---
title: Reading the output
description: How to read the table, the summary lines, and the colors poly-crap prints on a terminal.
---

A run prints the functions over the threshold, then the summary lines:

```text
CRAP results
  CRAP   CC  Coverage  Language  Symbol  Location    Uncovered
   6.0  4.0     50.0%  python    run     ./app.py:4  6-8
  1 more function not shown; adjust --min or --top to list them.
1 of 2 functions exceeds CRAP threshold 5.0.
Coverage scope: 1 analyzed file, 1 coverage source file, 1 matched, 0 source-only, 0 coverage-only.
```

- **CRAP** is the score.
- **CC** is the cyclomatic complexity.
- **Coverage** is the share of the function's executable lines that a test
  ran, or `N/A` when no report covers the function.
- **Symbol** is the qualified name: `Class.method`, `Type::method` or
  `module::function` in Rust, `Type.Method` for a Go method,
  `Class.method(int,String)` in Java, and `outer.inner` for a nested function.
  A JavaScript class expression takes the name of the variable it is assigned
  to.
- **Location** is the file and the line the function starts on.
- **Uncovered** lists the line ranges inside the function that no test ran, up
  to six, then a count of the rest.

The table holds the functions over the threshold, sorted by score, with every
column padded to line up. The line under it says how many rows it left out,
and a run with nothing over the threshold prints that line with no table.
`--min <SCORE>` sets a different floor, so `--min 0` lists every function;
`--top <N>` caps the rows; `--sort file` groups rows by file. None of them
change the summary line or the exit code. `--summary` prints the summary
lines with no table.

With `--diff-base`, a first line names the merge base and counts the changed
files and the functions selected from them:

```text
Git diff against main from 3f2a9c1: 2 changed files, 1 function selected.
```

## Color

On a terminal, poly-crap colors the cells that carry a judgement and leaves
the rest plain:

- A score is red over the threshold, yellow within 20% of it, and green
  below that.
- Coverage is green from 80%, yellow from 50%, and red below that or when it
  is `N/A`.
- In a baseline comparison, `regressed` is red, `improved` green, `new` cyan,
  `moved` magenta, and `removed` dim. A positive delta is red and a negative
  one green.
- The threshold and regression summary lines are red when anything failed and
  green otherwise. Lines that only give context are dim.
- On stderr, the `warning:`, `note:`, and `error:` prefixes are colored.

`--color auto`, the default, colors a stream when it is a terminal that
supports color, never when `NO_COLOR` is set, and always when
`CLICOLOR_FORCE` is. `--color always` and `--color never` decide outright.
Stdout and stderr are judged on their own, so `poly-crap --format json | jq`
keeps its colored warnings. JSON and SARIF never contain an escape code, and a
report written with `--output` gets them only under `--color always`.