perf data: Allow filtering conversion by time range
This adds a feature to allow restricting the range of converted samples
with a range string like perf-script and perf-report --time.
Committer testing:
Put a probe on the ICMP receive path handling broadcast packets:
# perf probe icmp_rcv:64
Added new event:
probe:icmp_rcv_L64 (on icmp_rcv:64)
You can now use it in all perf tools, such as:
perf record -e probe:icmp_rcv_L64 -aR sleep 1
# perf record -e probe:icmp_rcv_L64 ping -c 10 -b 127.255.255.255
WARNING: pinging broadcast address
PING 127.255.255.255 (127.255.255.255) 56(84) bytes of data.
^C
--- 127.255.255.255 ping statistics ---
10 packets transmitted, 0 received, 100% packet loss, time 9217ms
[ perf record: Woken up 1 times to write data ]
[ perf record: Captured and wrote 0.034 MB perf.data (10 samples) ]
# perf script
ping 52785 [009] 5847.300394: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5848.325018: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5849.349007: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5850.372979: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5851.396988: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5852.420954: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5853.444934: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5854.468926: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5855.492914: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5856.516883: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
#
Now get some slices using perf script:
# perf script --time 40%
ping 52785 [009] 5847.300394: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5848.325018: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5849.349007: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5850.372979: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
# perf script --time 40%-60%
ping 52785 [009] 5851.396988: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
ping 52785 [009] 5852.420954: probe:icmp_rcv_L64: (
ffffffffaadb337e)
#
And finally use this new feature:
# perf data convert --to-json out.json --time 0%-10%
[ perf data convert: Converted 'perf.data' into JSON data 'out.json' ]
[ perf data convert: Converted and wrote 0.001 MB (1 samples) ]
[ perf data convert: Skipped 9 samples ]
# cat out.json
{
"linux-perf-json-version": 1,
"headers": {
"header-version": 1,
"captured-on": "2026-01-06T22:26:40Z",
"data-offset": 520,
"data-size": 34648,
"feat-offset": 35168,
"hostname": "number",
"os-release": "6.17.12-300.fc43.x86_64",
"arch": "x86_64",
"cpu-desc": "AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D 16-Core Processor",
"cpuid": "AuthenticAMD,26,68,0",
"nrcpus-online": 32,
"nrcpus-avail": 32,
"perf-version": "6.19.rc4.gf4c270685d3d",
"cmdline": [
"/home/acme/bin/perf"
]
},
"samples": [
{
"timestamp":
5847300394661,
"pid": 52785,
"tid": 52785,
"cpu": 9,
"comm": "ping",
"callchain": [
{
"ip": "0xffffffffaadb337f",
"symbol": "icmp_rcv",
"dso": "[kernel.kallsyms]"
}
],
"__probe_ip": "
ffffffffaadb337e"
}
]
}
#
Signed-off-by: Derek Foreman <derek.foreman@collabora.com>
Tested-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>
Cc: Adrian Hunter <adrian.hunter@intel.com>
Cc: Alexander Shishkin <alexander.shishkin@linux.intel.com>
Cc: Ian Rogers <irogers@google.com>
Cc: Ingo Molnar <mingo@redhat.com>
Cc: James Clark <james.clark@linaro.org>
Cc: Jiri Olsa <jolsa@kernel.org>
Cc: Mark Rutland <mark.rutland@arm.com>
Cc: Namhyung Kim <namhyung@kernel.org>
Cc: Peter Zijlstra <peterz@infradead.org>
Signed-off-by: Arnaldo Carvalho de Melo <acme@redhat.com>