Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/pack-name-cleanups' into maint (ba5e05f)
   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
  82--ignore-case::
  83        Sorting and filtering refs are case insensitive.
  84
  85FIELD NAMES
  86-----------
  87
  88Various values from structured fields in referenced objects can
  89be used to interpolate into the resulting output, or as sort
  90keys.
  91
  92For all objects, the following names can be used:
  93
  94refname::
  95        The name of the ref (the part after $GIT_DIR/).
  96        For a non-ambiguous short name of the ref append `:short`.
  97        The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict
  98        abbreviation mode. If `strip=<N>` is appended, strips `<N>`
  99        slash-separated path components from the front of the refname
 100        (e.g., `%(refname:strip=2)` turns `refs/tags/foo` into `foo`.
 101        `<N>` must be a positive integer.  If a displayed ref has fewer
 102        components than `<N>`, the command aborts with an error.
 103
 104objecttype::
 105        The type of the object (`blob`, `tree`, `commit`, `tag`).
 106
 107objectsize::
 108        The size of the object (the same as 'git cat-file -s' reports).
 109
 110objectname::
 111        The object name (aka SHA-1).
 112        For a non-ambiguous abbreviation of the object name append `:short`.
 113
 114upstream::
 115        The name of a local ref which can be considered ``upstream''
 116        from the displayed ref. Respects `:short` in the same way as
 117        `refname` above.  Additionally respects `:track` to show
 118        "[ahead N, behind M]" and `:trackshort` to show the terse
 119        version: ">" (ahead), "<" (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind),
 120        or "=" (in sync).  Has no effect if the ref does not have
 121        tracking information associated with it.
 122
 123push::
 124        The name of a local ref which represents the `@{push}` location
 125        for the displayed ref. Respects `:short`, `:track`, and
 126        `:trackshort` options as `upstream` does. Produces an empty
 127        string if no `@{push}` ref is configured.
 128
 129HEAD::
 130        '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 131        otherwise.
 132
 133color::
 134        Change output color.  Followed by `:<colorname>`, where names
 135        are described in `color.branch.*`.
 136
 137align::
 138        Left-, middle-, or right-align the content between
 139        %(align:...) and %(end). The "align:" is followed by
 140        `width=<width>` and `position=<position>` in any order
 141        separated by a comma, where the `<position>` is either left,
 142        right or middle, default being left and `<width>` is the total
 143        length of the content with alignment. For brevity, the
 144        "width=" and/or "position=" prefixes may be omitted, and bare
 145        <width> and <position> used instead.  For instance,
 146        `%(align:<width>,<position>)`. If the contents length is more
 147        than the width then no alignment is performed. If used with
 148        `--quote` everything in between %(align:...) and %(end) is
 149        quoted, but if nested then only the topmost level performs
 150        quoting.
 151
 152In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 153field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 154be used to specify the value in the header field.
 155
 156For commit and tag objects, the special `creatordate` and `creator`
 157fields will correspond to the appropriate date or name-email-date tuple
 158from the `committer` or `tagger` fields depending on the object type.
 159These are intended for working on a mix of annotated and lightweight tags.
 160
 161Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 162`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 163and `date` to extract the named component.
 164
 165The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 166Its first line is `contents:subject`, where subject is the concatenation
 167of all lines of the commit message up to the first blank line.  The next
 168line is 'contents:body', where body is all of the lines after the first
 169blank line.  The optional GPG signature is `contents:signature`.  The
 170first `N` lines of the message is obtained using `contents:lines=N`.
 171Additionally, the trailers as interpreted by linkgit:git-interpret-trailers[1]
 172are obtained as 'contents:trailers'.
 173
 174For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric order
 175(`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `creatordate`, `taggerdate`).
 176All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 177
 178There is also an option to sort by versions, this can be done by using
 179the fieldname `version:refname` or its alias `v:refname`.
 180
 181In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 182the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 183returns an empty string instead.
 184
 185As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 186the date by adding `:` followed by date format name (see the
 187values the `--date` option to linkgit:git-rev-list[1] takes).
 188
 189
 190EXAMPLES
 191--------
 192
 193An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1943 tagged commits:
 195
 196------------
 197#!/bin/sh
 198
 199git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 200--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 201Subject: %(*subject)
 202Date: %(*authordate)
 203Ref: %(*refname)
 204
 205%(*body)
 206' 'refs/tags'
 207------------
 208
 209
 210A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 211demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 212------------
 213#!/bin/sh
 214
 215git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 216while read entry
 217do
 218        eval "$entry"
 219        echo `dirname $ref`
 220done
 221------------
 222
 223
 224A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 225may be an entire script:
 226------------
 227#!/bin/sh
 228
 229fmt='
 230        r=%(refname)
 231        t=%(*objecttype)
 232        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 233
 234        o=%(*objectname)
 235        n=%(*authorname)
 236        e=%(*authoremail)
 237        s=%(*subject)
 238        d=%(*authordate)
 239        b=%(*body)
 240
 241        kind=Tag
 242        if test "z$t" = z
 243        then
 244                # could be a lightweight tag
 245                t=%(objecttype)
 246                kind="Lightweight tag"
 247                o=%(objectname)
 248                n=%(authorname)
 249                e=%(authoremail)
 250                s=%(subject)
 251                d=%(authordate)
 252                b=%(body)
 253        fi
 254        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 255        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 256        then
 257                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 258at $d, and titled
 259
 260    $s
 261
 262Its message reads as:
 263"
 264                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 265                echo
 266        fi
 267'
 268
 269eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 270        --sort='*objecttype' \
 271        --sort=-taggerdate \
 272        refs/tags`
 273eval "$eval"
 274------------
 275
 276SEE ALSO
 277--------
 278linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 279
 280GIT
 281---
 282Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite