CodeQL documentation

database interpret-results


codeql database interpret-results --format=<format> --output=<output> [--threads=<num>] <options>... [--] <database> <file|dir|suite>...


[Plumbing] Interpret computed query results into meaningful formats such as SARIF or CSV.

The results should have been computed and stored in a CodeQL database directory using codeql database run-queries. (Usually you’d want to do these steps together, by using codeql database analyze).



[Mandatory] Path to the CodeQL database that has been queried.


Repeat the specification of which queries were executed here.

If omitted, the CLI will determine a suitable set of queries using the same logic as codeql database run-queries.

(In a future version it ought to be possible to omit this and instead interpret all results that are found in the database. That glorious future is not yet. Sorry.)


[Mandatory] The format in which to write the results. One of:

csv: Formatted comma-separated values, including columns with both rule and alert metadata.

sarif-latest: Static Analysis Results Interchange Format (SARIF), a JSON-based format for describing static analysis results. This format option uses the most recent supported version (v2.1.0). This option is not suitable for use in automation as it will produce different versions of SARIF between different CodeQL versions.

sarifv1: SARIF v1.0.0.

sarifv2: SARIF v2.0.0 (Committee Specification Draft 1).

sarifv2.1.0: SARIF v2.1.0.

graphtext: A textual format representing a graph. Only compatible with queries with @kind graph.

dgml: Directed Graph Markup Language, an XML-based format for describing graphs. Only compatible with queries with @kind graph.

dot: Graphviz DOT language, a text-based format for describing graphs. Only compatible with queries with @kind graph.

-o, --output=<output>

[Mandatory] The output path to write results to. For graph formats this should be a directory, where one result will be written per query.


The maximum number of paths to produce for each alert with paths. (Default: 4)


[SARIF v2 formats only] Include the full file contents for all files referenced in at least one result.


[SARIF v2.1.0 and later only] Include code snippets for each location mentioned in the results, with two lines of context before and after the reported location.


[SARIF v2.1.0 and later only] Place the rule object for each query under its corresponding QL pack in the ``<run>.tool.extensions`` property. This option has no effect when passed to codeql bqrs interpret.


[SARIF v2.1.0 and later only] For alerts that have multiple causes, include them as a Markdown-formatted itemized list in the output in addition to as a plain string.


[SARIF formats only] Produce one result per message, rather than one result per unique location.


The format in which to produce locations in CSV output. One of: uri, line-column, offset-length. (Default: line-column)


A format string defining the format in which to produce file location URLs in DOT output. The following place holders can be used {path} {start:line} {start:column} {end:line} {end:column}, {offset}, {length}


[SARIF formats only] Specify a category for this analysis to include in the SARIF output. A category can be used to distinguish multiple analyses performed on the same commit and repository, but on different languages or different parts of the code.

If you analyze the same version of a code base in several different ways (e.g., for different languages) and upload the results to GitHub for presentation in Code Scanning, this value should differ between each of the analyses, which tells Code Scanning that the analyses supplement rather than supersede each other. (The values should be consistent between runs of the same analysis for different versions of the code base.)

This value will appear (with a trailing slash appended if not already present) as the <run>.automationId property in SARIF v1, the <run>.automationLogicalId property in SARIF v2, and the <run> property in SARIF v2.1.0.

-j, --threads=<num>

The number of threads used for computing paths.

Defaults to 1. You can pass 0 to use one thread per core on the machine, or -N to leave N cores unused (except still use at least one thread).


Print a summary of the analyzed diagnostics to standard output.


Print a summary of the analyzed metrics to standard output.


Print the baseline lines of code counted to standard output.

Options for configuring the CodeQL package manager


Accept a GitHub Apps token or personal access token via standard input.

This overrides the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable.

Options for finding QL packs (which may be necessary to interpret query suites)






(Note: On Windows the path separator is ;).




(Note: On Windows the path separator is ;).

Common options

-h, --help

Show this help text.


[Advanced] Give option to the JVM running the command.


-v, --verbose

Incrementally increase the number of progress messages printed.

-q, --quiet

Incrementally decrease the number of progress messages printed.






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