   
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    1    mg         0      100   
Total Carbohydrate        23   g          8      100   
Dietary Fiber             3    g          10     100   
Sugars                    12   g          NA     100   
Protein                   1    g          2      100   
Vitamin A                 64   IU         1      100   
Vitamin C                 9    mg         14     100   
Calcium                   5    mg         0      100   
Iron                      0    mg         1      100   

The nuts and units reports print only a food's nutrients and available units, respectively. They do not print anything else about the food, not even its name trait. When there is more than one food in the buffer, one report is printed for each food. It may be obvious that you are looking at the results for more than one food when you are examining a set of nuts reports.

Example 2.5. Two nuts reports

$ pantry --name Papaya --print names master
Papayas, raw
Papaya nectar, canned
$ pantry --name Papaya --print nuts master
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  39   kcal       2      41    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      48    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      48    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    3    mg         0      38    
Total Carbohydrate        10   g          3      40    
Dietary Fiber             2    g          7      75    
Sugars                    6    g          NA     30    
Protein                   1    g          1      78    
Vitamin A                 1094 IU         22     75    
Vitamin C                 62   mg         103    95    
Calcium                   24   mg         2      71    
Iron                      0    mg         1      23    
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  57   kcal       3      59    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      52    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      52    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    5    mg         0      62    
Total Carbohydrate        15   g          5      60    
Dietary Fiber             1    g          2      25    
Sugars                    14   g          NA     70    
Protein                   0    g          0      22    
Vitamin A                 361  IU         7      25    
Vitamin C                 3    mg         5      5     
Calcium                   10   mg         1      29    
Iron                      0    mg         2      77    


However, in the next example, you cannot even tell that you are looking at two units reports here, and you certainly cannot tell the two foods apart. This next example shows units reports for both Papaya nectar, canned and Papayas, raw:

Example 2.6. Two units reports

$ pantry --name Papaya --print units master
   small (4-1/2" long x 2-3/4" dia)
   medium (5-1/8" long x 3" dia)
   cup, mashed
   cup, cubes
   large (5-3/4" long x 3-1/4" dia)
   fl oz
   cup


We will discover a solution to this problem in the next section.

2.3.1. Combining reports

As you saw above, using just the nuts or units reports can be confusing, especially when you have more than one food in your buffer, because these reports do not indicate which food goes with which nutrients or with which units.

An easy solution for this is to combine reports. By separating each report name with a dash, you may tell pantry to print more than one report for each food.

Example 2.7. Combining reports

$ pantry --name Papaya --print names-units master
Papayas, raw
   small (4-1/2" long x 2-3/4" dia)
   medium (5-1/8" long x 3" dia)
   cup, mashed
   cup, cubes
   large (5-3/4" long x 3-1/4" dia)
Papaya nectar, canned
   fl oz
   cup
$ pantry --name Papaya --print traits-nuts master
Papayas, raw
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
Refuse: 33 percent Seeds and skin
100 g (100g)
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  39   kcal       2      41    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      48    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      48    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    3    mg         0      38    
Total Carbohydrate        10   g          3      40    
Dietary Fiber             2    g          7      75    
Sugars                    6    g          NA     30    
Protein                   1    g          1      78    
Vitamin A                 1094 IU         22     75    
Vitamin C                 62   mg         103    95    
Calcium                   24   mg         2      71    
Iron                      0    mg         1      23    
Papaya nectar, canned
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
100 g (100g)
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  57   kcal       3      59    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      52    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      52    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    5    mg         0      62    
Total Carbohydrate        15   g          5      60    
Dietary Fiber             1    g          2      25    
Sugars                    14   g          NA     70    
Protein                   0    g          0      22    
Vitamin A                 361  IU         7      25    
Vitamin C                 3    mg         5      5     
Calcium                   10   mg         1      29    
Iron                      0    mg         2      77    

As you can see, some whitespace would help make this more readable. To add whitespace, use the blank report. It simply prints a blank line.

Example 2.8. Using the blank report

$ pantry --name Papaya --print traits-nuts-blank master
Papayas, raw
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
Refuse: 33 percent Seeds and skin
100 g (100g)
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  39   kcal       2      41    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      48    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      48    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    3    mg         0      38    
Total Carbohydrate        10   g          3      40    
Dietary Fiber             2    g          7      75    
Sugars                    6    g          NA     30    
Protein                   1    g          1      78    
Vitamin A                 1094 IU         22     75    
Vitamin C                 62   mg         103    95    
Calcium                   24   mg         2      71    
Iron                      0    mg         1      23    

Papaya nectar, canned
Group: Fruits and Fruit Juices
100 g (100g)
Nutrient                  Amount         %G     %TOT  
-------------------------------------------------------
Calories                  57   kcal       3      59    
Total Fat                 0    g          0      52    
Saturated Fat             0    g          0      52    
Cholesterol               0    mg         0      0     
Sodium                    5    mg         0      62    
Total Carbohydrate        15   g          5      60    
Dietary Fiber             1    g          2      25    
Sugars                    14   g          NA     70    
Protein                   0    g          0      22    
Vitamin A                 361  IU         7      25    
Vitamin C                 3    mg         5      5     
Calcium                   10   mg         1      29    
Iron                      0    mg         2      77