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>]
  13                    [ --stdin | <pattern>... ]
  14                    [--points-at=<object>]
  15                    [--merged[=<object>]] [--no-merged[=<object>]]
  16                    [--contains[=<object>]] [--no-contains[=<object>]]
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20
  21 Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  22 according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  23 to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<count>` is given, stop after
  24 showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  25 can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  26 host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  27
  28 OPTIONS
  29 -------
  30 <pattern>...::
  31         If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
  32         match against at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
  33         literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
  34         beginning up to a slash.
  35
  36 --stdin::
  37         If `--stdin` is supplied, then the list of patterns is read from
  38         standard input instead of from the argument list.
  39
  40 --count=<count>::
  41         By default the command shows all refs that match
  42         `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  43         that many refs.
  44
  45 --sort=<key>::
  46         A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  47         descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  48         `refname` is used.  You may use the --sort=<key> option
  49         multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
  50         key.
  51
  52 --format=<format>::
  53         A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from a ref being shown
  54         and the object it points at.  If `fieldname`
  55         is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  56         at a tag object, use the value for the field in the object
  57         which the tag object refers to (instead of the field in the tag object).
  58         When unspecified, `<format>` defaults to
  59         `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  60         It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  61         are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  62         `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  63         `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  64
  65 --color[=<when>]::
  66         Respect any colors specified in the `--format` option. The
  67         `<when>` field must be one of `always`, `never`, or `auto` (if
  68         `<when>` is absent, behave as if `always` was given).
  69
  70 --shell::
  71 --perl::
  72 --python::
  73 --tcl::
  74         If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  75         placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  76         the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  77         a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  78
  79 --points-at=<object>::
  80         Only list refs which points at the given object.
  81
  82 --merged[=<object>]::
  83         Only list refs whose tips are reachable from the
  84         specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  85
  86 --no-merged[=<object>]::
  87         Only list refs whose tips are not reachable from the
  88         specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  89
  90 --contains[=<object>]::
  91         Only list refs which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
  92         specified).
  93
  94 --no-contains[=<object>]::
  95         Only list refs which don't contain the specified commit (HEAD
  96         if not specified).
  97
  98 --ignore-case::
  99         Sorting and filtering refs are case insensitive.
 100
 101 --omit-empty::
 102         Do not print a newline after formatted refs where the format expands
 103         to the empty string.
 104
 105 FIELD NAMES
 106 -----------
 107
 108 Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
 109 be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
 110 keys.
 111
 112 For all objects, the following names can be used:
 113
 114 refname::
 115         The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
 116         For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
 117         The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
 118         abbreviation mode. If `lstrip=<N>` (`rstrip=<N>`) is appended, strips `<N>`
 119         slash-separated path components from the front (back) of the refname
 120         (e.g. `%(refname:lstrip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `foo` and
 121         `%(refname:rstrip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `refs`).
 122         If `<N>` is a negative number, strip as many path components as
 123         necessary from the specified end to leave `-<N>` path components
 124         (e.g. `%(refname:lstrip=-2)` turns
 125         `refs/tags/foo` into `tags/foo` and `%(refname:rstrip=-1)`
 126         turns `refs/tags/foo` into `refs`). When the ref does not have
 127         enough components, the result becomes an empty string if
 128         stripping with positive <N>, or it becomes the full refname if
 129         stripping with negative <N>.  Neither is an error.
 130 +
 131 `strip` can be used as a synonym to `lstrip`.
 132
 133 objecttype::
 134         The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
 135
 136 objectsize::
 137         The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
 138         Append `:disk` to get the size, in bytes, that the object takes up on
 139         disk. See the note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
 140 objectname::
 141         The object name (aka SHA-1).
 142         For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
 143         For an abbreviation of the object name with desired length append
 144         `:short=<length>`, where the minimum length is MINIMUM_ABBREV. The
 145         length may be exceeded to ensure unique object names.
 146 deltabase::
 147         This expands to the object name of the delta base for the
 148         given object, if it is stored as a delta.  Otherwise it
 149         expands to the null object name (all zeroes).
 150
 151 upstream::
 152         The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
 153         from the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:lstrip` and
 154         `:rstrip` in the same way as `refname` above.  Additionally
 155         respects `:track` to show "[ahead N, behind M]" and
 156         `:trackshort` to show the terse version: ">" (ahead), "<"
 157         (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind), or "=" (in sync). `:track`
 158         also prints "[gone]" whenever unknown upstream ref is
 159         encountered. Append `:track,nobracket` to show tracking
 160         information without brackets (i.e "ahead N, behind M").
 161 +
 162 For any remote-tracking branch `%(upstream)`, `%(upstream:remotename)`
 163 and `%(upstream:remoteref)` refer to the name of the remote and the
 164 name of the tracked remote ref, respectively. In other words, the
 165 remote-tracking branch can be updated explicitly and individually by
 166 using the refspec `%(upstream:remoteref):%(upstream)` to fetch from
 167 `%(upstream:remotename)`.
 168 +
 169 Has no effect if the ref does not have tracking information associated
 170 with it.  All the options apart from `nobracket` are mutually exclusive,
 171 but if used together the last option is selected.
 172
 173 push::
 174         The name of a local ref which represents the `@{push}`
 175         location for the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:lstrip`,
 176         `:rstrip`, `:track`, `:trackshort`, `:remotename`, and `:remoteref`
 177         options as `upstream` does. Produces an empty string if no `@{push}`
 178         ref is configured.
 179
 180 HEAD::
 181         '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 182         otherwise.
 183
 184 color::
 185         Change output color. Followed by `:<colorname>`, where color
 186         names are described under Values in the "CONFIGURATION FILE"
 187         section of linkgit:git-config[1].  For example,
 188         `%(color:bold red)`.
 189
 190 align::
 191         Left-, middle-, or right-align the content between
 192         %(align:...) and %(end). The "align:" is followed by
 193         `width=<width>` and `position=<position>` in any order
 194         separated by a comma, where the `<position>` is either left,
 195         right or middle, default being left and `<width>` is the total
 196         length of the content with alignment. For brevity, the
 197         "width=" and/or "position=" prefixes may be omitted, and bare
 198         <width> and <position> used instead.  For instance,
 199         `%(align:<width>,<position>)`. If the contents length is more
 200         than the width then no alignment is performed. If used with
 201         `--quote` everything in between %(align:...) and %(end) is
 202         quoted, but if nested then only the topmost level performs
 203         quoting.
 204
 205 if::
 206         Used as %(if)...%(then)...%(end) or
 207         %(if)...%(then)...%(else)...%(end).  If there is an atom with
 208         value or string literal after the %(if) then everything after
 209         the %(then) is printed, else if the %(else) atom is used, then
 210         everything after %(else) is printed. We ignore space when
 211         evaluating the string before %(then), this is useful when we
 212         use the %(HEAD) atom which prints either "*" or " " and we
 213         want to apply the 'if' condition only on the 'HEAD' ref.
 214         Append ":equals=<string>" or ":notequals=<string>" to compare
 215         the value between the %(if:...) and %(then) atoms with the
 216         given string.
 217
 218 symref::
 219         The ref which the given symbolic ref refers to. If not a
 220         symbolic ref, nothing is printed. Respects the `:short`,
 221         `:lstrip` and `:rstrip` options in the same way as `refname`
 222         above.
 223
 224 worktreepath::
 225         The absolute path to the worktree in which the ref is checked
 226         out, if it is checked out in any linked worktree. Empty string
 227         otherwise.
 228
 229 ahead-behind:<committish>::
 230         Two integers, separated by a space, demonstrating the number of
 231         commits ahead and behind, respectively, when comparing the output
 232         ref to the `<committish>` specified in the format.
 233
 234 In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 235 field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 236 be used to specify the value in the header field.
 237 Fields `tree` and `parent` can also be used with modifier `:short` and
 238 `:short=<length>` just like `objectname`.
 239
 240 For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 241 fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 242 from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 243 These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 244
 245 Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 246 `committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 247 and `date` to extract the named component.  For email fields (`authoremail`,
 248 `committeremail` and `taggeremail`), `:trim` can be appended to get the email
 249 without angle brackets, and `:localpart` to get the part before the `@` symbol
 250 out of the trimmed email.
 251
 252 The raw data in an object is `raw`.
 253
 254 raw:size::
 255         The raw data size of the object.
 256
 257 Note that `--format=%(raw)` can not be used with `--python`, `--shell`, `--tcl`,
 258 because such language may not support arbitrary binary data in their string
 259 variable type.
 260
 261 The message in a commit or a tag object is `contents`, from which
 262 `contents:<part>` can be used to extract various parts out of:
 263
 264 contents:size::
 265         The size in bytes of the commit or tag message.
 266
 267 contents:subject::
 268         The first paragraph of the message, which typically is a
 269         single line, is taken as the "subject" of the commit or the
 270         tag message.
 271         Instead of `contents:subject`, field `subject` can also be used to
 272         obtain same results. `:sanitize` can be appended to `subject` for
 273         subject line suitable for filename.
 274
 275 contents:body::
 276         The remainder of the commit or the tag message that follows
 277         the "subject".
 278
 279 contents:signature::
 280         The optional GPG signature of the tag.
 281
 282 contents:lines=N::
 283         The first `N` lines of the message.
 284
 285 Additionally, the trailers as interpreted by linkgit:git-interpret-trailers[1]
 286 are obtained as `trailers[:options]` (or by using the historical alias
 287 `contents:trailers[:options]`). For valid [:option] values see `trailers`
 288 section of linkgit:git-log[1].
 289
 290 For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 291 (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 292 All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 293
 294 There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 295 the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 296
 297 In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 298 the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 299 returns an empty string instead.
 300
 301 As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 302 the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 303 values the `--date` option to linkgit:git-rev-list[1] takes).
 304
 305 Some atoms like %(align) and %(if) always require a matching %(end).
 306 We call them "opening atoms" and sometimes denote them as %($open).
 307
 308 When a scripting language specific quoting is in effect, everything
 309 between a top-level opening atom and its matching %(end) is evaluated
 310 according to the semantics of the opening atom and only its result
 311 from the top-level is quoted.
 312
 313
 314 EXAMPLES
 315 --------
 316
 317 An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 318 3 tagged commits:
 319
 320 ------------
 321 #!/bin/sh
 322
 323 git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 324 --format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 325 Subject: %(*subject)
 326 Date: %(*authordate)
 327 Ref: %(*refname)
 328
 329 %(*body)
 330 ' 'refs/tags'
 331 ------------
 332
 333
 334 A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 335 demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 336 ------------
 337 #!/bin/sh
 338
 339 git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 340 while read entry
 341 do
 342         eval "$entry"
 343         echo `dirname $ref`
 344 done
 345 ------------
 346
 347
 348 A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 349 may be an entire script:
 350 ------------
 351 #!/bin/sh
 352
 353 fmt='
 354         r=%(refname)
 355         t=%(*objecttype)
 356         T=${r#refs/tags/}
 357
 358         o=%(*objectname)
 359         n=%(*authorname)
 360         e=%(*authoremail)
 361         s=%(*subject)
 362         d=%(*authordate)
 363         b=%(*body)
 364
 365         kind=Tag
 366         if test "z$t" = z
 367         then
 368                 # could be a lightweight tag
 369                 t=%(objecttype)
 370                 kind="Lightweight tag"
 371                 o=%(objectname)
 372                 n=%(authorname)
 373                 e=%(authoremail)
 374                 s=%(subject)
 375                 d=%(authordate)
 376                 b=%(body)
 377         fi
 378         echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 379         if test "z$t" = zcommit
 380         then
 381                 echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 382 at $d, and titled
 383
 384     $s
 385
 386 Its message reads as:
 387 "
 388                 echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 389                 echo
 390         fi
 391 '
 392
 393 eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 394         --sort='*objecttype' \
 395         --sort=-taggerdate \
 396         refs/tags`
 397 eval "$eval"
 398 ------------
 399
 400
 401 An example to show the usage of %(if)...%(then)...%(else)...%(end).
 402 This prefixes the current branch with a star.
 403
 404 ------------
 405 git for-each-ref --format="%(if)%(HEAD)%(then)* %(else)  %(end)%(refname:short)" refs/heads/
 406 ------------
 407
 408
 409 An example to show the usage of %(if)...%(then)...%(end).
 410 This prints the authorname, if present.
 411
 412 ------------
 413 git for-each-ref --format="%(refname)%(if)%(authorname)%(then) Authored by: %(authorname)%(end)"
 414 ------------
 415
 416 CAVEATS
 417 -------
 418
 419 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
 420 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
 421 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
 422 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
 423 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
 424 and is subject to change during a repack.
 425
 426 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
 427 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
 428 will be reported.
 429
 430 NOTES
 431 -----
 432
 433 include::ref-reachability-filters.txt[]
 434
 435 SEE ALSO
 436 --------
 437 linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 438
 439 GIT
 440 ---
 441 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite