Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit merge-trees: let caller decide whether to renormalize (1bc0ab7)
   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        For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
  90
  91upstream::
  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
  96In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
  97field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
  98be used to specify the value in the header field.
  99
 100Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 101`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 102and `date` to extract the named component.
 103
 104The first line of the message in a commit and tag object is
 105`subject`, the remaining lines are `body`.  The whole message
 106is `contents`.
 107
 108For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
 109order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
 110All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 111
 112In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 113the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 114returns an empty string instead.
 115
 116As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 117the 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
 122EXAMPLES
 123--------
 124
 125An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1263 tagged commits::
 127
 128------------
 129#!/bin/sh
 130
 131git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 132--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 133Subject: %(*subject)
 134Date: %(*authordate)
 135Ref: %(*refname)
 136
 137%(*body)
 138' 'refs/tags'
 139------------
 140
 141
 142A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 143demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads::
 144------------
 145#!/bin/sh
 146
 147git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 148while read entry
 149do
 150        eval "$entry"
 151        echo `dirname $ref`
 152done
 153------------
 154
 155
 156A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 157may be an entire script::
 158------------
 159#!/bin/sh
 160
 161fmt='
 162        r=%(refname)
 163        t=%(*objecttype)
 164        T=${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
 190at $d, and titled
 191
 192    $s
 193
 194Its message reads as:
 195"
 196                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 197                echo
 198        fi
 199'
 200
 201eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 202        --sort='*objecttype' \
 203        --sort=-taggerdate \
 204        refs/tags`
 205eval "$eval"
 206------------