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 hardware breakpoint event in the form of '\mem:addr[:access]'
37          where addr is the address in memory you want to break in.
38          Access is the memory access type (read, write, execute) it can
39          be passed as follows: '\mem:addr[:[r][w][x]]'.
40          If you want to profile read-write accesses in 0x1000, just set
41          'mem:0x1000:rw'.
42
43--filter=<filter>::
44        Event filter.
45
46-a::
47--all-cpus::
48        System-wide collection from all CPUs.
49
50-l::
51        Scale counter values.
52
53-p::
54--pid=::
55	Record events on existing process ID (comma separated list).
56
57-t::
58--tid=::
59        Record events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
60        This option also disables inheritance by default.  Enable it by adding
61        --inherit.
62
63-u::
64--uid=::
65        Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
66
67-r::
68--realtime=::
69	Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
70
71--no-buffering::
72	Collect data without buffering.
73
74-c::
75--count=::
76	Event period to sample.
77
78-o::
79--output=::
80	Output file name.
81
82-i::
83--no-inherit::
84	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
85-F::
86--freq=::
87	Profile at this frequency.
88
89-m::
90--mmap-pages=::
91	Number of mmap data pages (must be a power of two) or size
92	specification with appended unit character - B/K/M/G. The
93	size is rounded up to have nearest pages power of two value.
94
95-g::
96	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
97
98--call-graph::
99	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
100	implies -g.
101
102	Allows specifying "fp" (frame pointer) or "dwarf"
103	(DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) as the method to collect
104	the information used to show the call graphs.
105
106	In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
107	--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
108	call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
109	the libunwind library) should be used instead.
110
111-q::
112--quiet::
113	Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
114
115-v::
116--verbose::
117	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
118
119-s::
120--stat::
121	Per thread counts.
122
123-d::
124--data::
125	Sample addresses.
126
127-T::
128--timestamp::
129	Sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the timestamps,
130	for instance.
131
132-n::
133--no-samples::
134	Don't sample.
135
136-R::
137--raw-samples::
138Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
139
140-C::
141--cpu::
142Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
143comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
144In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
145the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
146
147-N::
148--no-buildid-cache::
149Do not update the buildid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
150where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
151is sufficient.
152
153-G name,...::
154--cgroup name,...::
155monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only
156in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to
157container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups
158can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup
159to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide
160an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have
161corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command
162line.
163
164-b::
165--branch-any::
166Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
167This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
168
169-j::
170--branch-filter::
171Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
172taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
173underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
174It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The
175following filters are defined:
176
177        - any:  any type of branches
178        - any_call: any function call or system call
179        - any_ret: any function return or system call return
180        - ind_call: any indirect branch
181        - u:  only when the branch target is at the user level
182        - k: only when the branch target is in the kernel
183        - hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level
184	- in_tx: only when the target is in a hardware transaction
185	- no_tx: only when the target is not in a hardware transaction
186	- abort_tx: only when the target is a hardware transaction abort
187	- cond: conditional branches
188
189+
190The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
191The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
192event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
193levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
194is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
195The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
196Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
197
198--weight::
199Enable weightened sampling. An additional weight is recorded per sample and can be
200displayed with the weight and local_weight sort keys.  This currently works for TSX
201abort events and some memory events in precise mode on modern Intel CPUs.
202
203--transaction::
204Record transaction flags for transaction related events.
205
206--per-thread::
207Use per-thread mmaps.  By default per-cpu mmaps are created.  This option
208overrides that and uses per-thread mmaps.  A side-effect of that is that
209inheritance is automatically disabled.  --per-thread is ignored with a warning
210if combined with -a or -C options.
211
212-D::
213--delay=::
214After starting the program, wait msecs before measuring. This is useful to
215filter out the startup phase of the program, which is often very different.
216
217SEE ALSO
218--------
219linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1]
220