Changed default --print to "b" if stdout piped.

If the output is piped to another program or redirected to a file,
the new default behaviour is to only print the response body.
(It can still be overriden via the ``--print`` flag.)

README.rst

@@ -143,13 +143,13 @@ case it will be used with no further processing::
 That can be used for **piping services together**. The following example
 ``GET``-s JSON data from the Github API and ``POST``-s it to httpbin.org::
 
-    http -b GET https://api.github.com/repos/jkbr/httpie | http POST httpbin.org/post
+    http GET https://api.github.com/repos/jkbr/httpie | http POST httpbin.org/post
 
 The above can be further simplified by omitting ``GET`` and ``POST`` because
 they are both default here. The first command has no request data, whereas
 the second one does via ``stdin``::
 
-    http -b https://api.github.com/repos/jkbr/httpie | http httpbin.org/post
+    http https://api.github.com/repos/jkbr/httpie | http httpbin.org/post
 
 An alternative to ``stdin`` is to pass a file name whose content will be used
 as the request body. It has the advantage that the ``Content-Type`` header
@@ -284,6 +284,9 @@ Changelog
 ---------
 
 * `0.2.6dev <https://github.com/jkbr/httpie/compare/0.2.5...master>`_
+    * If the output is piped to another program or redirected to a file,
+      the new default behaviour is to only print the response body.
+      (It can still be overriden via the ``--print`` flag.)
     * Improved highlighing of HTTP headers.
     * Added query string parameters (param=:value).
     * Added support for terminal colors under Windows.

httpie/__main__.py

@@ -117,11 +117,14 @@ def main(args=None,
          stdin=sys.stdin, stdin_isatty=sys.stdin.isatty(),
          stdout=sys.stdout, stdout_isatty=sys.stdout.isatty()):
     parser = cli.parser
+
     args = parser.parse_args(
         args=args if args is not None else sys.argv[1:],
         stdin=stdin,
-        stdin_isatty=stdin_isatty
+        stdin_isatty=stdin_isatty,
+        stdout_isatty=stdout_isatty,
     )
+
     response = _get_response(args)
     output = _get_output(args, stdout_isatty, response)
     output_bytes = output.encode('utf8')

httpie/cli.py

@@ -72,15 +72,16 @@ prettify.add_argument(
 
 output_options = parser.add_mutually_exclusive_group(required=False)
 output_options.add_argument('--print', '-p', dest='output_options',
-    default=cliparse.OUT_RESP_HEADERS + cliparse.OUT_RESP_BODY,
     help=_('''
-        String specifying what should the output contain.
+        String specifying what the output should contain:
-        "{request_headers}" stands for the request headers and
+        "{request_headers}" stands for the request headers,  and
         "{request_body}" for the request body.
         "{response_headers}" stands for the response headers and
         "{response_body}" for response the body.
-        Defaults to "hb" which means that the whole response
+        The default behaviour is "hb" (i.e., the response
-        (headers and body) is printed.
+        headers and body is printed), if standard output is not redirected.
+        If the output is piped to another program or to a file,
+        then only the body is printed by default.
     '''.format(
         request_headers=cliparse.OUT_REQ_HEADERS,
         request_body=cliparse.OUT_REQ_BODY,

httpie/cliparse.py

@@ -52,11 +52,12 @@ class Parser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
 
     def parse_args(self, args=None, namespace=None,
                    stdin=sys.stdin,
-                   stdin_isatty=sys.stdin.isatty()):
+                   stdin_isatty=sys.stdin.isatty(),
+                   stdout_isatty=sys.stdout.isatty()):
 
         args = super(Parser, self).parse_args(args, namespace)
 
-        self._validate_output_options(args)
+        self._process_output_options(args, stdout_isatty)
         self._validate_auth_options(args)
         self._guess_method(args, stdin_isatty)
         self._parse_items(args)
@@ -120,7 +121,8 @@ class Parser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
 
     def _parse_items(self, args):
         """
-        Parse `args.items` into `args.headers`, `args.data`, `args.queries`, and `args.files`.
+        Parse `args.items` into `args.headers`,
+        `args.data`, `args.queries`, and `args.files`.
 
         """
         args.headers = CaseInsensitiveDict()
@@ -129,8 +131,11 @@ class Parser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
         args.files = OrderedDict()
         args.queries = CaseInsensitiveDict()
         try:
-            parse_items(items=args.items, headers=args.headers,
+            parse_items(items=args.items,
-                        data=args.data, files=args.files, queries=args.queries)
+                        headers=args.headers,
+                        data=args.data,
+                        files=args.files,
+                        queries=args.queries)
         except ParseError as e:
             if args.traceback:
                 raise
@@ -157,7 +162,13 @@ class Parser(argparse.ArgumentParser):
                         content_type = '%s; charset=%s' % (mime, encoding)
                     args.headers['Content-Type'] = content_type
 
-    def _validate_output_options(self, args):
+    def _process_output_options(self, args, stdout_isatty):
+        if not args.output_options:
+            if stdout_isatty:
+                args.output_options = OUT_RESP_HEADERS + OUT_RESP_BODY
+            else:
+                args.output_options = OUT_RESP_BODY
+
         unknown = set(args.output_options) - set(OUTPUT_OPTIONS)
         if unknown:
             self.error(
@@ -270,7 +281,11 @@ class AuthCredentialsType(KeyValueType):
 
 
 def parse_items(items, data=None, headers=None, files=None, queries=None):
-    """Parse `KeyValueType` `items` into `data`, `headers`, `files`, and `queries`."""
+    """
+    Parse `KeyValueType` `items` into `data`, `headers`, `files`,
+    and `queries`.
+
+    """
     if headers is None:
         headers = {}
     if data is None:

tests/tests.py

@@ -34,9 +34,19 @@ def http(*args, **kwargs):
     """
     http_kwargs = {
         'stdin_isatty': True,
-        'stdout_isatty': False
+        'stdout_isatty': True
     }
     http_kwargs.update(kwargs)
+
+    command_line = ' '.join(args)
+    if ('stdout_isatty' not in kwargs
+        and '--pretty' not in command_line
+        and '--ugly' not in command_line):
+        # Make ugly default for testing purposes unless we're
+        # being explicit about it. It's so that we can test for
+        # strings in the response without having to always pass --ugly.
+        args = ['--ugly'] + list(args)
+
     stdout = http_kwargs.setdefault('stdout', tempfile.TemporaryFile())
     __main__.main(args=args, **http_kwargs)
     stdout.seek(0)
@@ -168,6 +178,14 @@ class AutoContentTypeAndAcceptHeadersTest(BaseTestCase):
         self.assertIn('HTTP/1.1 200', r)
         self.assertIn('"Content-Type": "application/xml"', r)
 
+    def test_print_only_body_when_stdout_redirected_by_default(self):
+        r = http('GET', 'httpbin.org/get', stdout_isatty=False)
+        self.assertNotIn('HTTP/', r)
+
+    def test_print_overridable_when_stdout_redirected(self):
+        r = http('--print=h', 'GET', 'httpbin.org/get', stdout_isatty=False)
+        self.assertIn('HTTP/1.1 200', r)
+
 
 class ImplicitHTTPMethodTest(BaseTestCase):
 
@@ -203,7 +221,7 @@ class PrettyFlagTest(BaseTestCase):
         r = http('GET', 'http://httpbin.org/get', stdout_isatty=True)
         self.assertIn(TERMINAL_COLOR_PRESENCE_CHECK, r)
 
-    def test_pretty_enabled_by_default_unless_stdin_redirected(self):
+    def test_pretty_enabled_by_default_unless_stdout_redirected(self):
         r = http('GET', 'http://httpbin.org/get', stdout_isatty=False)
         self.assertNotIn(TERMINAL_COLOR_PRESENCE_CHECK, r)