---
layout: default
built_from_commit: 3d665fe7a4a7dfa794748a310db79025a4d932cc
title: 'Man Page: puppet lookup'
canonical: "/openvox/latest/man/lookup.html"
---

# Man Page: puppet lookup

> **NOTE:** This page was generated from the OpenVox source code on 2026-08-01 22:12:56 +0000

## NAME
**puppet-lookup** - Interactive Hiera lookup for OpenVox

## SYNOPSIS
Does Hiera lookups from the command line.

Since this command needs access to your Hiera data, make sure to run it
on a node that has a copy of that data. This usually means logging into
an OpenVox server node and running \'puppet lookup\' with sudo.

The most common version of this command is:

\'puppet lookup *KEY* \--node *NAME* \--environment *ENV* \--explain\'

## USAGE
puppet lookup \[\--help\] \[\--type *TYPESTRING*\] \[\--merge
first\|unique\|hash\|deep\] \[\--knock-out-prefix *PREFIX-STRING*\]
\[\--sort-merged-arrays\] \[\--merge-hash-arrays\] \[\--explain\]
\[\--environment *ENV*\] \[\--default *VALUE*\] \[\--node *NODE-NAME*\]
\[\--facts *FILE*\] \[\--compile\] \[\--render-as
s\|json\|yaml\|binary\|msgpack\] *keys*

## DESCRIPTION
The lookup command is a CLI for OpenVox\'s \'lookup()\' function. It
searches your Hiera data and returns a value for the requested lookup
key, so you can test and explore your data. It is a modern replacement
for the \'hiera\' command. Lookup uses the setting for global hiera.yaml
from puppet\'s config, and the environment to find the environment level
hiera.yaml as well as the resulting modulepath for the environment (for
hiera.yaml files in modules). Hiera usually relies on a node\'s facts to
locate the relevant data sources. By default, \'puppet lookup\' uses
facts from the node you run the command on, but you can get data for any
other node with the \'\--node *NAME*\' option. If possible, the lookup
command will use the requested node\'s real stored facts from OpenVoxDB;
if OpenVoxDB isn\'t configured or you want to provide arbitrary fact
values, you can pass alternate facts as a JSON or YAML file with
\'\--facts *FILE*\'.

If you\'re debugging your Hiera data and want to see where values are
coming from, use the \'\--explain\' option.

If \'\--explain\' isn\'t specified, lookup exits with 0 if a value was
found and 1 otherwise. With \'\--explain\', lookup always exits with 0
unless there is a major error.

You can provide multiple lookup keys to this command, but it only
returns a value for the first found key, omitting the rest.

For more details about how Hiera works, see the Hiera documentation:
https://docs.openvoxproject.org/openvox/latest/hiera_intro.html

## OPTIONS
- \--help: Print this help message.

- \--explain Explain the details of how the lookup was performed and
  where the final value came from (or the reason no value was found).

- \--node *NODE-NAME* Specify which node to look up data for; defaults
  to the node where the command is run. Since Hiera\'s purpose is to
  provide different values for different nodes (usually based on their
  facts), you\'ll usually want to use some specific node\'s facts to
  explore your data. If the node where you\'re running this command is
  configured to talk to OpenVoxDB, the command will use the requested
  node\'s most recent facts. Otherwise, you can override facts with the
  \'\--facts\' option.

- \--facts *FILE* Specify a .json or .yaml file of key =\> value
  mappings to override the facts for this lookup. Any facts not
  specified in this file maintain their original value.

- \--environment *ENV* Like with most OpenVox commands, you can specify
  an environment on the command line. This is important for lookup
  because different environments can have different Hiera data. This
  environment will be always be the one used regardless of any other
  factors.

- \--merge first\|unique\|hash\|deep: Specify the merge behavior,
  overriding any merge behavior from the data\'s lookup_options.
  \'first\' returns the first value found. \'unique\' appends everything
  to a merged, deduplicated array. \'hash\' performs a simple hash merge
  by overwriting keys of lower lookup priority. \'deep\' performs a deep
  merge on values of Array and Hash type. There are additional options
  that can be used with \'deep\'.

- \--knock-out-prefix *PREFIX-STRING* Can be used with the \'deep\'
  merge strategy. Specifies a prefix to indicate a value should be
  removed from the final result.

- \--sort-merged-arrays Can be used with the \'deep\' merge strategy.
  When this flag is used, all merged arrays are sorted.

- \--merge-hash-arrays Can be used with the \'deep\' merge strategy.
  When this flag is used, hashes WITHIN arrays are deep-merged with
  their counterparts by position.

- \--explain-options Explain whether a lookup_options hash affects this
  lookup, and how that hash was assembled. (lookup_options is how Hiera
  configures merge behavior in data.)

- \--default *VALUE* A value to return if Hiera can\'t find a value in
  data. For emulating calls to the \'lookup()\' function that include a
  default.

- \--type *TYPESTRING*: Assert that the value has the specified type.
  For emulating calls to the \'lookup()\' function that include a data
  type.

- \--compile Perform a full catalog compilation prior to the lookup. If
  your hierarchy and data only use the \$facts, \$trusted, and
  \$server_facts variables, you don\'t need this option; however, if
  your Hiera configuration uses arbitrary variables set by a Puppet
  manifest, you might need this option to get accurate data. No catalog
  compilation takes place unless this flag is given.

- \--render-as s\|json\|yaml\|binary\|msgpack Specify the output format
  of the results; \"s\" means plain text. The default when producing a
  value is yaml and the default when producing an explanation is s.

## EXAMPLE
To look up \'key_name\' using the OpenVox Server node\'s facts: \$
puppet lookup key_name

To look up \'key_name\' using the OpenVox Server node\'s arbitrary
variables from a manifest, and classify the node if applicable: \$
puppet lookup key_name \--compile

To look up \'key_name\' using the OpenVox Server node\'s facts,
overridden by facts given in a file: \$ puppet lookup key_name \--facts
fact_file.yaml

To look up \'key_name\' with agent.local\'s facts: \$ puppet lookup
\--node agent.local key_name

To get the first value found for \'key_name_one\' and \'key_name_two\'
with agent.local\'s facts while merging values and knocking out the
prefix \'foo\' while merging: \$ puppet lookup \--node agent.local
\--merge deep \--knock-out-prefix foo key_name_one key_name_two

To lookup \'key_name\' with agent.local\'s facts, and return a default
value of \'bar\' if nothing was found: \$ puppet lookup \--node
agent.local \--default bar key_name

To see an explanation of how the value for \'key_name\' would be found,
using agent.local\'s facts: \$ puppet lookup \--node agent.local
\--explain key_name

## COPYRIGHT
Copyright (c) 2015 Puppet Inc. Copyright (c) 2024 Vox Pupuli Licensed
under the Apache 2.0 License
