Eliminate feedback_to_output settable and have pfeedback always print to stdout

Author: tleonhardt

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -108,6 +108,8 @@ prompt is displayed.
       treated as command output and sent to `self.stdout`, allowing them to be captured.
     - Verbose help table descriptions are no longer generated from help function output. The system
       now relies exclusively on command function docstrings.
+    - Removed `feedback_to_output` settable and changed `cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback` to always print to
+      `self.stdout`
 - Enhancements
     - New `cmd2.Cmd` parameters
         - **auto_suggest**: (boolean) if `True`, provide fish shell style auto-suggestions. These
@@ -166,6 +168,8 @@ prompt is displayed.
     - Updated `set` command to consolidate its confirmation output into a single, colorized line.
       The confirmation now uses `pfeedback()`, allowing it to be silenced when the `quiet` settable
       is enabled.
+    - `alias` and `macro` subcommands for `create` and `delete` now output their non-essential
+      success case output using `pfeedback`
 
 ## 3.5.1 (April 24, 2026)
 

cmd2/cmd2.py

@@ -474,7 +474,6 @@ def __init__(
         self.debug = False
         self.echo = False
         self.editor = self.DEFAULT_EDITOR
-        self.feedback_to_output = False  # Do not include nonessentials in >, | output by default (things like timing)
         self.quiet = False  # Do not suppress nonessential output
         self.scripts_add_to_history = True  # Scripts and pyscripts add commands to history
         self.timing = False  # Prints elapsed time for each command
@@ -1370,7 +1369,6 @@ def allow_style_type(value: str) -> ru.AllowStyle:
         self.add_settable(Settable("debug", bool, "Show full traceback on exception", self))
         self.add_settable(Settable("echo", bool, "Echo command issued into output", self))
         self.add_settable(Settable("editor", str, "Program used by 'edit'", self))
-        self.add_settable(Settable("feedback_to_output", bool, "Include nonessentials in '|' and '>' results", self))
         self.add_settable(
             Settable(
                 "max_completion_table_items",
@@ -1754,40 +1752,23 @@ def pfeedback(
         rich_print_kwargs: Mapping[str, Any] | None = None,
         **kwargs: Any,  # noqa: ARG002
     ) -> None:
-        """Print nonessential feedback.
-
-        The output can be silenced with the `quiet` setting and its inclusion in redirected output
-        is controlled by the `feedback_to_output` setting.
+        """Print nonessential feedback where the output can be silenced with the `quiet` setting.
 
         For details on the parameters, refer to the `print_to` method documentation.
         """
         if not self.quiet:
-            if self.feedback_to_output:
-                self.poutput(
-                    *objects,
-                    sep=sep,
-                    end=end,
-                    style=style,
-                    soft_wrap=soft_wrap,
-                    justify=justify,
-                    emoji=emoji,
-                    markup=markup,
-                    highlight=highlight,
-                    rich_print_kwargs=rich_print_kwargs,
-                )
-            else:
-                self.perror(
-                    *objects,
-                    sep=sep,
-                    end=end,
-                    style=style,
-                    soft_wrap=soft_wrap,
-                    justify=justify,
-                    emoji=emoji,
-                    markup=markup,
-                    highlight=highlight,
-                    rich_print_kwargs=rich_print_kwargs,
-                )
+            self.poutput(
+                *objects,
+                sep=sep,
+                end=end,
+                style=style,
+                soft_wrap=soft_wrap,
+                justify=justify,
+                emoji=emoji,
+                markup=markup,
+                highlight=highlight,
+                rich_print_kwargs=rich_print_kwargs,
+            )
 
     def ppaged(
         self,
@@ -2992,7 +2973,7 @@ def onecmd_plus_hooks(
                 stop = self.postcmd(stop, statement)
 
                 if self.timing:
-                    self.pfeedback(f"Elapsed: {datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc) - timestart}")
+                    self.perror(f"Elapsed: {datetime.datetime.now(tz=datetime.timezone.utc) - timestart}", style=None)
             finally:
                 # Get sigint protection while we restore stuff
                 with self.sigint_protection:

docs/features/builtin_commands.md

@@ -83,7 +83,6 @@ application:
  debug                           False      Show full traceback on exception
  echo                            False      Echo command issued into output
  editor                          vim        Program used by 'edit'
- feedback_to_output              False      Include nonessentials in '|' and '>' results
  max_column_completion_results   7          Maximum number of completion results to display in a single column
  max_completion_table_items      50         Maximum number of completion results allowed for a completion table to appear
  quiet                           False      Don't print nonessential feedback

docs/features/generating_output.md

@@ -84,15 +84,15 @@ output.
 
 You may have the need to display information to the user which is not intended to be part of the
 generated output. This could be debugging information or status information about the progress of
-long running commands. It's not output, it's not error messages, it's feedback. If you use the
+long running commands. It's not output, it's not error messages, it's status. If you use the
 [Timing](./settings.md#timing) setting, the output of how long it took the command to run will be
-output as feedback. You can use the [pfeedback][cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback] method to produce this type of
-output, and several [Settings](./settings.md) control how it is handled.
+output as to `stderr` without any styling. You can use the [perror][cmd2.Cmd.perror] method to
+produce this type of output by passing it `style=None`.
 
 If the [quiet](./settings.md#quiet) setting is `True`, then calling `cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback` produces no
-output. If [quiet](./settings.md#quiet) is `False`, the
-[feedback_to_output](./settings.md#feedback_to_output) setting is consulted to determine whether to
-send the output to `stdout` or `stderr`.
+output. If [quiet](./settings.md#quiet) is `False`,the `pfeedback` method sends output to `stdout`.
+Hence, `pfeedback` is useful for non-essential output that you want the ability to silence when
+`quiet` is `True`.
 
 ## Exceptions
 

docs/features/initialization.md

@@ -43,7 +43,6 @@ Here are instance attributes of `cmd2.Cmd` which developers might wish to overri
 - **editor**: text editor program to use with _edit_ command (e.g. `vim`)
 - **exclude_from_history**: commands to exclude from the _history_ command
 - **exit_code**: this determines the value returned by `cmdloop()` when exiting the application
-- **feedback_to_output**: if `True`, send nonessential output to stdout, if `False` send them to stderr (Default: `False`)
 - **help_error**: the error that prints when no help information can be found
 - **hidden_commands**: commands to exclude from the help menu and tab completion
 - **last_result**: stores results from the last command run to enable usage of results in a Python script or interactive console. Built-in commands don't make use of this. It is purely there for user-defined commands and convenience.

docs/features/settings.md

@@ -54,15 +54,6 @@ the prompt.
 Similar to the `EDITOR` shell variable, this setting contains the name of the program which should
 be run by the [edit](./builtin_commands.md#edit) command.
 
-### feedback_to_output
-
-Controls whether feedback generated with the `cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback` method is sent to `self.stdout` or
-`sys.stderr`. If `False` the output will be sent to `sys.stderr`
-
-If `True` the output is sent to `stdout` (which is often the screen but may be
-[redirected](./redirection.md#output-redirection-and-pipes)). The feedback output will be mixed in
-with and indistinguishable from output generated with `cmd2.Cmd.poutput`.
-
 ### max_completion_table_items
 
 The maximum number of items to display in a completion table. A completion table is a special kind
@@ -74,8 +65,8 @@ appear.
 
 ### quiet
 
-If `True`, output generated by calling `cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback` is suppressed. If `False`, the
-[feedback_to_output](#feedback_to_output) setting controls where the output is sent.
+If `True`, output generated by calling `cmd2.Cmd.pfeedback` is suppressed. If `False`, the output is
+sent to `stdout`.
 
 ### scripts_add_to_history
 

tests/test_cmd2.py

@@ -726,8 +726,7 @@ def test_output_redirection_to_too_long_filename(redirection_app) -> None:
     assert "Failed to redirect" in err[0]
 
 
-def test_feedback_to_output_true(redirection_app) -> None:
-    redirection_app.feedback_to_output = True
+def test_feedback(redirection_app) -> None:
     f, filename = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix="cmd2_test", suffix=".txt")
     os.close(f)
 
@@ -740,22 +739,6 @@ def test_feedback_to_output_true(redirection_app) -> None:
         os.remove(filename)
 
 
-def test_feedback_to_output_false(redirection_app) -> None:
-    redirection_app.feedback_to_output = False
-    f, filename = tempfile.mkstemp(prefix="feedback_to_output", suffix=".txt")
-    os.close(f)
-
-    try:
-        _out, err = run_cmd(redirection_app, f"print_feedback > {filename}")
-
-        with open(filename) as f:
-            content = f.read().splitlines()
-        assert not content
-        assert "feedback" in err
-    finally:
-        os.remove(filename)
-
-
 def test_disallow_redirection(redirection_app: RedirectionApp, capsys: pytest.CaptureFixture[str]) -> None:
     # Set allow_redirection to False
     redirection_app.allow_redirection = False
@@ -872,7 +855,6 @@ def test_allow_clipboard(base_app) -> None:
 
 
 def test_base_timing(base_app) -> None:
-    base_app.feedback_to_output = False
     out, err = run_cmd(base_app, "set timing True")
     assert not out
     assert err[0].startswith("timing: False")