Matt Mackall
<mpm@selenic.com>
hg - Mercurial source code management system
hg [-v -d -q -y] <command> [command options] [files]
The hg(1) command provides a command line interface to the Mercurial system.
indicates one or more filename or relative path filenames; see "FILE NAME PATTERNS" for information on pattern matching
indicates a path on the local machine
indicates a changeset which can be specified as a changeset revision number, a tag, or a unique substring of the changeset hash value
either the pathname of a local repository or the URI of a remote repository. There are two available URI protocols, http:// which is fast and the old-http:// protocol which is much slower but does not require a special server on the web host.
repository root directory or symbolic path name
change working directory
do not prompt, assume yes for any required answers
suppress output
enable additional output
enable debugging output
start debugger
print traceback on exception
time how long the command takes
print command execution profile
output version information and exit
display help and exit
Schedule files to be version controlled and added to the repository.
The files will be added to the repository at the next commit.
If no names are given, add all files in the repository.
options: -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
List changes in files, showing the revision id responsible for each line
This command is useful to discover who did a change or when a change took place.
Without the -a option, annotate will avoid processing files it detects as binary. With -a, annotate will generate an annotation anyway, probably with undesirable results.
options: -r, --rev annotate the specified revision -a, --text treat all files as text -u, --user list the author -d, --date list the date -n, --number list the revision number (default) -c, --changeset list the changeset -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
By default, the revision used is the parent of the working directory; use "-r" to specify a different revision.
To specify the type of archive to create, use "-t". Valid types are:
"files" (default): a directory full of files "tar": tar archive, uncompressed "tbz2": tar archive, compressed using bzip2 "tgz": tar archive, compressed using gzip "uzip": zip archive, uncompressed "zip": zip archive, compressed using deflate
The exact name of the destination archive or directory is given using a format string; see "hg help export" for details.
Each member added to an archive file has a directory prefix prepended. Use "-p" to specify a format string for the prefix. The default is the basename of the archive, with suffixes removed.
options: --no-decode do not pass files through decoders -p, --prefix directory prefix for files in archive -r, --rev revision to distribute -t, --type type of distribution to create -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Commit the backed out changes as a new changeset.
If you back out a changeset other than the tip, a new head is created. The --merge option remembers the parent of the working directory before starting the backout, then merges the new head with it afterwards, to save you from doing this by hand. The result of this merge is not committed, as for a normal merge.
options: --merge merge with old dirstate parent after backout -m, --message use <text> as commit message -l, --logfile read commit message from <file> -d, --date record datecode as commit date -u, --user record user as committer -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Generate a compressed changegroup file collecting all changesets not found in the other repository.
This file can then be transferred using conventional means and applied to another repository with the unbundle command. This is useful when native push and pull are not available or when exporting an entire repository is undesirable. The standard file extension is ".hg".
Unlike import/export, this exactly preserves all changeset contents including permissions, rename data, and revision history.
options: -f, --force run even when remote repository is unrelated
Print the specified files as they were at the given revision. If no revision is given then the tip is used.
Output may be to a file, in which case the name of the file is given using a format string. The formatting rules are the same as for the export command, with the following additions:
%s basename of file being printed %d dirname of file being printed, or '.' if in repo root %p root-relative path name of file being printed
options: -o, --output print output to file with formatted name -r, --rev print the given revision -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Create a copy of an existing repository in a new directory.
If no destination directory name is specified, it defaults to the basename of the source.
The location of the source is added to the new repository's .hg/hgrc file, as the default to be used for future pulls.
For efficiency, hardlinks are used for cloning whenever the source and destination are on the same filesystem. Some filesystems, such as AFS, implement hardlinking incorrectly, but do not report errors. In these cases, use the --pull option to avoid hardlinking.
See pull for valid source format details.
options: -U, --noupdate do not update the new working directory -r, --rev a changeset you would like to have after cloning --pull use pull protocol to copy metadata -e, --ssh specify ssh command to use --remotecmd specify hg command to run on the remote side
Commit changes to the given files into the repository.
If a list of files is omitted, all changes reported by "hg status" will be committed.
If no commit message is specified, the editor configured in your hgrc or in the EDITOR environment variable is started to enter a message.
options: -A, --addremove mark new/missing files as added/removed before committing -m, --message use <text> as commit message -l, --logfile read the commit message from <file> -d, --date record datecode as commit date -u, --user record user as commiter -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: ci
Mark dest as having copies of source files. If dest is a directory, copies are put in that directory. If dest is a file, there can only be one source.
By default, this command copies the contents of files as they stand in the working directory. If invoked with --after, the operation is recorded, but no copying is performed.
This command takes effect in the next commit.
NOTE: This command should be treated as experimental. While it should properly record copied files, this information is not yet fully used by merge, nor fully reported by log.
options: -A, --after record a copy that has already occurred -f, --force forcibly copy over an existing managed file -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: cp
Show differences between revisions for the specified files.
Differences between files are shown using the unified diff format.
When two revision arguments are given, then changes are shown between those revisions. If only one revision is specified then that revision is compared to the working directory, and, when no revisions are specified, the working directory files are compared to its parent.
Without the -a option, diff will avoid generating diffs of files it detects as binary. With -a, diff will generate a diff anyway, probably with undesirable results.
options: -r, --rev revision -a, --text treat all files as text -p, --show-function show which function each change is in -w, --ignore-all-space ignore white space when comparing lines -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Print the changeset header and diffs for one or more revisions.
The information shown in the changeset header is: author, changeset hash, parent and commit comment.
Output may be to a file, in which case the name of the file is given using a format string. The formatting rules are as follows:
%% literal "%" character %H changeset hash (40 bytes of hexadecimal) %N number of patches being generated %R changeset revision number %b basename of the exporting repository %h short-form changeset hash (12 bytes of hexadecimal) %n zero-padded sequence number, starting at 1 %r zero-padded changeset revision number
Without the -a option, export will avoid generating diffs of files it detects as binary. With -a, export will generate a diff anyway, probably with undesirable results.
With the --switch-parent option, the diff will be against the second parent. It can be useful to review a merge.
options: -o, --output print output to file with formatted name -a, --text treat all files as text --switch-parent diff against the second parent
Search revisions of files for a regular expression.
This command behaves differently than Unix grep. It only accepts Python/Perl regexps. It searches repository history, not the working directory. It always prints the revision number in which a match appears.
By default, grep only prints output for the first revision of a file in which it finds a match. To get it to print every revision that contains a change in match status ("-" for a match that becomes a non-match, or "+" for a non-match that becomes a match), use the --all flag.
options: -0, --print0 end fields with NUL --all print all revisions that match -i, --ignore-case ignore case when matching -l, --files-with-matches print only filenames and revs that match -n, --line-number print matching line numbers -r, --rev search in given revision range -u, --user print user who committed change -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Show all repository head changesets.
Repository "heads" are changesets that don't have children changesets. They are where development generally takes place and are the usual targets for update and merge operations.
options: -b, --branches show branches --style display using template map file -r, --rev show only heads which are descendants of rev --template display with template
show help for a given command or all commands
Print a short summary of the current state of the repo.
This summary identifies the repository state using one or two parent hash identifiers, followed by a "+" if there are uncommitted changes in the working directory, followed by a list of tags for this revision.
aliases: id
Import a list of patches and commit them individually.
If there are outstanding changes in the working directory, import will abort unless given the -f flag.
If a patch looks like a mail message (its first line starts with "From " or looks like an RFC822 header), it will not be applied unless the -f option is used. The importer neither parses nor discards mail headers, so use -f only to override the "mailness" safety check, not to import a real mail message.
options: -p, --strip directory strip option for patch. This has the same meaning as the corresponding patch option (default: 1) -b, --base base path -f, --force skip check for outstanding uncommitted changes
aliases: patch
Show new changesets found in the specified path/URL or the default pull location. These are the changesets that would be pulled if a pull was requested.
For remote repository, using --bundle avoids downloading the changesets twice if the incoming is followed by a pull.
See pull for valid source format details.
options: -M, --no-merges do not show merges -f, --force run even when remote repository is unrelated --style display using template map file -n, --newest-first show newest record first --bundle file to store the bundles into -p, --patch show patch --template display with template -e, --ssh specify ssh command to use --remotecmd specify hg command to run on the remote side
aliases: in
Initialize a new repository in the given directory. If the given directory does not exist, it is created.
If no directory is given, the current directory is used.
Print all files under Mercurial control whose names match the given patterns.
This command searches the current directory and its subdirectories. To search an entire repository, move to the root of the repository.
If no patterns are given to match, this command prints all file names.
If you want to feed the output of this command into the "xargs" command, use the "-0" option to both this command and "xargs". This will avoid the problem of "xargs" treating single filenames that contain white space as multiple filenames.
options: -r, --rev search the repository as it stood at rev -0, --print0 end filenames with NUL, for use with xargs -f, --fullpath print complete paths from the filesystem root -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
Print the revision history of the specified files or the entire project.
By default this command outputs: changeset id and hash, tags, non-trivial parents, user, date and time, and a summary for each commit. When the -v/--verbose switch is used, the list of changed files and full commit message is shown.
options: -b, --branches show branches -k, --keyword search for a keyword -l, --limit limit number of changes displayed -r, --rev show the specified revision or range -M, --no-merges do not show merges --style display using template map file -m, --only-merges show only merges -p, --patch show patch --template display with template -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: history
Print a list of version controlled files for the given revision.
The manifest is the list of files being version controlled. If no revision is given then the tip is used.
Merge the contents of the current working directory and the requested revision. Files that changed between either parent are marked as changed for the next commit and a commit must be performed before any further updates are allowed.
options: -b, --branch merge with head of a specific branch -f, --force force a merge with outstanding changes
Show changesets not found in the specified destination repository or the default push location. These are the changesets that would be pushed if a push was requested.
See pull for valid destination format details.
options: -M, --no-merges do not show merges -f, --force run even when remote repository is unrelated -p, --patch show patch --style display using template map file -n, --newest-first show newest record first --template display with template -e, --ssh specify ssh command to use --remotecmd specify hg command to run on the remote side
aliases: out
Print the working directory's parent revisions.
options: -b, --branches show branches --style display using template map file --template display with template
Show definition of symbolic path name NAME. If no name is given, show definition of available names.
Path names are defined in the [paths] section of /etc/mercurial/hgrc and $HOME/.hgrc. If run inside a repository, .hg/hgrc is used, too.
Pull changes from a remote repository to a local one.
This finds all changes from the repository at the specified path or URL and adds them to the local repository. By default, this does not update the copy of the project in the working directory.
Valid URLs are of the form:
local/filesystem/path http://[user@]host[:port][/path] https://[user@]host[:port][/path] ssh://[user@]host[:port][/path]
Some notes about using SSH with Mercurial: - SSH requires an accessible shell account on the destination machine and a copy of hg in the remote path or specified with as remotecmd. - /path is relative to the remote user's home directory by default. Use two slashes at the start of a path to specify an absolute path. - Mercurial doesn't use its own compression via SSH; the right thing to do is to configure it in your ~/.ssh/ssh_config, e.g.: Host *.mylocalnetwork.example.com Compression off Host * Compression on Alternatively specify "ssh -C" as your ssh command in your hgrc or with the --ssh command line option.
options: -u, --update update the working directory to tip after pull -e, --ssh specify ssh command to use -f, --force run even when remote repository is unrelated -r, --rev a specific revision you would like to pull --remotecmd specify hg command to run on the remote side
Push changes from the local repository to the given destination.
This is the symmetrical operation for pull. It helps to move changes from the current repository to a different one. If the destination is local this is identical to a pull in that directory from the current one.
By default, push will refuse to run if it detects the result would increase the number of remote heads. This generally indicates the the client has forgotten to sync and merge before pushing.
Valid URLs are of the form:
local/filesystem/path ssh://[user@]host[:port][/path]
Look at the help text for the pull command for important details about ssh:// URLs.
options: -f, --force force push -e, --ssh specify ssh command to use -r, --rev a specific revision you would like to push --remotecmd specify hg command to run on the remote side
Recover from an interrupted commit or pull.
This command tries to fix the repository status after an interrupted operation. It should only be necessary when Mercurial suggests it.
Schedule the indicated files for removal from the repository.
This command schedules the files to be removed at the next commit. This only removes files from the current branch, not from the entire project history. If the files still exist in the working directory, they will be deleted from it. If invoked with --after, files that have been manually deleted are marked as removed.
options: -A, --after record remove that has already occurred -f, --force remove file even if modified -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: rm
Mark dest as copies of sources; mark sources for deletion. If dest is a directory, copies are put in that directory. If dest is a file, there can only be one source.
By default, this command copies the contents of files as they stand in the working directory. If invoked with --after, the operation is recorded, but no copying is performed.
This command takes effect in the next commit.
NOTE: This command should be treated as experimental. While it should properly record rename files, this information is not yet fully used by merge, nor fully reported by log.
options: -A, --after record a rename that has already occurred -f, --force forcibly copy over an existing managed file -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: mv
With no revision specified, revert the named files or directories to the contents they had in the parent of the working directory. This restores the contents of the affected files to an unmodified state. If the working directory has two parents, you must explicitly specify the revision to revert to.
Modified files are saved with a .orig suffix before reverting. To disable these backups, use --no-backup.
Using the -r option, revert the given files or directories to their contents as of a specific revision. This can be helpful to"roll back" some or all of a change that should not have been committed.
Revert modifies the working directory. It does not commit any changes, or change the parent of the working directory. If you revert to a revision other than the parent of the working directory, the reverted files will thus appear modified afterwards.
If a file has been deleted, it is recreated. If the executable mode of a file was changed, it is reset.
If names are given, all files matching the names are reverted.
If no arguments are given, all files in the repository are reverted.
options: -r, --rev revision to revert to --no-backup do not save backup copies of files -I, --include include names matching given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching given patterns
Roll back the last transaction in this repository, restoring the project to its state prior to the transaction.
Transactions are used to encapsulate the effects of all commands that create new changesets or propagate existing changesets into a repository. For example, the following commands are transactional, and their effects can be rolled back:
commit import pull push (with this repository as destination) unbundle
This command should be used with care. There is only one level of rollback, and there is no way to undo a rollback.
This command is not intended for use on public repositories. Once changes are visible for pull by other users, rolling a transaction back locally is ineffective (someone else may already have pulled the changes). Furthermore, a race is possible with readers of the repository; for example an in-progress pull from the repository may fail if a rollback is performed.
Print the root directory of the current repository.
Start a local HTTP repository browser and pull server.
By default, the server logs accesses to stdout and errors to stderr. Use the "-A" and "-E" options to log to files.
options: -A, --accesslog name of access log file to write to -d, --daemon run server in background --daemon-pipefds used internally by daemon mode -E, --errorlog name of error log file to write to -p, --port port to use (default: 8000) -a, --address address to use -n, --name name to show in web pages (default: working dir) --webdir-conf name of the webdir config file (serve more than one repo) --pid-file name of file to write process ID to --stdio for remote clients -t, --templates web templates to use --style template style to use -6, --ipv6 use IPv6 in addition to IPv4
Show changed files in the repository. If names are given, only files that match are shown.
The codes used to show the status of files are: M = modified A = added R = removed ! = deleted, but still tracked ? = not tracked I = ignored (not shown by default)
options: -m, --modified show only modified files -a, --added show only added files -r, --removed show only removed files -d, --deleted show only deleted (but tracked) files -u, --unknown show only unknown (not tracked) files -i, --ignored show ignored files -n, --no-status hide status prefix -0, --print0 end filenames with NUL, for use with xargs -I, --include include names matching the given patterns -X, --exclude exclude names matching the given patterns
aliases: st
Name a particular revision using <name>.
Tags are used to name particular revisions of the repository and are very useful to compare different revision, to go back to significant earlier versions or to mark branch points as releases, etc.
If no revision is given, the tip is used.
To facilitate version control, distribution, and merging of tags, they are stored as a file named ".hgtags" which is managed similarly to other project files and can be hand-edited if necessary. The file '.hg/localtags' is used for local tags (not shared among repositories).
options: -l, --local make the tag local -m, --message message for tag commit log entry -d, --date record datecode as commit date -u, --user record user as commiter -r, --rev revision to tag
List the repository tags.
This lists both regular and local tags.
Show the tip revision.
options: -b, --branches show branches --style display using template map file -p, --patch show patch --template display with template
Apply a compressed changegroup file generated by the bundle command.
options: -u, --update update the working directory to tip after unbundle
Update the working directory to the specified revision.
If there are no outstanding changes in the working directory and there is a linear relationship between the current version and the requested version, the result is the requested version.
Otherwise the result is a merge between the contents of the current working directory and the requested version. Files that changed between either parent are marked as changed for the next commit and a commit must be performed before any further updates are allowed.
By default, update will refuse to run if doing so would require merging or discarding local changes.
options: -b, --branch checkout the head of a specific branch -m, --merge allow merging of branches -C, --clean overwrite locally modified files -f, --force force a merge with outstanding changes
aliases: up checkout co
Verify the integrity of the current repository.
This will perform an extensive check of the repository's integrity, validating the hashes and checksums of each entry in the changelog, manifest, and tracked files, as well as the integrity of their crosslinks and indices.
output version and copyright information
Mercurial accepts several notations for identifying one or more files at a time.
By default, Mercurial treats filenames as shell-style extended glob patterns.
Alternate pattern notations must be specified explicitly.
To use a plain path name without any pattern matching, start a name with "path:". These path names must match completely, from the root of the current repository.
To use an extended glob, start a name with "glob:". Globs are rooted at the current directory; a glob such as "*.c" will match files ending in ".c" in the current directory only.
The supported glob syntax extensions are "**" to match any string across path separators, and "{a,b}" to mean "a or b".
To use a Perl/Python regular expression, start a name with "re:". Regexp pattern matching is anchored at the root of the repository.
Plain examples:
path:foo/bar a name bar in a directory named foo in the root of the repository path:path:name a file or directory named "path:name"
Glob examples:
glob:*.c any name ending in ".c" in the current directory *.c any name ending in ".c" in the current directory **.c any name ending in ".c" in the current directory, or any subdirectory foo/*.c any name ending in ".c" in the directory foo foo/**.c any name ending in ".c" in the directory foo, or any subdirectory
Regexp examples:
re:.*\.c$ any name ending in ".c", anywhere in the repository
Mercurial accepts several notations for identifying individual revisions.
A plain integer is treated as a revision number. Negative integers are treated as offsets from the tip, with -1 denoting the tip.
A 40-digit hexadecimal string is treated as a unique revision identifier.
A hexadecimal string less than 40 characters long is treated as a unique revision identifier, and referred to as a short-form identifier. A short-form identifier is only valid if it is the prefix of one full-length identifier.
Any other string is treated as a tag name, which is a symbolic name associated with a revision identifier. Tag names may not contain the ":" character.
The reserved name "tip" is a special tag that always identifies the most recent revision.
When Mercurial accepts more than one revision, they may be specified individually, or provided as a continuous range, separated by the ":" character.
The syntax of range notation is [BEGIN]:[END], where BEGIN and END are revision identifiers. Both BEGIN and END are optional. If BEGIN is not specified, it defaults to revision number 0. If END is not specified, it defaults to the tip. The range ":" thus means "all revisions".
If BEGIN is greater than END, revisions are treated in reverse order.
A range acts as a closed interval. This means that a range of 3:5 gives 3, 4 and 5. Similarly, a range of 4:2 gives 4, 3, and 2.
This is the name of the editor to use when committing. Defaults to the value of EDITOR.
(deprecated, use .hgrc)
An executable to use for resolving merge conflicts. The program will be executed with three arguments: local file, remote file, ancestor file.
The default program is "hgmerge", which is a shell script provided by Mercurial with some sensible defaults.
(deprecated, use .hgrc)
A list of files or directories to search for hgrc files. Item separator is ":" on Unix, ";" on Windows. If HGRCPATH is not set, platform default search path is used. If empty, only .hg/hgrc of current repository is read.
For each element in path, if a directory, all entries in directory ending with ".rc" are added to path. Else, element itself is added to path.
This is the string used for the author of a commit.
(deprecated, use .hgrc)
If HGUSER is not set, this will be used as the author for a commit.
If neither HGUSER nor EMAIL is set, LOGNAME will be used (with @hostname appended) as the author value for a commit.
This is the name of the editor used in the hgmerge script. It will be used for commit messages if HGEDITOR isn't set. Defaults to vi.
This is used by Python to find imported modules and may need to be set appropriately if Mercurial is not installed system-wide.
This file contains regular expressions (one per line) that describe file names that should be ignored by hg. For details, see hgignore(5).
This file contains changeset hash values and text tag names (one of each separated by spaces) that correspond to tagged versions of the repository contents.
This file contains defaults and configuration. Values in .hg/hgrc override those in $HOME/.hgrc, and these override settings made in the global /etc/mercurial/hgrc configuration. See hgrc(5) for details of the contents and format of these files.
Probably lots, please post them to the mailing list (See Resources below) when you find them.
hgignore(5), hgrc(5)
Written by Matt Mackall <mpm@selenic.com>
Copyright (C) 2005 Matt Mackall. Free use of this software is granted under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Last updated 10-May-2006 17:00:06 CDT