Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit doc/read-tree: remove obsolete remark (30221a3)
   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                   [--points-at <object>] [(--merged | --no-merged) [<object>]]
  14                   [--contains [<object>]]
  15
  16DESCRIPTION
  17-----------
  18
  19Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  20according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  21to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<count>` is given, stop after
  22showing that many refs.  The interpolated values in `<format>`
  23can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  24host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  25
  26OPTIONS
  27-------
  28<count>::
  29        By default the command shows all refs that match
  30        `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  31        that many refs.
  32
  33<key>::
  34        A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  35        descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  36        `refname` is used.  You may use the --sort=<key> option
  37        multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary
  38        key.
  39
  40<format>::
  41        A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from the
  42        object pointed at by a ref being shown.  If `fieldname`
  43        is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  44        at a tag object, the value for the field in the object
  45        tag refers is used.  When unspecified, defaults to
  46        `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  47        It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  48        are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  49        `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  50        `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  51
  52<pattern>...::
  53        If one or more patterns are given, only refs are shown that
  54        match against at least one pattern, either using fnmatch(3) or
  55        literally, in the latter case matching completely or from the
  56        beginning up to a slash.
  57
  58--shell::
  59--perl::
  60--python::
  61--tcl::
  62        If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  63        placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  64        the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  65        a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  66
  67--points-at <object>::
  68        Only list refs which points at the given object.
  69
  70--merged [<object>]::
  71        Only list refs whose tips are reachable from the
  72        specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  73
  74--no-merged [<object>]::
  75        Only list refs whose tips are not reachable from the
  76        specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
  77
  78--contains [<object>]::
  79        Only list refs which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
  80        specified).
  81
  82FIELD NAMES
  83-----------
  84
  85Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  86be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  87keys.
  88
  89For all objects, the following names can be used:
  90
  91refname::
  92        The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
  93        For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
  94        The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
  95        abbreviation mode. If `strip=<N>` is appended, strips `<N>`
  96        slash-separated path components from the front of the refname
  97        (e.g., `%(refname:strip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `foo`.
  98        `<N>` must be a positive integer.  If a displayed ref has fewer
  99        components than `<N>`, the command aborts with an error.
 100
 101objecttype::
 102        The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
 103
 104objectsize::
 105        The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
 106
 107objectname::
 108        The object name (aka SHA-1).
 109        For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
 110
 111upstream::
 112        The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
 113        from the displayed ref. Respects `:short` in the same way as
 114        `refname` above.  Additionally respects `:track` to show
 115        "[ahead N, behind M]" and `:trackshort` to show the terse
 116        version: ">" (ahead), "<" (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind),
 117        or "=" (in sync).  Has no effect if the ref does not have
 118        tracking information associated with it.
 119
 120push::
 121        The name of a local ref which represents the `@{push}` location
 122        for the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:track`, and
 123        `:trackshort` options as `upstream` does. Produces an empty
 124        string if no `@{push}` ref is configured.
 125
 126HEAD::
 127        '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 128        otherwise.
 129
 130color::
 131        Change output color.  Followed by `:<colorname>`, where names
 132        are described in `color.branch.*`.
 133
 134align::
 135        Left-, middle-, or right-align the content between
 136        %(align:...) and %(end). The "align:" is followed by
 137        `width=<width>` and `position=<position>` in any order
 138        separated by a comma, where the `<position>` is either left,
 139        right or middle, default being left and `<width>` is the total
 140        length of the content with alignment. For brevity, the
 141        "width=" and/or "position=" prefixes may be omitted, and bare
 142        <width> and <position> used instead.  For instance,
 143        `%(align:<width>,<position>)`. If the contents length is more
 144        than the width then no alignment is performed. If used with
 145        `--quote` everything in between %(align:...) and %(end) is
 146        quoted, but if nested then only the topmost level performs
 147        quoting.
 148
 149In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 150field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 151be used to specify the value in the header field.
 152
 153For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 154fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 155from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 156These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 157
 158Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 159`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 160and `date` to extract the named component.
 161
 162The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 163Its first line is `contents:subject`, where subject is the concatenation
 164of all lines of the commit message up to the first blank line.  The next
 165line is 'contents:body', where body is all of the lines after the first
 166blank line.  The optional GPG signature is `contents:signature`.  The
 167first `N` lines of the message is obtained using `contents:lines=N`.
 168
 169For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 170(`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 171All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 172
 173There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 174the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 175
 176In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 177the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 178returns an empty string instead.
 179
 180As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 181the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 182values the `--date` option to linkgit:git-rev-list[1] takes).
 183
 184
 185EXAMPLES
 186--------
 187
 188An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1893 tagged commits:
 190
 191------------
 192#!/bin/sh
 193
 194git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 195--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 196Subject: %(*subject)
 197Date: %(*authordate)
 198Ref: %(*refname)
 199
 200%(*body)
 201' 'refs/tags'
 202------------
 203
 204
 205A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 206demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 207------------
 208#!/bin/sh
 209
 210git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 211while read entry
 212do
 213        eval "$entry"
 214        echo `dirname $ref`
 215done
 216------------
 217
 218
 219A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 220may be an entire script:
 221------------
 222#!/bin/sh
 223
 224fmt='
 225        r=%(refname)
 226        t=%(*objecttype)
 227        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 228
 229        o=%(*objectname)
 230        n=%(*authorname)
 231        e=%(*authoremail)
 232        s=%(*subject)
 233        d=%(*authordate)
 234        b=%(*body)
 235
 236        kind=Tag
 237        if test "z$t" = z
 238        then
 239                # could be a lightweight tag
 240                t=%(objecttype)
 241                kind="Lightweight tag"
 242                o=%(objectname)
 243                n=%(authorname)
 244                e=%(authoremail)
 245                s=%(subject)
 246                d=%(authordate)
 247                b=%(body)
 248        fi
 249        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 250        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 251        then
 252                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 253at $d, and titled
 254
 255    $s
 256
 257Its message reads as:
 258"
 259                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 260                echo
 261        fi
 262'
 263
 264eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 265        --sort='*objecttype' \
 266        --sort=-taggerdate \
 267        refs/tags`
 268eval "$eval"
 269------------
 270
 271SEE ALSO
 272--------
 273linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 274
 275GIT
 276---
 277Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite