File Specifications

Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference


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File Specifications

Synopsis

Any file can be specified within any Perforce command in client syntax, depot syntax, or local syntax. Client workspace names and depot names share the same namespace; there is no way for the Perforce server to confuse a client name with a depot name.

Syntax forms

Local syntax refers to filenames as specified by the local shell or operating system. Filenames referred to in local syntax may be specified by their absolute paths or relative to the current working directory. (Relative path components may only appear at the beginning of a file specifier.)

Perforce has its own method of file specification which remains unchanged across operating systems. If a file is specified relative to a client root, it is said to be in client syntax. If it is specified relative to the top of the depot, it is said to be in depot syntax. A file specified in either manner can be said to have been specified in Perforce syntax.

Perforce file specifiers always begin with two slashes (//), followed by the client or depot name, followed by the full pathname of the file relative to the client or depot root directory.

Path components in client and depot syntax are always separated by slashes (/), regardless of the component separator used by the local operating system or shell.

An example of each syntax is provided below


Syntax	Example
Local syntax	`/staff/user/usercws/file.c`
Depot syntax	`//depot/source/module/file.c`
Client syntax	`//usercws/file.c`

Wildcards

The Perforce system allows the use of three wildcards:


Wildcard	Meaning
`*`	Matches all characters except slashes within one directory.
`...`	Matches all files under the current working directory and all subdirectories. (matches anything, including slashes, and does so across subdirectories)
`%1 - %9`	Positional specifiers for substring rearrangement in filenames.

Using revision specifiers

File specifiers may be modified by appending # or @ to them.

The # and @ specifiers refer to specific revisions of files as stored in the depot:


Modifier	Meaning
`file#n`	Revision specifier: The `n`th revision of `file`.
`file#none` `file#0`	The nonexistent revision: If a revision of `file` exists in the depot, it is ignored. This is useful when you want to remove a file from the client workspace while leaving it intact in the depot, as in `p4 sync` `file#none`. The filespec `#0` may be used as a synonym for #none - the nonexistent revision can be thought of as the one "existed" before the first revision was submitted to the depot.
`file#head`	The head revision (latest version) of `file`. Except where explicitly noted, this is equivalent to referring to the file without a revision specifier.
`file#have`	The revision on the current client: the revision of file last `p4 sync`ed into the client workspace
`file@n`	Change number: The revision of `file` immediately after changelist `n` was submitted.
`file@labelname`	Label name: The revision of `file` in the label `labelname`.
`file@clientname`	Client name: The revision of `file` last taken into client workspace `clientname`.
`file@datespec`	Date and time: The revision of `file` at the date and time specified. If no time is specified, the head revision at 00:00:00 on the morning of the date specified is returned. Dates are specified `yyyy/mm/dd:hh:mm:ss` or `yyyy/mm/dd` `hh:mm:ss` (with either a space or a colon between the date and the time). The datespec `@now` may be used as a synonym for the current date and time.

Revision specifiers can be used to operate on many files at once: p4 sync //myclient/...#4 copies the fourth revision of all non-open files into the client workspace.

If specifying files by date and time (i.e., using specifiers of the form file@datespec), the date specification should be parsed by your local shell as a single token. You may need to use quotation marks around the date specification if you use it to specify a time as well as a date.

Some of Perforce's file specification characters may be intercepted and interpreted by the local shell, and need to be escaped before use. For instance, # is used as the comment character in most UNIX shells, / may be interpreted by (non-Perforce) DOS commands as an option specifier, and MacOS uses the : character as the separator between local path components. File names with spaces in them may have to be quoted on the command line.

For information on these and other platform-specific issues, see the release notes for your platform.

Using revision ranges

A few Perforce commands can use revision ranges to modify file arguments. Revision ranges are two separate revision specifications, separated by a comma. For example, p4 changes file#3,5 lists the changelists that submitted file file at its third, fourth, and fifth revisions.

Revision ranges have two separate meanings, depending on which command you're using. The two meanings are:

Run the command on all revisions in the specified range. For example, p4 jobs //...#20,52 lists all jobs fixed by any changelist that submitted any file at its 20th through 52nd revision.

This interpretation of revision ranges applies to p4 changes, p4 fixes, p4 integrate, p4 jobs, and p4 verify.

Run the command on only the highest revision in the specified range. For example, the command p4 print file@30,50 prints the highest revision of file file submitted between changelists 30 and 50. This is different than p4 print file@50: if revision 1 of file file was submitted in changelist 20, and revision 2 of file file was submitted in changelist 60, then p4 print file@30,50 prints nothing, while p4 print file@50 prints revision 1 of file.

The commands p4 files, p4 print, and p4 sync all use revision ranges in this fashion.

Revision ranges can be very powerful. For example, p4 changes file#3,@labelname lists all changelists that submitted file file between its third revision and the revision stored in label labelname.

Limitations on characters in filenames and entities

In order to support internationalization, Perforce allows the use of "unprintable" (non-ASCII) characters in filenames, label names, client workspace names, and other identifiers. Perforce wildcards, the pathname component separator (/), and the revision-specifying characters @ and #, are not allowed in file names, label names, or other identifiers.


Character	Reason
`@`	Perforce revision specifier for date, label name, or changelist number.
`#`	Perforce revision specifier for revision numbers.
`*`	Perforce wildcard: matches anything, works within a single directory
`...`	Perforce wildcard: matches anything, works at the current directory level and includes files in all directory levels below the current level.
`%`	Perforce wildcard: `%0` through `%9` are used for positional substitutions.
`/`	Perforce separator for pathname components.

Observe that most of these characters tend to be difficult to use in filenames in cross-platform environments: UNIX separates path components with /, while many DOS commands interpret / as a command line switch. Most UNIX shells interpret # as the beginning of a comment. Both DOS and UNIX shells automatically expand * to match multiple files, and the DOS command line uses % to refer to variables.

Similarly, although non-ASCII characters are allowed in filenames and Perforce identifiers, entering them from the command line may require platform-specific solutions. Users of GUI-based file managers can manipulate such files with drag-and-drop operations.

Perforce 2003.2 Command Reference


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