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--filter=<filter>::
59        Event filter.
60
61-a::
62--all-cpus::
63        System-wide collection from all CPUs.
64
65-l::
66        Scale counter values.
67
68-p::
69--pid=::
70	Record events on existing process ID (comma separated list).
71
72-t::
73--tid=::
74        Record events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
75        This option also disables inheritance by default.  Enable it by adding
76        --inherit.
77
78-u::
79--uid=::
80        Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
81
82-r::
83--realtime=::
84	Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
85
86--no-buffering::
87	Collect data without buffering.
88
89-c::
90--count=::
91	Event period to sample.
92
93-o::
94--output=::
95	Output file name.
96
97-i::
98--no-inherit::
99	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
100-F::
101--freq=::
102	Profile at this frequency.
103
104-m::
105--mmap-pages=::
106	Number of mmap data pages (must be a power of two) or size
107	specification with appended unit character - B/K/M/G. The
108	size is rounded up to have nearest pages power of two value.
109
110-g::
111	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
112
113--call-graph::
114	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
115	implies -g.
116
117	Allows specifying "fp" (frame pointer) or "dwarf"
118	(DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) or "lbr"
119	(Hardware Last Branch Record facility) as the method to collect
120	the information used to show the call graphs.
121
122	In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
123	--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
124	call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
125	the libunwind library) should be used instead.
126	Using the "lbr" method doesn't require any compiler options. It
127	will produce call graphs from the hardware LBR registers. The
128	main limition is that it is only available on new Intel
129	platforms, such as Haswell. It can only get user call chain. It
130	doesn't work with branch stack sampling at the same time.
131
132-q::
133--quiet::
134	Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
135
136-v::
137--verbose::
138	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
139
140-s::
141--stat::
142	Per thread counts.
143
144-d::
145--data::
146	Sample addresses.
147
148-T::
149--timestamp::
150	Sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the timestamps,
151	for instance.
152
153-n::
154--no-samples::
155	Don't sample.
156
157-R::
158--raw-samples::
159Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
160
161-C::
162--cpu::
163Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
164comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
165In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
166the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
167
168-N::
169--no-buildid-cache::
170Do not update the buildid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
171where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
172is sufficient.
173
174-G name,...::
175--cgroup name,...::
176monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only
177in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to
178container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups
179can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup
180to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide
181an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have
182corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command
183line.
184
185-b::
186--branch-any::
187Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
188This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
189
190-j::
191--branch-filter::
192Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
193taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
194underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
195It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The
196following filters are defined:
197
198        - any:  any type of branches
199        - any_call: any function call or system call
200        - any_ret: any function return or system call return
201        - ind_call: any indirect branch
202        - u:  only when the branch target is at the user level
203        - k: only when the branch target is in the kernel
204        - hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level
205	- in_tx: only when the target is in a hardware transaction
206	- no_tx: only when the target is not in a hardware transaction
207	- abort_tx: only when the target is a hardware transaction abort
208	- cond: conditional branches
209
210+
211The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
212The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
213event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
214levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
215is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
216The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
217Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
218
219--weight::
220Enable weightened sampling. An additional weight is recorded per sample and can be
221displayed with the weight and local_weight sort keys.  This currently works for TSX
222abort events and some memory events in precise mode on modern Intel CPUs.
223
224--transaction::
225Record transaction flags for transaction related events.
226
227--per-thread::
228Use per-thread mmaps.  By default per-cpu mmaps are created.  This option
229overrides that and uses per-thread mmaps.  A side-effect of that is that
230inheritance is automatically disabled.  --per-thread is ignored with a warning
231if combined with -a or -C options.
232
233-D::
234--delay=::
235After starting the program, wait msecs before measuring. This is useful to
236filter out the startup phase of the program, which is often very different.
237
238-I::
239--intr-regs::
240Capture machine state (registers) at interrupt, i.e., on counter overflows for
241each sample. List of captured registers depends on the architecture. This option
242is off by default.
243
244--running-time::
245Record running and enabled time for read events (:S)
246
247SEE ALSO
248--------
249linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1]
250