---
name: "puppet-parser"
section: "8"
platform: "linux"
package: "openvox"
version: "8.28.0-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/puppet-parser"
---

# puppet-parser(8)

Interact directly with the parser.

## NAME

**puppet-parser** - Interact directly with the parser.

## SYNOPSIS

puppet parser *action*

## OPTIONS

Note that any setting that's valid in the configuration file is also a valid long argument, although it may or may not be relevant to the present action. For example, **server** and **run\_mode** are valid settings, so you can specify **--server \<servername\>**, or **--run\_mode \<runmode\>** as an argument.

See the configuration file documentation at *https://puppet.com/docs/puppet/latest/configuration.html* for the full list of acceptable parameters. A commented list of all configuration options can also be generated by running puppet with **--genconfig**.

- \--render-as FORMAT

  The format in which to render output. The most common formats are **json**, **s** (string), **yaml**, and **console**, but other options such as **dot** are sometimes available.

- \--verbose

  Whether to log verbosely.

- \--debug

  Whether to log debug information.

## ACTIONS

- •

  **dump** - Outputs a dump of the internal parse tree for debugging: **SYNOPSIS**

-

  puppet parser dump \[--e *source*\] \[--\[no-\]validate\] \[--format *old, pn, or json*\] \[--pretty\] \[--format *old\|pn\|json*\] \[--pretty\] { -e *source* \| \[*templates* ...\] }

-

  **DESCRIPTION**

-

  This action parses and validates the Puppet DSL syntax without compiling a catalog or syncing any resources.

-

  The output format can be controlled using the --format *old\|pn\|json* where:

- •

  'old' is the default, but now deprecated format which is not API.

- •

  'pn' is the Puppet Extended S-Expression Notation.

- •

  'json' outputs the same graph as 'pn' but with JSON syntax.

-

  -

  The output will be "pretty printed" when the option --pretty is given together with --format 'pn' or 'json'. This option has no effect on the 'old' format.

-

  The command accepts one or more manifests (.pp) files, or an -e followed by the puppet source text. If no arguments are given, the stdin is read (unless it is attached to a terminal)

-

  The output format of the dumped tree is intended for debugging purposes and is not API, it may change from time to time.

-

  **OPTIONS** *--e \<source*\> - dump one source expression given on the command line.

-

  *--format \<old, pn, or json*\> - Get result in 'old' (deprecated format), 'pn' (new format), or 'json' (new format in JSON).

-

  *--pretty* - Pretty print output. Only applicable together with --format pn or json

-

  *--\[no-\]validate* - Whether or not to validate the parsed result, if no-validate only syntax errors are reported

-

  **RETURNS**

-

  A dump of the resulting AST model unless there are syntax or validation errors.

- •

  **validate** - Validate the syntax of one or more Puppet manifests.: **SYNOPSIS**

-

  puppet parser validate \[*manifest*\] \[*manifest* ...\]

-

  **DESCRIPTION**

-

  This action validates Puppet DSL syntax without compiling a catalog or syncing any resources. If no manifest files are provided, it will validate the default site manifest.

-

  When validating multiple issues per file are reported up to the settings of max\_error, and max\_warnings. The processing stops after having reported issues for the first encountered file with errors.

-

  **RETURNS**

-

  Nothing, or the first syntax error encountered.

-

  ## EXAMPLES

**validate**

Validate the default site manifest at /etc/puppetlabs/puppet/manifests/site.pp:

$ puppet parser validate

Validate two arbitrary manifest files:

$ puppet parser validate init.pp vhost.pp

Validate from STDIN:

$ cat init.pp \| puppet parser validate

## COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Copyright 2014 by Puppet Inc., Vox Pupuli Apache 2 license; see COPYING