Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit Eighth batch for 2.8 (56f37fd)
   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 tags 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 `<width>`
 137        and `<position>` in any order separated by a comma, where the
 138        `<position>` is either left, right or middle, default being
 139        left and `<width>` is the total length of the content with
 140        alignment. If the contents length is more than the width then
 141        no alignment is performed. If used with '--quote' everything
 142        in between %(align:...) and %(end) is quoted, but if nested
 143        then only the topmost level performs quoting.
 144
 145In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 146field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 147be used to specify the value in the header field.
 148
 149For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 150fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 151from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 152These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 153
 154Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 155`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 156and `date` to extract the named component.
 157
 158The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 159Its first line is `contents:subject`, where subject is the concatenation
 160of all lines of the commit message up to the first blank line.  The next
 161line is 'contents:body', where body is all of the lines after the first
 162blank line.  The optional GPG signature is `contents:signature`.  The
 163first `N` lines of the message is obtained using `contents:lines=N`.
 164
 165For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 166(`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 167All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 168
 169There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 170the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 171
 172In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 173the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 174returns an empty string instead.
 175
 176As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 177the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 178values the `--date` option to linkgit::git-rev-list[1] takes).
 179
 180
 181EXAMPLES
 182--------
 183
 184An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1853 tagged commits:
 186
 187------------
 188#!/bin/sh
 189
 190git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 191--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 192Subject: %(*subject)
 193Date: %(*authordate)
 194Ref: %(*refname)
 195
 196%(*body)
 197' 'refs/tags'
 198------------
 199
 200
 201A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 202demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 203------------
 204#!/bin/sh
 205
 206git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 207while read entry
 208do
 209        eval "$entry"
 210        echo `dirname $ref`
 211done
 212------------
 213
 214
 215A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 216may be an entire script:
 217------------
 218#!/bin/sh
 219
 220fmt='
 221        r=%(refname)
 222        t=%(*objecttype)
 223        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 224
 225        o=%(*objectname)
 226        n=%(*authorname)
 227        e=%(*authoremail)
 228        s=%(*subject)
 229        d=%(*authordate)
 230        b=%(*body)
 231
 232        kind=Tag
 233        if test "z$t" = z
 234        then
 235                # could be a lightweight tag
 236                t=%(objecttype)
 237                kind="Lightweight tag"
 238                o=%(objectname)
 239                n=%(authorname)
 240                e=%(authoremail)
 241                s=%(subject)
 242                d=%(authordate)
 243                b=%(body)
 244        fi
 245        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 246        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 247        then
 248                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 249at $d, and titled
 250
 251    $s
 252
 253Its message reads as:
 254"
 255                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 256                echo
 257        fi
 258'
 259
 260eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 261        --sort='*objecttype' \
 262        --sort=-taggerdate \
 263        refs/tags`
 264eval "$eval"
 265------------
 266
 267SEE ALSO
 268--------
 269linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 270
 271GIT
 272---
 273Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite