Common Options¶

All hipo-utils tools share a set of common command-line options.

Universal Options¶

These options are available in all tools:

Option	Description
`-h, --help`	Show help message and exit
`-v, --version`	Show version information and exit
`--no-color`	Disable colored output
`-q, --quiet`	Suppress progress and informational output

Tools that produce text output support multiple formats:

Option	Description
`-f, --format <fmt>`	Output format: `plain`, `csv`, `json`
`--json`	Shorthand for `--format json`

Tools: hipo-dump, hipo-stats, hipo-search

Format	Description	Use Case
`plain`	Human-readable text with alignment	Interactive use
`csv`	Comma-separated values	Spreadsheets, data import
`json`	JSON objects	Scripting, web integration

Many tools support selecting specific banks:

Option	Description
`-b, --banks <names>`	Specify banks (comma-separated)
`-I, --include-banks <banks>`	Include only specified banks
`-E, --exclude-banks <banks>`	Exclude specified banks

Bank selection supports * wildcards:

# All REC banks
-I "REC::*"

# Exclude all RAW banks
-E "RAW::*"

# Multiple patterns
-E "RAW::*,COAT::*"

Control which events are processed:

# Events 0-99 (100 events)
-e 0-99

# Starting from event 50
-e 50

# First 1000 events
-n 1000

Most tools use consistent exit codes:

Code	Meaning
`0`	Success
`1`	Error / Failure / Differences found
`2`	Usage error / File not found

Always use --no-color when parsing output:

hipo-info --no-color data.hipo | grep "Events"

Use -q to suppress progress bars and informational messages:

hipo-filter -q -e "REC::Particle.pid == 11" -o out.hipo in.hipo

if hipo-validate -q data.hipo; then
    echo "File is valid"
else
    echo "Validation failed"
fi

for f in *.hipo; do
    hipo-info --banks-only --no-color "$f" > "${f%.hipo}_banks.txt"
done