.. _confluent_local_consume:

=================
confluent consume
=================

Description
-----------
Consume data from topics. By default this command consumes non-Avro data from the Kafka cluster on the localhost.

For this command to work, you must :ref:`configure <cli-install>` the ``PATH`` environment variable to point to the |cp| ``bin`` directory.

For reference on how to use Confluent CLI to produce to a topic, see :ref:`confluent produce <confluent_local_produce>`.


Usage
-----

.. codewithvars:: bash

   confluent consume <topicname>|dash| [--value-format avro] [other optional args]

.. tip:: For usage information, enter ``confluent help consume``.


Required Arguments
------------------

===================================  =======  ==============================================
Name, shorthand                      Default  Description
===================================  =======  ==============================================
``<topicname>``                               Kafka topic to consume messages from
===================================  =======  ==============================================


Optional Arguments
------------------

Here are some common optional arguments. For a full list of optional arguments:

.. codewithvars:: bash
  
   confluent help consume

===========================  ==================  =====================================================
Name, shorthand              Default             Description
===========================  ==================  =====================================================
``--value-format avro``                          Specify the topic data as Avro data.
``--cloud``                                      Connect to |ccloud| using configuration file at default location ``$HOME/.ccloud/config``
``--config <filename>``                          Specify an alternate configuration file
``--from-beginning``         ``latest``          Consume from the earliest message in the topic log
``--bootstrap-server``       ``localhost:9092``  Kafka brokers to connect to.         
===========================  ==================  =====================================================



Examples
--------

- Consume Avro data from the beginning of topic called ``mytopic1`` on a development Kafka cluster on localhost. Assumes |sr-long| is listening at ``http://localhost:8081``.

  .. codewithvars:: bash

    confluent consume mytopic1|dash| --value-format avro --from-beginning

- Consume newly arriving non-Avro data from a topic called ``mytopic2`` on a development Kafka cluster on localhost:

  .. codewithvars:: bash

     confluent consume mytopic2

- Consume non-Avro data from the beginning of topic called ``mytopic3`` in |ccloud| (assumes you have initialized your |ccloud| configuration  with `Confluent Cloud CLI <https://docs.confluent.io/ccloud-cli/current/install.html>`__):

  .. codewithvars:: bash

     confluent consume mytopic3|dash| --cloud --from-beginning

- Consume messages with keys and non-Avro values from the beginning of topic called ``mytopic4`` in |ccloud|, using a user-specified |ccloud| configuration file at ``/tmp/config``.

  .. codewithvars:: bash

     confluent consume mytopic4|dash| --cloud --config /tmp/config --from-beginning --property print.key=true

- Consume Avro data from a topic called ``mytopic5`` in |ccloud|. Assumes |sr-long| is listening at ``http://localhost:8081``.

  .. sourcecode:: bash

     confluent consume mytopic5|dash| --cloud --value-format avro --from-beginning --property schema.registry.url=http://localhost:8081