A shorter --export option

[Neved4]

Currently, the --export variants lack short flags, forcing commands to be verbose. This issue is intended to spark discussion rather than to provide a fixed change.

Inspired by the approach used in pandoc, we could introduce a short flag, -e or -f, as in -f <FORMAT> to reduce repetition. The specific letter isn't crucial, consistency is. Here's an example:

Current	Addition
--export-asciidoc --export-csv --export-json --export-markdown --export-orgmode	-f asciidoc -f csv -f json -f markdown -f orgmode

This would align with existing flags, such as --sort auto and --output null.

There are multiple ways to implement this addition. For example, we could pass a second argument -f asciidoc <FILE>, or use it in combination with a new option -f asciidoc -o <FILE>.

This also opens the possibility for hyperfine to default to a specific format based on the file extension. Namely, -o file.md would be equivalent to --export-asciidoc <FILE>, simplifying the command further. That default could be overriden by specifying the format explicitly: -f asciidoc -o file.md.

That strategy could also be used with --parameter flags, and it may break compatibility:

Current	Addition
--parameter-scan --parameter-step-size --parameter-list	-P scan -P step-size -P list

Ultimately the maintainers know what's best for the project, make any adjustments you see fit 🚀

[sharkdp]

Thank you for writing this down. I like the idea!

How would we export to multiple formats? I sometimes export to markdown and json at the same time, for example.

[Neved4]

Thanks for the feedback! You've raised an excellent point.

Let's say we're targeting all export formats. Currently, we do that with:

hyperfine \
    --export-asciidoc FILE.asciidoc \
    --export-csv FILE.csv           \
    --export-json FILE.json         \
    --export-markdown FILE.md       \
    --export-markdown FILE.org

With an auto-detection feature in place, we could rely on default file extensions and implicit file format inference:

hyperfine -f FILE.asciidoc -f FILE.csv -f FILE.json -f FILE.md -f FILE.org

We can also reduce verbosity by adding the ability to group formats:

hyperfine -f FILE.asciidoc,FILE.csv,FILE.json,FILE.md,FILE.org

Another option is to reuse the existing idea of the parameter list -L, and introduce an -E flag for exporting formats. For example:

hyperfine -E asciidoc,csv,json,md,org '-f FILE.{ext}'

---

Consider a different scenario, where we want to export all formats file extensions arbitrarily. Right now:

hyperfine \
    --export-asciidoc result.org  \
    --export-csv result.asciidoc  \
    --export-json result.csv      \
    --export-markdown result.json \
    --export-orgmode result.md

With a -E flag we have the option to combine with an hypothetical -F:

hyperfine \
    -F fmt asciidoc,csv,json,markdown,orgmode \
    -E ext org,asciidoc,csv,json,md \
    '-f {fmt} result.{ext}'

Note that in flags -E and -F, quoted blocks will be interpreted exclusively for exporting, not adding extra commands to be benchmarked.

In the long run, this level of parametrization may not be high priority, as it appears to cater more to rare use cases.

[sharkdp]

I think I prefer a solution here where we would detect the export format based on the file extension. So --export results.json would do a JSON export and --export results.md would do a Markdown export. This could be used multiple times: --export results.json --export results.md. And we could still use a default (JSON) if we can't detect the file extension.

We could keep the existing options for cases where extension-detection doesn't work. For example, when the filename is - (STDIN).

[Neved4]

@sharkdp that sounds neat! I like that approach