1perf-list(1)
2============
3
4NAME
5----
6perf-list - List all symbolic event types
7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
10[verse]
11'perf list' [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|event_glob]
12
13DESCRIPTION
14-----------
15This command displays the symbolic event types which can be selected in the
16various perf commands with the -e option.
17
18[[EVENT_MODIFIERS]]
19EVENT MODIFIERS
20---------------
21
22Events can optionally have a modifier by appending a colon and one or
23more modifiers. Modifiers allow the user to restrict the events to be
24counted. The following modifiers exist:
25
26 u - user-space counting
27 k - kernel counting
28 h - hypervisor counting
29 I - non idle counting
30 G - guest counting (in KVM guests)
31 H - host counting (not in KVM guests)
32 p - precise level
33 P - use maximum detected precise level
34 S - read sample value (PERF_SAMPLE_READ)
35 D - pin the event to the PMU
36
37The 'p' modifier can be used for specifying how precise the instruction
38address should be. The 'p' modifier can be specified multiple times:
39
40 0 - SAMPLE_IP can have arbitrary skid
41 1 - SAMPLE_IP must have constant skid
42 2 - SAMPLE_IP requested to have 0 skid
43 3 - SAMPLE_IP must have 0 skid, or uses randomization to avoid
44     sample shadowing effects.
45
46For Intel systems precise event sampling is implemented with PEBS
47which supports up to precise-level 2, and precise level 3 for
48some special cases
49
50On AMD systems it is implemented using IBS (up to precise-level 2).
51The precise modifier works with event types 0x76 (cpu-cycles, CPU
52clocks not halted) and 0xC1 (micro-ops retired). Both events map to
53IBS execution sampling (IBS op) with the IBS Op Counter Control bit
54(IbsOpCntCtl) set respectively (see AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s
55Manual Volume 2: System Programming, 13.3 Instruction-Based
56Sampling). Examples to use IBS:
57
58 perf record -a -e cpu-cycles:p ...    # use ibs op counting cycles
59 perf record -a -e r076:p ...          # same as -e cpu-cycles:p
60 perf record -a -e r0C1:p ...          # use ibs op counting micro-ops
61
62RAW HARDWARE EVENT DESCRIPTOR
63-----------------------------
64Even when an event is not available in a symbolic form within perf right now,
65it can be encoded in a per processor specific way.
66
67For instance For x86 CPUs NNN represents the raw register encoding with the
68layout of IA32_PERFEVTSELx MSRs (see [Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 3B: System Programming Guide] Figure 30-1 Layout
69of IA32_PERFEVTSELx MSRs) or AMD's PerfEvtSeln (see [AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s Manual Volume 2: System Programming], Page 344,
70Figure 13-7 Performance Event-Select Register (PerfEvtSeln)).
71
72Note: Only the following bit fields can be set in x86 counter
73registers: event, umask, edge, inv, cmask. Esp. guest/host only and
74OS/user mode flags must be setup using <<EVENT_MODIFIERS, EVENT
75MODIFIERS>>.
76
77Example:
78
79If the Intel docs for a QM720 Core i7 describe an event as:
80
81  Event  Umask  Event Mask
82  Num.   Value  Mnemonic    Description                        Comment
83
84  A8H      01H  LSD.UOPS    Counts the number of micro-ops     Use cmask=1 and
85                            delivered by loop stream detector  invert to count
86                                                               cycles
87
88raw encoding of 0x1A8 can be used:
89
90 perf stat -e r1a8 -a sleep 1
91 perf record -e r1a8 ...
92
93You should refer to the processor specific documentation for getting these
94details. Some of them are referenced in the SEE ALSO section below.
95
96PARAMETERIZED EVENTS
97--------------------
98
99Some pmu events listed by 'perf-list' will be displayed with '?' in them. For
100example:
101
102  hv_gpci/dtbp_ptitc,phys_processor_idx=?/
103
104This means that when provided as an event, a value for '?' must
105also be supplied. For example:
106
107  perf stat -C 0 -e 'hv_gpci/dtbp_ptitc,phys_processor_idx=0x2/' ...
108
109OPTIONS
110-------
111
112Without options all known events will be listed.
113
114To limit the list use:
115
116. 'hw' or 'hardware' to list hardware events such as cache-misses, etc.
117
118. 'sw' or 'software' to list software events such as context switches, etc.
119
120. 'cache' or 'hwcache' to list hardware cache events such as L1-dcache-loads, etc.
121
122. 'tracepoint' to list all tracepoint events, alternatively use
123  'subsys_glob:event_glob' to filter by tracepoint subsystems such as sched,
124  block, etc.
125
126. 'pmu' to print the kernel supplied PMU events.
127
128. If none of the above is matched, it will apply the supplied glob to all
129  events, printing the ones that match.
130
131. As a last resort, it will do a substring search in all event names.
132
133One or more types can be used at the same time, listing the events for the
134types specified.
135
136Support raw format:
137
138. '--raw-dump', shows the raw-dump of all the events.
139. '--raw-dump [hw|sw|cache|tracepoint|pmu|event_glob]', shows the raw-dump of
140  a certain kind of events.
141
142SEE ALSO
143--------
144linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-top[1],
145linkperf:perf-record[1],
146http://www.intel.com/Assets/PDF/manual/253669.pdf[Intel® 64 and IA-32 Architectures Software Developer's Manual Volume 3B: System Programming Guide],
147http://support.amd.com/us/Processor_TechDocs/24593_APM_v2.pdf[AMD64 Architecture Programmer’s Manual Volume 2: System Programming]
148