Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit Update jk/maint-strbuf-missing-init to builtin/ rename (03f94ae)
   1git-for-each-ref(1)
   2===================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-for-each-ref - Output information on each ref
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git for-each-ref' [--count=<count>] [--shell|--perl|--python|--tcl]
  12                   [--sort=<key>]\* [--format=<format>] [<pattern>...]
  13
  14DESCRIPTION
  15-----------
  16
  17Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  18according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  19to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<count>` is given, stop after
  20showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  21can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  22host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  23
  24OPTIONS
  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
  66FIELD NAMES
  67-----------
  68
  69Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  70be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  71keys.
  72
  73For all objects, the following names can be used:
  74
  75refname::
  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
  81objecttype::
  82        The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
  83
  84objectsize::
  85        The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
  86
  87objectname::
  88        The object name (aka SHA-1).
  89
  90upstream::
  91        The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
  92        from the displayed ref. Respects `:short` in the same way as
  93        `refname` above.
  94
  95In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
  96field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
  97be used to specify the value in the header field.
  98
  99Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 100`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 101and `date` to extract the named component.
 102
 103The first line of the message in a commit and tag object is
 104`subject`, the remaining lines are `body`.  The whole message
 105is `contents`.
 106
 107For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
 108order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
 109All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 110
 111In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 112the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 113returns an empty string instead.
 114
 115As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 116the date by adding one of `:default`, `:relative`, `:short`, `:local`,
 117`:iso8601` or `:rfc2822` to the end of the fieldname; e.g.
 118`%(taggerdate:relative)`.
 119
 120
 121EXAMPLES
 122--------
 123
 124An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1253 tagged commits::
 126
 127------------
 128#!/bin/sh
 129
 130git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 131--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 132Subject: %(*subject)
 133Date: %(*authordate)
 134Ref: %(*refname)
 135
 136%(*body)
 137' 'refs/tags'
 138------------
 139
 140
 141A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 142demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads::
 143------------
 144#!/bin/sh
 145
 146git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 147while read entry
 148do
 149        eval "$entry"
 150        echo `dirname $ref`
 151done
 152------------
 153
 154
 155A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 156may be an entire script::
 157------------
 158#!/bin/sh
 159
 160fmt='
 161        r=%(refname)
 162        t=%(*objecttype)
 163        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 164
 165        o=%(*objectname)
 166        n=%(*authorname)
 167        e=%(*authoremail)
 168        s=%(*subject)
 169        d=%(*authordate)
 170        b=%(*body)
 171
 172        kind=Tag
 173        if test "z$t" = z
 174        then
 175                # could be a lightweight tag
 176                t=%(objecttype)
 177                kind="Lightweight tag"
 178                o=%(objectname)
 179                n=%(authorname)
 180                e=%(authoremail)
 181                s=%(subject)
 182                d=%(authordate)
 183                b=%(body)
 184        fi
 185        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 186        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 187        then
 188                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 189at $d, and titled
 190
 191    $s
 192
 193Its message reads as:
 194"
 195                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 196                echo
 197        fi
 198'
 199
 200eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 201        --sort='*objecttype' \
 202        --sort=-taggerdate \
 203        refs/tags`
 204eval "$eval"
 205------------