Perforce 2008.1 Command Reference
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p4 add

Synopsis

Open file(s) in a client workspace for addition to the depot.

Syntax

p4 [g-opts] add [-c changelist#] [-f -n] [-t type] file...

Description

p4 add opens files within the client workspace for addition to the depot. The specified file(s) are linked to a changelist; the files are not actually added to the depot until the changelist is sent to the server with p4 submit. The added files must either not already exist in the depot, or exist in the depot but be marked as deleted at the head revision.

To open a file with p4 add, the file must exist in your client workspace view, but does not need to exist in your workspace at the time of p4 add. The file must, however, exist in your workspace when you run p4 submit, or the submission will fail. p4 add does not create or overwrite files in your workspace; if a file does not exist, you must create it yourself.

By default, the specified files are linked to the default changelist. Use -c to specify a different changelist.

When adding files, Perforce first examines the typemap table (p4 typemap) to see if the system administrator has defined a file type for the file(s) being added. If a match is found, the file's type is set as defined in the typemap table. If a match is not found, Perforce examines the first 8192 bytes of the file to determine whether it is text or binary, and the files are stored in the depot accordingly. Text file revisions are stored in reverse delta format; binary file revisions are stored as full files.

To explicitly specify a file type, overriding both the typemap table and Perforce's default file type detection mechanism, use the -t filetype flag.

To add files containing the characters @, #, *, and %, use the -f flag. This flag forces literal interpretation of characters otherwise used by Perforce as wildcards.

Options

-c changelist

Opens the files for add within the specified changelist. If this flag is not used, the files are linked to the default changelist.

-t filetype

Adds the file as the specified filetype.

Please see the File Types chapter for a list of Perforce file types.

-f

Use the -f flag to force inclusion of wildcards in filenames. See the File Specifications chapter for details.

-n

Preview which files would be opened for add, without actually changing any files or metadata.

g-opts

See the Global Options section.

Usage Notes

Can File Arguments Use
Revision Specifier?

Can File Arguments Use
Revision Range?

Minimal Access Level Required

No

No

open

If you manually expand the @ sign and attempt to add the file status%40june.txt, Perforce interprets the % sign literally, expands it to the hex code %25, resulting in the filename status%2540june.txt.

Examples

p4 add -t binary file.pdf

Assigns a specific file type to a new file, overriding any settings in the typemap table

p4 add -c 13 *

Opens all the files within the user's current directory for add, and links these files to changelist 13.

p4 add README ~/src/*.c

Opens all *.c files in the user's ~/src directory for add; also opens the README file in the user's current working directory for add. These files are linked to the default changelist.

p4 add -f *.c

Opens a file named *.c for add.

To refer to this file in views, or with other Perforce commands, you must subsequently use the hex expansion %2A in place of the asterisk.

For more information, see "Limitations on characters in filenames and entities" on page 254.

Related Commands

To open a file for edit

p4 edit

To open a file for deletion

p4 delete

To copy all open files to the depot

p4 submit

To read files from the depot into the client workspace

p4 sync

To create or edit a new changelist

p4 change

To list all opened files

p4 opened

To revert a file to its unopened state

p4 revert

To move an open file to a different pending changelist

p4 reopen

To change an open file's file type

p4 reopen -t filetype


Perforce 2008.1 Command Reference
<< Previous Chapter
About This Manual
Table of Contents
Index
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p4 admin
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Last updated: 07/08/08