1perf-record(1)
2==============
3
4NAME
5----
6perf-record - Run a command and record its profile into perf.data
7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
10[verse]
11'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] <command>
12'perf record' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] -- <command> [<options>]
13
14DESCRIPTION
15-----------
16This command runs a command and gathers a performance counter profile
17from it, into perf.data - without displaying anything.
18
19This file can then be inspected later on, using 'perf report'.
20
21
22OPTIONS
23-------
24<command>...::
25	Any command you can specify in a shell.
26
27-e::
28--event=::
29	Select the PMU event. Selection can be:
30
31        - a symbolic event name	(use 'perf list' to list all events)
32
33        - a raw PMU event (eventsel+umask) in the form of rNNN where NNN is a
34	  hexadecimal event descriptor.
35
36	- a symbolically formed PMU event like 'pmu/param1=0x3,param2/' where
37	  'param1', 'param2', etc are defined as formats for the PMU in
38	  /sys/bus/event_sources/devices/<pmu>/format/*.
39
40	- a symbolically formed event like 'pmu/config=M,config1=N,config3=K/'
41
42          where M, N, K are numbers (in decimal, hex, octal format). Acceptable
43          values for each of 'config', 'config1' and 'config2' are defined by
44          corresponding entries in /sys/bus/event_sources/devices/<pmu>/format/*
45          param1 and param2 are defined as formats for the PMU in:
46          /sys/bus/event_sources/devices/<pmu>/format/*
47
48        - a hardware breakpoint event in the form of '\mem:addr[/len][:access]'
49          where addr is the address in memory you want to break in.
50          Access is the memory access type (read, write, execute) it can
51          be passed as follows: '\mem:addr[:[r][w][x]]'. len is the range,
52          number of bytes from specified addr, which the breakpoint will cover.
53          If you want to profile read-write accesses in 0x1000, just set
54          'mem:0x1000:rw'.
55          If you want to profile write accesses in [0x1000~1008), just set
56          'mem:0x1000/8:w'.
57
58	- a group of events surrounded by a pair of brace ("{event1,event2,...}").
59	  Each event is separated by commas and the group should be quoted to
60	  prevent the shell interpretation.  You also need to use --group on
61	  "perf report" to view group events together.
62
63--filter=<filter>::
64        Event filter.
65
66-a::
67--all-cpus::
68        System-wide collection from all CPUs.
69
70-p::
71--pid=::
72	Record events on existing process ID (comma separated list).
73
74-t::
75--tid=::
76        Record events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
77        This option also disables inheritance by default.  Enable it by adding
78        --inherit.
79
80-u::
81--uid=::
82        Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
83
84-r::
85--realtime=::
86	Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
87
88--no-buffering::
89	Collect data without buffering.
90
91-c::
92--count=::
93	Event period to sample.
94
95-o::
96--output=::
97	Output file name.
98
99-i::
100--no-inherit::
101	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
102-F::
103--freq=::
104	Profile at this frequency.
105
106-m::
107--mmap-pages=::
108	Number of mmap data pages (must be a power of two) or size
109	specification with appended unit character - B/K/M/G. The
110	size is rounded up to have nearest pages power of two value.
111
112--group::
113	Put all events in a single event group.  This precedes the --event
114	option and remains only for backward compatibility.  See --event.
115
116-g::
117	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
118
119--call-graph::
120	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
121	implies -g.
122
123	Allows specifying "fp" (frame pointer) or "dwarf"
124	(DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) or "lbr"
125	(Hardware Last Branch Record facility) as the method to collect
126	the information used to show the call graphs.
127
128	In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
129	--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
130	call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
131	the libunwind library) should be used instead.
132	Using the "lbr" method doesn't require any compiler options. It
133	will produce call graphs from the hardware LBR registers. The
134	main limition is that it is only available on new Intel
135	platforms, such as Haswell. It can only get user call chain. It
136	doesn't work with branch stack sampling at the same time.
137
138-q::
139--quiet::
140	Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
141
142-v::
143--verbose::
144	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
145
146-s::
147--stat::
148	Per thread counts.
149
150-d::
151--data::
152	Sample addresses.
153
154-T::
155--timestamp::
156	Sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the timestamps,
157	for instance.
158
159-n::
160--no-samples::
161	Don't sample.
162
163-R::
164--raw-samples::
165Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
166
167-C::
168--cpu::
169Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
170comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
171In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
172the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
173
174-N::
175--no-buildid-cache::
176Do not update the buildid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
177where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
178is sufficient.
179
180-G name,...::
181--cgroup name,...::
182monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only
183in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to
184container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups
185can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup
186to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide
187an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have
188corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command
189line.
190
191-b::
192--branch-any::
193Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
194This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
195
196-j::
197--branch-filter::
198Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
199taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
200underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
201It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The
202following filters are defined:
203
204        - any:  any type of branches
205        - any_call: any function call or system call
206        - any_ret: any function return or system call return
207        - ind_call: any indirect branch
208        - u:  only when the branch target is at the user level
209        - k: only when the branch target is in the kernel
210        - hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level
211	- in_tx: only when the target is in a hardware transaction
212	- no_tx: only when the target is not in a hardware transaction
213	- abort_tx: only when the target is a hardware transaction abort
214	- cond: conditional branches
215
216+
217The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
218The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
219event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
220levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
221is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
222The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
223Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
224
225--weight::
226Enable weightened sampling. An additional weight is recorded per sample and can be
227displayed with the weight and local_weight sort keys.  This currently works for TSX
228abort events and some memory events in precise mode on modern Intel CPUs.
229
230--transaction::
231Record transaction flags for transaction related events.
232
233--per-thread::
234Use per-thread mmaps.  By default per-cpu mmaps are created.  This option
235overrides that and uses per-thread mmaps.  A side-effect of that is that
236inheritance is automatically disabled.  --per-thread is ignored with a warning
237if combined with -a or -C options.
238
239-D::
240--delay=::
241After starting the program, wait msecs before measuring. This is useful to
242filter out the startup phase of the program, which is often very different.
243
244-I::
245--intr-regs::
246Capture machine state (registers) at interrupt, i.e., on counter overflows for
247each sample. List of captured registers depends on the architecture. This option
248is off by default.
249
250--running-time::
251Record running and enabled time for read events (:S)
252
253-k::
254--clockid::
255Sets the clock id to use for the various time fields in the perf_event_type
256records. See clock_gettime(). In particular CLOCK_MONOTONIC and
257CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW are supported, some events might also allow
258CLOCK_BOOTTIME, CLOCK_REALTIME and CLOCK_TAI.
259
260SEE ALSO
261--------
262linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1]
263