Documentation / git-for-each-ref.txton commit Merge branch 'jk/pretty-G-format-fixes' (ce8350f)
   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.  Additionally respects `:track` to show
  95        "[ahead N, behind M]" and `:trackshort` to show the terse
  96        version: ">" (ahead), "<" (behind), "<>" (ahead and behind),
  97        or "=" (in sync).  Has no effect if the ref does not have
  98        tracking information associated with it.
  99
 100HEAD::
 101        '*' if HEAD matches current ref (the checked out branch), ' '
 102        otherwise.
 103
 104color::
 105        Change output color.  Followed by `:<colorname>`, where names
 106        are described in `color.branch.*`.
 107
 108In addition to the above, for commit and tag objects, the header
 109field names (`tree`, `parent`, `object`, `type`, and `tag`) can
 110be used to specify the value in the header field.
 111
 112Fields that have name-email-date tuple as its value (`author`,
 113`committer`, and `tagger`) can be suffixed with `name`, `email`,
 114and `date` to extract the named component.
 115
 116The complete message in a commit and tag object is `contents`.
 117Its first line is `contents:subject`, where subject is the concatenation
 118of all lines of the commit message up to the first blank line.  The next
 119line is 'contents:body', where body is all of the lines after the first
 120blank line.  Finally, the optional GPG signature is `contents:signature`.
 121
 122For sorting purposes, fields with numeric values sort in numeric
 123order (`objectsize`, `authordate`, `committerdate`, `taggerdate`).
 124All other fields are used to sort in their byte-value order.
 125
 126In any case, a field name that refers to a field inapplicable to
 127the object referred by the ref does not cause an error.  It
 128returns an empty string instead.
 129
 130As a special case for the date-type fields, you may specify a format for
 131the date by adding one of `:default`, `:relative`, `:short`, `:local`,
 132`:iso8601`, `:rfc2822` or `:raw` to the end of the fieldname; e.g.
 133`%(taggerdate:relative)`.
 134
 135
 136EXAMPLES
 137--------
 138
 139An example directly producing formatted text.  Show the most recent
 1403 tagged commits:
 141
 142------------
 143#!/bin/sh
 144
 145git for-each-ref --count=3 --sort='-*authordate' \
 146--format='From: %(*authorname) %(*authoremail)
 147Subject: %(*subject)
 148Date: %(*authordate)
 149Ref: %(*refname)
 150
 151%(*body)
 152' 'refs/tags'
 153------------
 154
 155
 156A simple example showing the use of shell eval on the output,
 157demonstrating the use of --shell.  List the prefixes of all heads:
 158------------
 159#!/bin/sh
 160
 161git for-each-ref --shell --format="ref=%(refname)" refs/heads | \
 162while read entry
 163do
 164        eval "$entry"
 165        echo `dirname $ref`
 166done
 167------------
 168
 169
 170A bit more elaborate report on tags, demonstrating that the format
 171may be an entire script:
 172------------
 173#!/bin/sh
 174
 175fmt='
 176        r=%(refname)
 177        t=%(*objecttype)
 178        T=${r#refs/tags/}
 179
 180        o=%(*objectname)
 181        n=%(*authorname)
 182        e=%(*authoremail)
 183        s=%(*subject)
 184        d=%(*authordate)
 185        b=%(*body)
 186
 187        kind=Tag
 188        if test "z$t" = z
 189        then
 190                # could be a lightweight tag
 191                t=%(objecttype)
 192                kind="Lightweight tag"
 193                o=%(objectname)
 194                n=%(authorname)
 195                e=%(authoremail)
 196                s=%(subject)
 197                d=%(authordate)
 198                b=%(body)
 199        fi
 200        echo "$kind $T points at a $t object $o"
 201        if test "z$t" = zcommit
 202        then
 203                echo "The commit was authored by $n $e
 204at $d, and titled
 205
 206    $s
 207
 208Its message reads as:
 209"
 210                echo "$b" | sed -e "s/^/    /"
 211                echo
 212        fi
 213'
 214
 215eval=`git for-each-ref --shell --format="$fmt" \
 216        --sort='*objecttype' \
 217        --sort=-taggerdate \
 218        refs/tags`
 219eval "$eval"
 220------------
 221
 222SEE ALSO
 223--------
 224linkgit:git-show-ref[1]
 225
 226GIT
 227---
 228Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite