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 `<count>` 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 against 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         For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
  78         The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
  79         abbreviation mode.
  80
  81 objecttype::
  82         The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
  83
  84 objectsize::
  85         The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
  86
  87 objectname::
  88         The object name (aka SHA-1).
  89         For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
  90
  91 upstream::
  92         The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
  93         from the displayed ref. Respects `:short` in the same way as
  94         `refname` above.
  95
  96 In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
  97 field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
  98 be used to specify the value in the header field.
  99
 100 Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 101 `committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 102 and `date` to extract the named component.
 103
 104 The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 105 Its first line is `contents:subject`, the remaining lines
 106 are `contents:body` and the optional GPG signature
 107 is `contents:signature`.
 108
 109 For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
 110 order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
 111 All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 112
 113 In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 114 the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 115 returns an empty string instead.
 116
 117 As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 118 the date by adding one of `:default`, `:relative`, `:short`, `:local`,
 119 `:iso8601` or `:rfc2822` to the end of the fieldname; e.g.
 120 `%(taggerdate:relative)`.
 121
 122
 123 EXAMPLES
 124 --------
 125
 126 An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 127 3 tagged commits:
 128
 129 ------------
 130 #!/bin/sh
 131
 132 git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 133 --format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 134 Subject: %(*subject)
 135 Date: %(*authordate)
 136 Ref: %(*refname)
 137
 138 %(*body)
 139 ' 'refs/tags'
 140 ------------
 141
 142
 143 A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 144 demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 145 ------------
 146 #!/bin/sh
 147
 148 git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 149 while read entry
 150 do
 151         eval "$entry"
 152         echo `dirname $ref`
 153 done
 154 ------------
 155
 156
 157 A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 158 may be an entire script:
 159 ------------
 160 #!/bin/sh
 161
 162 fmt='
 163         r=%(refname)
 164         t=%(*objecttype)
 165         T=${r#refs/tags/}
 166
 167         o=%(*objectname)
 168         n=%(*authorname)
 169         e=%(*authoremail)
 170         s=%(*subject)
 171         d=%(*authordate)
 172         b=%(*body)
 173
 174         kind=Tag
 175         if test "z$t" = z
 176         then
 177                 # could be a lightweight tag
 178                 t=%(objecttype)
 179                 kind="Lightweight tag"
 180                 o=%(objectname)
 181                 n=%(authorname)
 182                 e=%(authoremail)
 183                 s=%(subject)
 184                 d=%(authordate)
 185                 b=%(body)
 186         fi
 187         echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 188         if test "z$t" = zcommit
 189         then
 190                 echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 191 at $d, and titled
 192
 193     $s
 194
 195 Its message reads as:
 196 "
 197                 echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 198                 echo
 199         fi
 200 '
 201
 202 eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 203         --sort='*objecttype' \
 204         --sort=-taggerdate \
 205         refs/tags`
 206 eval "$eval"
 207 ------------
 208
 209 Author
 210 ------
 211 Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>.
 212
 213 Documentation
 214 -------------
 215 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 216
 217 GIT
 218 ---
 219 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite