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