Scripting and Reporting
This chapter provides details about using p4 commands in scripts and for reporting purposes. For a full description of any particular command, consult the P4 Command Reference, or issue the p4 help command.
Common flags used in scripting and reporting
The following command-line flags enable you to specify settings on the command line and in scripts. For full details, refer to the description of global options in the P4 Command Reference.
Flag |
Description |
---|---|
|
Specify a batch size (number of arguments) to use when processing a command
from |
|
Specifies the client workspace name. |
|
Causes all output (and batch input for form commands with
|
|
Specifies the host and port number of the Perforce service, as well as the protocol used to connect. |
|
Specifies the user password if any. If you prefer your script to log in before running commands (instead of specifying the password every time a command is issued), use the p4 login command. For example: echo 'mypassword' | p4 login |
|
Prepends a descriptive field (for example, |
|
Specifies the Perforce user name. |
|
Reads arguments, one per line, from the specified file. If
|
Scripting with Perforce forms
If your scripts issue p4 commands that require the user to fill in a
form, such as the p4 client and p4 submit commands, use
the the -o
flag to write the form to standard output and the
-i
flag to read the edited form from standard input.
For example, to create a job using a script on UNIX:
-
Issue the p4 job -o > temp1 command to write a blank job specification into a text file.
-
Make the necessary changes to the job. For example:
sed 's/<enter description here>/Crashes on exit./' temp1 > temp2
-
Issue the p4 job -i < temp2 command to save the job.
To accomplish the preceding without a temporary file, issue the following command:
p4 job -o | sed 's/<enter description here>/Crashes on exit./' | p4 job -i
The commands that display forms are:
-
p4 branch
-
p4 change
-
p4 client
-
p4 job
-
p4 label
-
p4 submit (usep4 change -o to create changelist, or p4 submit -d "A changelist description" to supply a description to the default changelist during changelist submission.)
-
p4 stream
-
p4 user
File reporting
The following sections describe commands that provide information about file status and location. The following table lists a few basic and highly-useful reporting commands.
To display this information |
Use this command |
---|---|
File status, including file type, latest revision number, and other information |
p4 files |
File revisions from most recent to earliest |
p4 filelog |
Currently opened files |
p4 opened |
Preview of p4 sync results |
p4 sync -n |
Summarize a p4 sync preview, estimate network traffic |
p4 sync -N |
Currently synced files |
p4 have |
The contents of specified files |
p4 print |
The mapping of files' depot locations to the corresponding workspace locations. |
p4 where |
A list of files and full details about the files |
p4 fstat |
Displaying file status
To display information about single revisions of files, issue the p4
files command. This command displays the locations of the files in the depot,
the actions (add
, edit
, delete
, and
so on) performed on those files at the specified revisions, the changelists in which the
specified file revisions were submitted, and the files' types. The following example shows
typical output of the p4 files command:
//depot/README#5 - edit change 6 (text)
The p4 files command requires one or more
filespec
arguments. Regardless of whether you use local,
client, or depot syntax to specify the filespec arguments, the p4 file
command displays results using depot syntax. If you omit the revision number, information
for the head revision is displayed. The output of p4 files includes
deleted revisions.
The following table lists some common uses of the p4 files command.
To display the status of |
Use this command |
---|---|
All files in the depot, regardless of your client workspace view For depots containing numerous files, you can maximize performance by
avoiding commands that refer to the entire depot
( |
p4 files //depot/... |
The files currently synced to the specified client workspace |
p4 files @ |
The files mapped by your client workspace view |
p4 files // |
Specified files in the current working directory |
p4 files |
A specified file revision |
p4 files
|
Specified files at the time a changelist was submitted, regardless of whether the files were submitted in the changelist |
p4 files
|
Files tagged with a specified label |
p4 files
|
Displaying file revision history
To display the revision history of a file, issue the p4 filelog
filespec
command. The following example shows how
p4 filelog displays revision history.
p4 filelog //depot/dev/main/jam/jam.c //depot/dev/main/jam/jam.c ... #35 change 627 edit on 2011/11/13 by earl@earl-dev-yew (text) 'Handle platform variants better' ... #34 change 598 edit on 2011/10/24 by raj@raj-althea (text) 'Reverse previous attempt at fix' ... ... branch into //depot/release/jam/2.2/src/jam.c#1 ... #33 change 581 edit on 2011/10/03 by gale@gale-jam-oak (text) 'Version strings & release notes'
To display the entire description of each changelist, specify the
-l
flag.
Listing open files
To list the files that are currently opened in a client workspace, issue the
p4 opened filespec
command. The following
line is an example of the output displayed by the p4 opened command:
//depot/dev/main/jam/fileos2.c- edit default change (text)
The following table lists some common uses of the p4 opened command.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
Opened files in the current workspace |
p4 opened |
Opened files in all client workspaces |
p4 opened -asp4 opened -a |
Files in a numbered pending changelist |
p4 opened -c changelist |
Files in the default changelist |
p4 opened -c default |
Whether a specific file is opened by you |
p4 opened filespec |
Whether a specific file is opened by anyone |
p4 opened -a filespec |
Displaying file locations
To display information about the locations of files, use thep4 where, p4 have, and p4 sync -n commands:
-
To display the location of a file in depot, client, and local syntax, issue the p4 where command.
-
To list the location and revisions of files that you last synced to your client workspace, issue the p4 have command.
-
To see where files will be synced in your workspace, preview the sync by issuing the p4 sync -n command.
You can use these commands with or without filespec
arguments.
The following table lists some useful location reporting commands.
To display |
Use this command |
---|---|
The revision number of a file that you synced to your workspace |
p4 have |
How a particular file in the depot maps to your workspace |
p4 where //depot/ |
Displaying file contents
To display the contents of a file in the depot, issue the p4 print
filespec
command. This command prints the contents
of the file to standard output or to a specified output file, with a one-line banner that
describes the file. To suppress the banner, specify the -q
flag. By
default, the head revision is displayed, but you can specify a file revision.
To display the contents of files |
Use this command |
---|---|
At the head revision |
p4 print |
Without the banner |
p4 print -q |
At a specified changelist number |
p4 print
|
Displaying annotations (details about changes to file contents)
To find out which file revisions or changelists affected lines in a text file, issue the p4 annotate command.
By default, p4 annotate displays the file line by line, with each
line preceded by a revision number indicating the revision that made the change. To display
changelist numbers instead of revision numbers, specify the -c
flag.
Example 47. Using p4 annotate to display changes to a file
A file is added (file.txt#1
) to the depot, containing the
following lines:
This is a text file. The second line has not been changed. The third line has not been changed.
The third line is deleted and the second line edited so that
file.txt#2
reads:
This is a text file. The second line is new.
The output of p4 annotate and p4 annotate -c look like this:
$ p4 annotate file.txt //depot/files/file.txt#3 - edit change 153 (text) 1: This is a text file. 2: The second line is new. $ p4 annotate -c file.txt //depot/files/file.txt#3 - edit change 153 (text) 151: This is a text file. 152: The second line is new.
The first line of file.txt
has been present since revision 1,
which was submitted in changelist 151. The second line has been present since revision 2,
which was submitted in changelist 152.
To show all lines (including deleted lines) in the file, use p4 annotate -a as follows:
$ p4 annotate -a file.txt //depot/files/file.txt#3 - edit change 12345 (text) 1-3: This is a text file. 1-1: The second line has not been changed. 1-1: The third line has not been changed. 2-3: The second line is new.
The first line of output shows that the first line of the file has been present for
revisions 1 through 3. The next two lines of output show lines of
file.txt
present only in revision 1. The last line of output shows
that the line added in revision 2 is still present in revision 3.
You can combine the -a
and -c
options
to display all lines in the file and the changelist numbers (rather than the revision
numbers) at which the lines existed.
Monitoring changes to files
To track changes to files as they occur, you can use the Perforce change review daemon, which enables Perforce users to specify files and directories of interest and receive email when a changelist that affects the specified files is submitted. For details about administering the review daemon, refer to the Perforce Server Administrator's Guide: Fundamentals and to the description of the p4 review command in the P4 Command Reference.
The following table lists commands that display information about the status of files, changelists, and users. These commands are often used in review daemons.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
The users who review specified files |
p4 reviews |
The users who review files in a specified changelist |
p4 reviews -c |
A specified user's email address |
p4 users |
Changelist reporting
The p4 changes command lists changelists that meet search criteria, and the p4 describe command lists the files and jobs associated with a specified changelist. These commands are described below.
Listing changelists
To list changelists, issue the p4 changes command. By default, p4 changes displays one line for every public changelist known to the system, as well as for any restricted changelists to which you have access. The following table lists command-line flags that you can use to filter the list.
To list changelists |
Use this command |
---|---|
With the first 31 characters of the changelist descriptions |
p4 changes |
With full descriptions |
p4 changes -l |
The last |
p4 changes -m |
With a specified status |
|
From a specified user |
p4 changes -u |
From a specified workspace |
p4 changes -c |
That affect specified files |
p4 changes |
That affect specified files, including changelists that affect files that were later integrated with the named files |
p4 changes -i |
That affect specified files, including only those changelists between
revisions |
p4 changes
|
That affect specified files at each revision between the revisions specified
in labels |
p4 changes
|
Submitted between two dates |
p4 changes
@ |
Submitted on or after a specified date |
p4 changes
@ |
Listing files and jobs affected by changelists
To list files and jobs affected by a specified changelist, along with the diffs of the
changes, issue the p4 describe command. To suppress display of the diffs
(for shorter output), specify the -s
flag. The following table lists
some useful changelist reporting commands.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
Files in a pending changelist |
p4 opened -c |
Files submitted and jobs fixed by a particular changelist, including diffs |
p4 describe |
Files submitted and jobs fixed by a particular changelist, suppressing diffs |
p4 describe -s |
Files and jobs affected by a particular changelist, passing the context diff flag to the underlying diff program |
p4 describe -dc |
The state of particular files at a particular changelist, regardless of whether these files were affected by the changelist |
p4 files
|
For more commands that report on jobs, see Job reporting.
Label reporting
To display information about labels, issue the p4 labels command. The following table lists some useful label reporting commands.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
All labels, with creation date and owner |
p4 labels |
All labels containing a specific file revision (or range) |
p4 labels file# |
Files tagged with a specified label |
p4 files @ |
A preview of the results of syncing to a label |
p4 sync -n @ |
Branch and integration reporting
The following table lists commonly used commands for branch and integration reporting.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
All branch specifications |
p4 branches |
Files in a specified branch |
p4 files |
The revisions of a specified file |
p4 filelog |
The revisions of a specified file, recursively including revisions of the files from which it was branched |
p4 filelog -i |
A preview of the results of a resolve |
p4 resolve [ |
Files that have been resolved but not yet submitted |
p4 resolved [ |
Integrated, submitted files that match the |
p4 integrated |
A preview of the results of an integration |
p4 integrate [ |
Job reporting
Listing jobs
To list jobs, issue the p4 jobs command. The following table lists common job reporting commands.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
All jobs |
p4 jobs |
All jobs, including full descriptions |
p4 jobs -l |
Jobs that meet search criteria (see Searching jobs for details) |
p4 jobs -e |
Jobs that were fixed by changelists that contain specific files |
p4 jobs |
Jobs that were fixed by changelists that contain specific files, including changelists that contain files that were later integrated into the specified files |
p4 jobs -i |
Listing jobs fixed by changelists
Any jobs that have been linked to a changelist with p4 change,
p4 submit, or p4 fix are referred to as
fixed (regardless of whether their status is
closed
). To list jobs that were fixed by changelists, issue the
p4 fixes command.
The following table lists useful commands for reporting fixes.
To list |
Use this command |
---|---|
all changelists linked to jobs |
p4 fixes |
all changelists linked to a specified job |
p4 fixes -j |
all jobs linked to a specified changelist |
p4 fixes -c |
all fixes associated with specified files |
p4 fixes |
all fixes associated with specified files, including changelists that contain files that were later integrated with the specified files |
p4 fixes -i |
System configuration reporting
The commands described in this section display Perforce users, client workspaces, and depots.
Displaying users
The p4 users command displays the user name, an email address, the user's "real" name, and the date that Perforce was last accessed by that user, in the following format:
bruno <bruno@bruno_ws> (bruno) accessed 2011/03/07 dai <dai@dai_ws> (Dai Sato) accessed 2011/03/04 earl <earl@earl_ws> (Earl Ashby) accessed 2011/03/07 gale <gale@gale_ws> (Gale Beal) accessed 2011/06/03 hera <hera@hera_ws> (Hera Otis) accessed 2011/10/03 ines <ines@ines_ws> (Ines Rios) accessed 2011/02/02 jack <jack@submariner> (jack) accessed 2011/03/02 mei <mei@mei_ws> (Mei Chang) accessed 2011/11/14 ona <ona@ona_ws> (Ona Birch) accessed 2011/10/23 quinn <quinn@quinn_ws> (Quinn Cass) accessed 2011/01/27 raj <raj@ran_ws> (Raj Bai) accessed 2011/07/28 vera <vera@vera_ws> (Vera Cullen) accessed 2011/01/15
Displaying workspaces
To display information about client workspaces, issue the p4 clients command, which displays the client workspace name, the date the workspace was last updated, the workspace root, and the description of the workspace, in the following format.
Client bruno_ws 2011/03/07 root c:\bruno_ws '' Client earl-dev-beech 2011/10/26 root /home/earl '' Client earl-dev-guava 2011/09/08 root /usr/earl/development '' Client earl-dev-yew 2011/11/19 root /tmp '' Client earl-win-buckeye 2011/03/21 root c:\src '' Client earl-qnx-elm 2011/01/17 root /src '' Client earl-tupelo 2011/01/05 root /usr/earl ''
Listing depots
To list depots, issue the p4 depots command. This command lists the
depot's name, its creation date, its type (local
,
remote
, archive
, spec
, or
stream
), its host name or IP address (if remote
),
the mapping to the local depot, and the system administrator's description of the depot.
For details about defining multiple depots on a single Perforce installation, see the Perforce Server Administrator's Guide: Fundamentals.
Sample script
The following sample script parses the output of the p4 fstat command to report files that are opened where the head revision is not in the client workspace (a potential problem).
Example 48. Sample shell script showing parsing of p4 fstat command output
#!/bin/sh # Usage: opened-not-head.sh files # Displays files that are open when the head revision is not # on the client workspace echo=echo exit=exit p4=p4 sed=sed if [ $# -ne 1 ] then $echo "Usage: $0 files" $exit 1 fi $p4 fstat -Ro $1 | while read line do name=`$echo $line | $sed 's/^[\. ]\+\([^ ]\+\) .*$/\1/'` value=`$echo $line | $sed 's/^[\. ]\+[^ ]\+ \(.*\)$/\1/'` if [ "$name" = "depotFile" ] then depotFile=$value elif [ "$name" = "headRev" ] then headRev=$value elif [ "$name" = "haveRev" ] then haveRev=$value if [ $headRev != $haveRev ] then $echo $depotFile fi fi done