How to Customize Kubectl Output Columns

You can modify the default kubectl output headers and data using custom columns.

The Kubectl get command has a flag named custom-columns that helps you customize the output in the format you like.

Here is the command that gives custom output showing the pod name and CPU & memory requests.

For a specific namespace add the -n <namespace> to the command.

$ kubectl get pod -o custom-columns='POD NAME:.metadata.name,CPU REQUEST:.spec.containers[*].resources.requests.cpu,MEMORY REQUEST:.spec.containers[*].resources.requests.memory

You will get an output as shown below

POD NAME                        CPU REQUEST   MEMORY REQUEST

frontend-prod-v1                500m          512Mi
backend-prod-v2                 1             1Gi
database-prod                   2             4Gi
cache-prod                      250m          128Mi
analytics-worker-prod           200m          256Mi

Here is another example that lists the pod name and volumes used by a pod.

$ kubectl get pod -o custom-columns='POD NAME:.metadata.name, VOLUMES:.spec.volumes[*].name'

POD NAME               VOLUMES
multi-container-pod   nginx-logs,kube-api-access-56rhl
web-app-01            nginx-logs-1,kube-api-access-8nkwn
web-app-02            nginx-logs-2,kube-api-access-68hgd
web-app-04            nginx-logs-2,kube-api-access-5d6xh