Documentation/git-for-each-ref.txt

   1 git-for-each-ref(1)
   2 ===================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-for-each-ref - Output information on each ref
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git-for-each-ref' [--count=<count>] [--shell|--perl|--python|--tcl]
  12                    [--sort=<key>]\* [--format=<format>] [<pattern>...]
  13
  14 DESCRIPTION
  15 -----------
  16
  17 Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  18 according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  19 to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<max>` is given, stop after
  20 showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  21 can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  22 host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  23
  24 OPTIONS
  25 -------
  26 <count>::
  27         By default the command shows all refs that match
  28         `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  29         that many refs.
  30
  31 <key>::
  32         A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  33         descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  34         `refname` is used.  You may use the --sort=<key> option
  35         multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
  36         key.
  37
  38 <format>::
  39         A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from the
  40         object pointed at by a ref being shown.  If `fieldname`
  41         is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  42         at a tag object, the value for the field in the object
  43         tag refers is used.  When unspecified, defaults to
  44         `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  45         It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  46         are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  47         `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  48         `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  49
  50 <pattern>::
  51         If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
  52         match againt at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
  53         literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
  54         beginning up to a slash.
  55
  56 --shell::
  57 --perl::
  58 --python::
  59 --tcl::
  60         If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  61         placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  62         the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  63         a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  64
  65
  66 FIELD NAMES
  67 -----------
  68
  69 Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  70 be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  71 keys.
  72
  73 For all objects, the following names can be used:
  74
  75 refname::
  76         The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
  77
  78 objecttype::
  79         The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
  80
  81 objectsize::
  82         The size of the object (the same as `git-cat-file -s` reports).
  83
  84 objectname::
  85         The object name (aka SHA-1).
  86
  87 In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
  88 field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
  89 be used to specify the value in the header field.
  90
  91 Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
  92 `committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
  93 and `date` to extract the named component.
  94
  95 The first line of the message in a commit and tag object is
  96 `subject`, the remaining lines are `body`.  The whole message
  97 is `contents`.
  98
  99 For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
 100 order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
 101 All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 102
 103 In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 104 the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 105 returns an empty string instead.
 106
 107 As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 108 the date by adding one of `:default`, `:relative`, `:short`, `:local`,
 109 `:iso8601` or `:rfc2822` to the end of the fieldname; e.g.
 110 `%(taggerdate:relative)`.
 111
 112
 113 EXAMPLES
 114 --------
 115
 116 An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 117 3 tagged commits::
 118
 119 ------------
 120 #!/bin/sh
 121
 122 git-for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 123 --format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 124 Subject: %(*subject)
 125 Date: %(*authordate)
 126 Ref: %(*refname)
 127
 128 %(*body)
 129 ' 'refs/tags'
 130 ------------
 131
 132
 133 A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 134 demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads::
 135 ------------
 136 #!/bin/sh
 137
 138 git-for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 139 while read entry
 140 do
 141         eval "$entry"
 142         echo `dirname $ref`
 143 done
 144 ------------
 145
 146
 147 A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 148 may be an entire script::
 149 ------------
 150 #!/bin/sh
 151
 152 fmt='
 153         r=%(refname)
 154         t=%(*objecttype)
 155         T=${r#refs/tags/}
 156
 157         o=%(*objectname)
 158         n=%(*authorname)
 159         e=%(*authoremail)
 160         s=%(*subject)
 161         d=%(*authordate)
 162         b=%(*body)
 163
 164         kind=Tag
 165         if test "z$t" = z
 166         then
 167                 # could be a lightweight tag
 168                 t=%(objecttype)
 169                 kind="Lightweight tag"
 170                 o=%(objectname)
 171                 n=%(authorname)
 172                 e=%(authoremail)
 173                 s=%(subject)
 174                 d=%(authordate)
 175                 b=%(body)
 176         fi
 177         echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 178         if test "z$t" = zcommit
 179         then
 180                 echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 181 at $d, and titled
 182
 183     $s
 184
 185 Its message reads as:
 186 "
 187                 echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 188                 echo
 189         fi
 190 '
 191
 192 eval=`git-for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 193         --sort='*objecttype' \
 194         --sort=-taggerdate \
 195         refs/tags`
 196 eval "$eval"
 197 ------------