Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit git-branch -D: make it work even when on a yet-to-be-born branch (67affd5)
   1git-for-each-ref(1)
   2===================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-for-each-ref - Output information on each ref
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10'git-for-each-ref' [--count=<count>]\* [--shell|--perl|--python] [--sort=<key>]\* [--format=<format>] [<pattern>]
  11
  12DESCRIPTION
  13-----------
  14
  15Iterate over all refs that match `<pattern>` and show them
  16according to the given `<format>`, after sorting them according
  17to the given set of `<key>`.  If `<max>` is given, stop after
  18showing that many refs.  The interporated values in `<format>`
  19can optionally be quoted as string literals in the specified
  20host language allowing their direct evaluation in that language.
  21
  22OPTIONS
  23-------
  24<count>::
  25        By default the command shows all refs that match
  26        `<pattern>`.  This option makes it stop after showing
  27        that many refs.
  28
  29<key>::
  30        A field name to sort on.  Prefix `-` to sort in
  31        descending order of the value.  When unspecified,
  32        `refname` is used.  More than one sort keys can be
  33        given.
  34
  35<format>::
  36        A string that interpolates `%(fieldname)` from the
  37        object pointed at by a ref being shown.  If `fieldname`
  38        is prefixed with an asterisk (`*`) and the ref points
  39        at a tag object, the value for the field in the object
  40        tag refers is used.  When unspecified, defaults to
  41        `%(objectname) SPC %(objecttype) TAB %(refname)`.
  42        It also interpolates `%%` to `%`, and `%xx` where `xx`
  43        are hex digits interpolates to character with hex code
  44        `xx`; for example `%00` interpolates to `\0` (NUL),
  45        `%09` to `\t` (TAB) and `%0a` to `\n` (LF).
  46
  47<pattern>::
  48        If given, the name of the ref is matched against this
  49        using fnmatch(3).  Refs that do not match the pattern
  50        are not shown.
  51
  52--shell, --perl, --python::
  53        If given, strings that substitute `%(fieldname)`
  54        placeholders are quoted as string literals suitable for
  55        the specified host language.  This is meant to produce
  56        a scriptlet that can directly be `eval`ed.
  57
  58
  59FIELD NAMES
  60-----------
  61
  62Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  63be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  64keys.
  65
  66For all objects, the following names can be used:
  67
  68refname::
  69        The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/refs/).
  70
  71objecttype::
  72        The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
  73
  74objectsize::
  75        The size of the object (the same as `git-cat-file -s` reports).
  76
  77objectname::
  78        The object name (aka SHA-1).
  79
  80In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
  81field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
  82be used to specify the value in the header field.
  83
  84Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
  85`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
  86and `date` to extract the named component.
  87
  88The first line of the message in a commit and tag object is
  89`subject`, the remaining lines are `body`.  The whole message
  90is `contents`.
  91
  92For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
  93order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
  94All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
  95
  96In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
  97the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
  98returns an empty string instead.
  99
 100
 101EXAMPLES
 102--------
 103
 104An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1053 tagged commits::
 106
 107------------
 108#!/bin/sh
 109
 110git-for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 111--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 112Subject: %(*subject)
 113Date: %(*authordate)
 114Ref: %(*refname)
 115
 116%(*body)
 117' 'refs/tags'
 118------------
 119
 120
 121A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 122demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads::
 123------------
 124#!/bin/sh
 125
 126git-for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 127while read entry
 128do
 129        eval "$entry"
 130        echo `dirname $ref`
 131done
 132------------
 133
 134
 135A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 136may be an entire script::
 137------------
 138#!/bin/sh
 139
 140fmt='
 141        r=%(refname)
 142        t=%(*objecttype)
 143        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 144
 145        o=%(*objectname)
 146        n=%(*authorname)
 147        e=%(*authoremail)
 148        s=%(*subject)
 149        d=%(*authordate)
 150        b=%(*body)
 151
 152        kind=Tag
 153        if test "z$t" = z
 154        then
 155                # could be a lightweight tag
 156                t=%(objecttype)
 157                kind="Lightweight tag"
 158                o=%(objectname)
 159                n=%(authorname)
 160                e=%(authoremail)
 161                s=%(subject)
 162                d=%(authordate)
 163                b=%(body)
 164        fi
 165        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 166        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 167        then
 168                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 169at $d, and titled
 170
 171    $s
 172
 173Its message reads as:
 174"
 175                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 176                echo
 177        fi
 178'
 179
 180eval=`git-for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 181        --sort='*objecttype' \
 182        --sort=-taggerdate \
 183        refs/tags`
 184eval "$eval"
 185------------