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Add date-stamp to json output #615
Description
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
When I do module av -l I get something like this:
zstd/1.5.7 2025/03/03 11:28:13
with proper date stamp.
However, if i do module av -j I get:
"zstd/1.5.7": { "name": "zstd/1.5.7", "type": "modulefile", "symbols": [], "tags": [], "pathname": "/apps/dcc/etc/ModulesAlma92/modulefiles/zstd/1.5.7"},
Additionally, it might be fun to add variant information to the json output? (digression, should I open a new issue?)
Describe the solution you'd like
It would be great if the json output could also add the date-stamp.
The reason is I plan on using it to hide modules older than some set time, and this just seemed like the simplest extraction method.
Describe alternatives you've considered
Use module av -l however, the problem with this is that some of our module files are extremely long, resulting in:
petsc/3.24.0-oct-2025-gcc-14.3.0-openblas-0.3.30-non-complex-slepc-elemental-superlu2025/10/07 00:42:39
which requires manual parsing.
(side-note:
I also tried to figure out if I could manually format the output in long-mode, however, I couldn't figure out from the documentation how to set the field-widths, is it even possible?
)
Additional context
The installed version is:
Modules Release 5.3.0 (2023-05-14)
AFAIK without any odd configuration setups.
Thanks!
Activity
adrien-cotte commentedon Feb 23, 2026
Hi @zerothi
Thank you for your suggestion.
Adding timestamp and variants to json ouput will increase the response time significantly.
We need to stat each module file to get the mtime, and evaluate them for the variants.
Perhaps the right answer would be an option to configure whatever we need in json output.
Here is the list of configurations we plan to add in v5.7:
https://modules.readthedocs.io/en/latest/design/output-configuration.html#configuration
What do you think about something like
<cmd>_json_output? (ex:avail_outputandavail_json_output)zerothi commentedon Feb 23, 2026
Thanks for your return.
I think if the
--outputcould be enabled for-jsonoutput it would be simpler, because then one can alter the output format using--outputarguments. I would prefer this rather than adding new env-vars for controlling output.Also, in the link you provide it isn't clear to me which one lists the date-stamp.
I can see the downside, so the default should definitely prefer swift response times, then configuration can be used where timings are not an issue. So agree there!
adrien-cotte commentedon Feb 23, 2026
Yep, both could be great I think.
Add
--outputsupport with--json, andavail_json_outputconfig.