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