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	Also, by adding a comma, the number of mmap pages for AUX
112	area tracing can be specified.
113
114--group::
115	Put all events in a single event group.  This precedes the --event
116	option and remains only for backward compatibility.  See --event.
117
118-g::
119	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
120
121--call-graph::
122	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
123	implies -g.
124
125	Allows specifying "fp" (frame pointer) or "dwarf"
126	(DWARF's CFI - Call Frame Information) or "lbr"
127	(Hardware Last Branch Record facility) as the method to collect
128	the information used to show the call graphs.
129
130	In some systems, where binaries are build with gcc
131	--fomit-frame-pointer, using the "fp" method will produce bogus
132	call graphs, using "dwarf", if available (perf tools linked to
133	the libunwind library) should be used instead.
134	Using the "lbr" method doesn't require any compiler options. It
135	will produce call graphs from the hardware LBR registers. The
136	main limition is that it is only available on new Intel
137	platforms, such as Haswell. It can only get user call chain. It
138	doesn't work with branch stack sampling at the same time.
139
140-q::
141--quiet::
142	Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
143
144-v::
145--verbose::
146	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
147
148-s::
149--stat::
150	Record per-thread event counts.  Use it with 'perf report -T' to see
151	the values.
152
153-d::
154--data::
155	Sample addresses.
156
157-T::
158--timestamp::
159	Sample timestamps. Use it with 'perf report -D' to see the timestamps,
160	for instance.
161
162-n::
163--no-samples::
164	Don't sample.
165
166-R::
167--raw-samples::
168Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
169
170-C::
171--cpu::
172Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
173comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
174In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when
175the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
176
177-N::
178--no-buildid-cache::
179Do not update the buildid cache. This saves some overhead in situations
180where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids)
181is sufficient.
182
183-G name,...::
184--cgroup name,...::
185monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only
186in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to
187container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups
188can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup
189to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide
190an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have
191corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command
192line.
193
194-b::
195--branch-any::
196Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
197This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
198
199-j::
200--branch-filter::
201Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
202taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
203underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
204It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The
205following filters are defined:
206
207        - any:  any type of branches
208        - any_call: any function call or system call
209        - any_ret: any function return or system call return
210        - ind_call: any indirect branch
211        - u:  only when the branch target is at the user level
212        - k: only when the branch target is in the kernel
213        - hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level
214	- in_tx: only when the target is in a hardware transaction
215	- no_tx: only when the target is not in a hardware transaction
216	- abort_tx: only when the target is a hardware transaction abort
217	- cond: conditional branches
218
219+
220The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
221The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
222event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
223levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
224is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
225The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
226Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
227
228--weight::
229Enable weightened sampling. An additional weight is recorded per sample and can be
230displayed with the weight and local_weight sort keys.  This currently works for TSX
231abort events and some memory events in precise mode on modern Intel CPUs.
232
233--transaction::
234Record transaction flags for transaction related events.
235
236--per-thread::
237Use per-thread mmaps.  By default per-cpu mmaps are created.  This option
238overrides that and uses per-thread mmaps.  A side-effect of that is that
239inheritance is automatically disabled.  --per-thread is ignored with a warning
240if combined with -a or -C options.
241
242-D::
243--delay=::
244After starting the program, wait msecs before measuring. This is useful to
245filter out the startup phase of the program, which is often very different.
246
247-I::
248--intr-regs::
249Capture machine state (registers) at interrupt, i.e., on counter overflows for
250each sample. List of captured registers depends on the architecture. This option
251is off by default.
252
253--running-time::
254Record running and enabled time for read events (:S)
255
256-k::
257--clockid::
258Sets the clock id to use for the various time fields in the perf_event_type
259records. See clock_gettime(). In particular CLOCK_MONOTONIC and
260CLOCK_MONOTONIC_RAW are supported, some events might also allow
261CLOCK_BOOTTIME, CLOCK_REALTIME and CLOCK_TAI.
262
263-S::
264--snapshot::
265Select AUX area tracing Snapshot Mode. This option is valid only with an
266AUX area tracing event. Optionally the number of bytes to capture per
267snapshot can be specified. In Snapshot Mode, trace data is captured only when
268signal SIGUSR2 is received.
269
270SEE ALSO
271--------
272linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1]
273