Get list of transferred files from rsync?

If there's an rsync option to do exactly what you're asking, I didn't find it in the manpage either. :-)

That said, I don't see the problem with grepping the output of rsync -i to parse out exactly what you need. That feels nice and Unixy to me.

One nit-picky quibble with your rsync command: the -r is redundant, as it is implied by -a.

Use the --out-format option

According to the man page:

Specifying the --out-format option will mention each file, dir, etc. that gets updated in a significant way (a transferred file, a recreated symlink/device, or a directory).

If you only need the actual filenames (--out-format="%n") your dry run command might look like:

rsync -rzan --out-format="%n" --ignore-times --checksum /tmp/app_export/ [email protected]:/var/www/html/app/

When rsync is called with -v, it internally uses this option with a default format of "%n%L", which tells you just the name of the file and, if item the is a link, where it points.

But this also includes a short summary at the beginning and the end of the sync process.

To get rid of that summary use the --out-format option directly.

Btw. -i also internally uses --out-format, but with a format of "%i %n%L".

Beginning with rsync v3.1.0, released in 2013, there is the --info flag which allows fine-grained control over the output.

 --info=FLAGS
          This option lets you have fine-grained control over the information output you want to see.  An individual flag name may be followed
          by a level number, with 0 meaning to silence that output, 1 being the default output level, and higher numbers increasing the output
          of that flag (for those that support higher levels).  Use --info=help to see all the available flag names,  what  they  output,  and
          what flag names are added for each increase in the verbose level.  Some examples:

              rsync -a --info=progress2 src/ dest/
              rsync -avv --info=stats2,misc1,flist0 src/ dest/

          Note  that  --info=name’s  output  is  affected  by the --out-format and --itemize-changes (-i) options.  See those options for more
          information on what is output and when.

          This option was added to 3.1.0, so an older rsync on the server side might reject your attempts at fine-grained control (if  one  or
          more  flags  needed  to  be  send to the server and the server was too old to understand them).  See also the "max verbosity" caveat
          above when dealing with a daemon.

The available --info flags are:

Use OPT or OPT1 for level 1 output, OPT2 for level 2, etc.; OPT0 silences.

BACKUP     Mention files backed up
COPY       Mention files copied locally on the receiving side
DEL        Mention deletions on the receiving side
FLIST      Mention file-list receiving/sending (levels 1-2)
MISC       Mention miscellaneous information (levels 1-2)
MOUNT      Mention mounts that were found or skipped
NAME       Mention 1) updated file/dir names, 2) unchanged names
PROGRESS   Mention 1) per-file progress or 2) total transfer progress
REMOVE     Mention files removed on the sending side
SKIP       Mention files that are skipped due to options used
STATS      Mention statistics at end of run (levels 1-3)
SYMSAFE    Mention symlinks that are unsafe

ALL        Set all --info options (e.g. all4)
NONE       Silence all --info options (same as all0)
HELP       Output this help message

Options added for each increase in verbose level:
1) COPY,DEL,FLIST,MISC,NAME,STATS,SYMSAFE
2) BACKUP,MISC2,MOUNT,NAME2,REMOVE,SKIP