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