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>] [(--merged | --no-merged) [<object>]]
  14                    [--contains [<object>]]
  15
  16 DESCRIPTION
  17 -----------
  18
  19 Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  20 according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  21 to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<count>` is given, stop after
  22 showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  23 can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  24 host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  25
  26 OPTIONS
  27 -------
  28 <count>::
  29         By default the command shows all refs that match
  30         `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  31         that many refs.
  32
  33 <key>::
  34         A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  35         descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  36         `refname` is used.  You may use the --sort=<key> option
  37         multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
  38         key.
  39
  40 <format>::
  41         A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from the
  42         object pointed at by a ref being shown.  If `fieldname`
  43         is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  44         at a tag object, the value for the field in the object
  45         tag refers is used.  When unspecified, defaults to
  46         `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  47         It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  48         are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  49         `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  50         `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  51
  52 <pattern>...::
  53         If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
  54         match against at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
  55         literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
  56         beginning up to a slash.
  57
  58 --shell::
  59 --perl::
  60 --python::
  61 --tcl::
  62         If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  63         placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  64         the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  65         a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  66
  67 --points-at <object>::
  68         Only list refs which points at the given object.
  69
  70 --merged [<object>]::
  71         Only list refs whose tips are reachable from the
  72         specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  73
  74 --no-merged [<object>]::
  75         Only list refs whose tips are not reachable from the
  76         specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  77
  78 --contains [<object>]::
  79         Only list refs which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
  80         specified).
  81
  82 FIELD NAMES
  83 -----------
  84
  85 Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  86 be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  87 keys.
  88
  89 For all objects, the following names can be used:
  90
  91 refname::
  92         The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
  93         For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
  94         The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
  95         abbreviation mode. If `strip=<N>` is appended, strips `<N>`
  96         slash-separated path components from the front of the refname
  97         (e.g., `%(refname:strip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `foo`.
  98         `<N>` must be a positive integer.  If a displayed ref has fewer
  99         components than `<N>`, the command aborts with an error.
 100
 101 objecttype::
 102         The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
 103
 104 objectsize::
 105         The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
 106
 107 objectname::
 108         The object name (aka SHA-1).
 109         For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
 110
 111 upstream::
 112         The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
 113         from the displayed ref. Respects `:short` in the same way as
 114         `refname` above.  Additionally respects `:track` to show
 115         "[ahead N, behind M]" and `:trackshort` to show the terse
 116         version: ">" (ahead), "<" (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind),
 117         or "=" (in sync).  Has no effect if the ref does not have
 118         tracking information associated with it.
 119
 120 push::
 121         The name of a local ref which represents the `@{push}` location
 122         for the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:track`, and
 123         `:trackshort` options as `upstream` does. Produces an empty
 124         string if no `@{push}` ref is configured.
 125
 126 HEAD::
 127         '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 128         otherwise.
 129
 130 color::
 131         Change output color.  Followed by `:<colorname>`, where names
 132         are described in `color.branch.*`.
 133
 134 align::
 135         Left-, middle-, or right-align the content between
 136         %(align:...) and %(end). The "align:" is followed by
 137         `width=<width>` and `position=<position>` in any order
 138         separated by a comma, where the `<position>` is either left,
 139         right or middle, default being left and `<width>` is the total
 140         length of the content with alignment. For brevity, the
 141         "width=" and/or "position=" prefixes may be omitted, and bare
 142         <width> and <position> used instead.  For instance,
 143         `%(align:<width>,<position>)`. If the contents length is more
 144         than the width then no alignment is performed. If used with
 145         `--quote` everything in between %(align:...) and %(end) is
 146         quoted, but if nested then only the topmost level performs
 147         quoting.
 148
 149 In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 150 field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 151 be used to specify the value in the header field.
 152
 153 For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 154 fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 155 from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 156 These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 157
 158 Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 159 `committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 160 and `date` to extract the named component.
 161
 162 The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 163 Its first line is `contents:subject`, where subject is the concatenation
 164 of all lines of the commit message up to the first blank line.  The next
 165 line is 'contents:body', where body is all of the lines after the first
 166 blank line.  The optional GPG signature is `contents:signature`.  The
 167 first `N` lines of the message is obtained using `contents:lines=N`.
 168
 169 For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 170 (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 171 All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 172
 173 There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 174 the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 175
 176 In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 177 the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 178 returns an empty string instead.
 179
 180 As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 181 the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 182 values the `--date` option to linkgit:git-rev-list[1] takes).
 183
 184
 185 EXAMPLES
 186 --------
 187
 188 An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 189 3 tagged commits:
 190
 191 ------------
 192 #!/bin/sh
 193
 194 git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 195 --format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 196 Subject: %(*subject)
 197 Date: %(*authordate)
 198 Ref: %(*refname)
 199
 200 %(*body)
 201 ' 'refs/tags'
 202 ------------
 203
 204
 205 A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 206 demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 207 ------------
 208 #!/bin/sh
 209
 210 git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 211 while read entry
 212 do
 213         eval "$entry"
 214         echo `dirname $ref`
 215 done
 216 ------------
 217
 218
 219 A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 220 may be an entire script:
 221 ------------
 222 #!/bin/sh
 223
 224 fmt='
 225         r=%(refname)
 226         t=%(*objecttype)
 227         T=${r#refs/tags/}
 228
 229         o=%(*objectname)
 230         n=%(*authorname)
 231         e=%(*authoremail)
 232         s=%(*subject)
 233         d=%(*authordate)
 234         b=%(*body)
 235
 236         kind=Tag
 237         if test "z$t" = z
 238         then
 239                 # could be a lightweight tag
 240                 t=%(objecttype)
 241                 kind="Lightweight tag"
 242                 o=%(objectname)
 243                 n=%(authorname)
 244                 e=%(authoremail)
 245                 s=%(subject)
 246                 d=%(authordate)
 247                 b=%(body)
 248         fi
 249         echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 250         if test "z$t" = zcommit
 251         then
 252                 echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 253 at $d, and titled
 254
 255     $s
 256
 257 Its message reads as:
 258 "
 259                 echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 260                 echo
 261         fi
 262 '
 263
 264 eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 265         --sort='*objecttype' \
 266         --sort=-taggerdate \
 267         refs/tags`
 268 eval "$eval"
 269 ------------
 270
 271 SEE ALSO
 272 --------
 273 linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 274
 275 GIT
 276 ---
 277 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite