Template Usage

Mercurial allows you to customize output of commands through templates. You can either pass in a template or select an existing template-style from the command line, via the --template option.

You can customize output for any "log-like" command: log, outgoing, incoming, tip, parents, and heads.

Some built-in styles are packaged with Mercurial. These can be listed with 'hg log --template list'. Example usage:

$ hg log -r1.0::1.1 --template changelog

A template is a piece of text, with markup to invoke variable expansion:

$ hg log -r1 --template "{node}\n"
b56ce7b07c52de7d5fd79fb89701ea538af65746

Keywords

Strings in curly braces are called keywords. The availability of keywords depends on the exact context of the templater. These keywords are usually available for templating a log-like command:

activebookmark

String. The active bookmark, if it is associated with the changeset.

author

Alias for "{user}"

bisect

String. The changeset bisection status.

bookmarks

List of strings. Any bookmarks associated with the changeset. Also sets 'active', the name of the active bookmark.

branch

String. The name of the branch on which the changeset was committed.

branches

List of strings. The name of the branch on which the changeset was committed. Will be empty if the branch name was default. (DEPRECATED)

changessincelatesttag

Integer. All ancestors not in the latest tag.

children

List of strings. The children of the changeset.

currentbookmark

String. The active bookmark, if it is associated with the changeset. (DEPRECATED)

date

Date information. The date when the changeset was committed.

desc

String. The text of the changeset description.

diffstat

String. Statistics of changes with the following format: "modified files: +added/-removed lines"

envvars

A dictionary of environment variables. (EXPERIMENTAL)

extras

List of dicts with key, value entries of the 'extras' field of this changeset.

file_adds

List of strings. Files added by this changeset.

file_copies

List of strings. Files copied in this changeset with their sources.

file_copies_switch

List of strings. Like "file_copies" but displayed only if the --copied switch is set.

file_dels

List of strings. Files removed by this changeset.

file_mods

List of strings. Files modified by this changeset.

files

List of strings. All files modified, added, or removed by this changeset.

graphnode

String. The character representing the changeset node in an ASCII revision graph.

graphwidth

Integer. The width of the graph drawn by 'log --graph' or zero.

index

Integer. The current iteration of the loop. (0 indexed)

instabilities

List of strings. Evolution instabilities affecting the changeset. (EXPERIMENTAL)

latesttag

List of strings. The global tags on the most recent globally tagged ancestor of this changeset. If no such tags exist, the list consists of the single string "null".

latesttagdistance

Integer. Longest path to the latest tag.

namespaces

Dict of lists. Names attached to this changeset per namespace.

node

String. The changeset identification hash, as a 40 hexadecimal digit string.

obsolete

String. Whether the changeset is obsolete. (EXPERIMENTAL)

p1node

String. The identification hash of the changeset's first parent, as a 40 digit hexadecimal string. If the changeset has no parents, all digits are 0.

p1rev

Integer. The repository-local revision number of the changeset's first parent, or -1 if the changeset has no parents.

p2node

String. The identification hash of the changeset's second parent, as a 40 digit hexadecimal string. If the changeset has no second parent, all digits are 0.

p2rev

Integer. The repository-local revision number of the changeset's second parent, or -1 if the changeset has no second parent.

parents

List of strings. The parents of the changeset in "rev:node" format. If the changeset has only one "natural" parent (the predecessor revision) nothing is shown.

path

String. Repository-absolute path of the current file. (EXPERIMENTAL)

peerurls

A dictionary of repository locations defined in the [paths] section of your configuration file.

phase

String. The changeset phase name.

phaseidx

Integer. The changeset phase index. (ADVANCED)

predecessors

Returns the list of the closest visible successors. (EXPERIMENTAL)

reporoot

String. The root directory of the current repository.

rev

Integer. The repository-local changeset revision number.

size

Integer. Size of the current file in bytes. (EXPERIMENTAL)

status

String. Status code of the current file. (EXPERIMENTAL)

subrepos

List of strings. Updated subrepositories in the changeset.

successorssets

Returns a string of sets of successors for a changectx. Format used is: [ctx1, ctx2], [ctx3] if ctx has been split into ctx1 and ctx2 while also diverged into ctx3. (EXPERIMENTAL)

succsandmarkers

Returns a list of dict for each final successor of ctx. The dict contains successors node id in "successors" keys and the list of obs-markers from ctx to the set of successors in "markers". (EXPERIMENTAL)

tags

List of strings. Any tags associated with the changeset.

termwidth

Integer. The width of the current terminal.

user

String. The unmodified author of the changeset.

verbosity

String. The current output verbosity in 'debug', 'quiet', 'verbose', or ''.

whyunstable

List of dicts explaining all instabilities of a changeset. (EXPERIMENTAL)

The "date" keyword does not produce human-readable output. If you want to use a date in your output, you can use a filter to process it. Filters are functions which return a string based on the input variable. Be sure to use the stringify filter first when you're applying a string-input filter to a list-like input variable. You can also use a chain of filters to get the desired output:

$ hg tip --template "{date|isodate}\n"
2008-08-21 18:22 +0000

Filters

List of filters:

addbreaks

Any text. Add an XHTML "<br />" tag before the end of every line except the last.

age

Date. Returns a human-readable date/time difference between the given date/time and the current date/time.

basename

Any text. Treats the text as a path, and returns the last component of the path after splitting by the path separator. For example, "foo/bar/baz" becomes "baz" and "foo/bar//" becomes "".

commondir

List of text. Treats each list item as file name with / as path separator and returns the longest common directory prefix shared by all list items. Returns the empty string if no common prefix exists.

The list items are not normalized, i.e. "foo/../bar" is handled as file "bar" in the directory "foo/..". Leading slashes are ignored.

For example, ["foo/bar/baz", "foo/baz/bar"] becomes "foo" and ["foo/bar", "baz"] becomes "".

count

List or text. Returns the length as an integer.

dirname

Any text. Treats the text as a path, and strips the last component of the path after splitting by the path separator.

domain

Any text. Finds the first string that looks like an email address, and extracts just the domain component. Example: "User <user@example.com>" becomes "example.com".

email

Any text. Extracts the first string that looks like an email address. Example: "User <user@example.com>" becomes "user@example.com".

emailuser

Any text. Returns the user portion of an email address.

escape

Any text. Replaces the special XML/XHTML characters "&", "<" and ">" with XML entities, and filters out NUL characters.

fill68

Any text. Wraps the text to fit in 68 columns.

fill76

Any text. Wraps the text to fit in 76 columns.

firstline

Any text. Returns the first line of text.

hex

Any text. Convert a binary Mercurial node identifier into its long hexadecimal representation.

hgdate

Date. Returns the date as a pair of numbers: "1157407993 25200" (Unix timestamp, timezone offset).

isodate

Date. Returns the date in ISO 8601 format: "2009-08-18 13:00 +0200".

isodatesec

Date. Returns the date in ISO 8601 format, including seconds: "2009-08-18 13:00:13 +0200". See also the rfc3339date filter.

json

Any object. Serializes the object to a JSON formatted text.

lower

Any text. Converts the text to lowercase.

nonempty

Any text. Returns '(none)' if the string is empty.

obfuscate

Any text. Returns the input text rendered as a sequence of XML entities.

person

Any text. Returns the name before an email address, interpreting it as per RFC 5322.

revescape

Any text. Escapes all "special" characters, except @. Forward slashes are escaped twice to prevent web servers from prematurely unescaping them. For example, "@foo bar/baz" becomes "@foo%20bar%252Fbaz".

rfc3339date

Date. Returns a date using the Internet date format specified in RFC 3339: "2009-08-18T13:00:13+02:00".

rfc822date

Date. Returns a date using the same format used in email headers: "Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:00:13 +0200".

short

Changeset hash. Returns the short form of a changeset hash, i.e. a 12 hexadecimal digit string.

shortbisect

Any text. Treats 'label' as a bisection status, and returns a single-character representing the status (G: good, B: bad, S: skipped, U: untested, I: ignored). Returns single space if 'text' is not a valid bisection status.

shortdate

Date. Returns a date like "2006-09-18".

slashpath

Any text. Replaces the native path separator with slash.

splitlines

Any text. Split text into a list of lines.

stringify

Any type. Turns the value into text by converting values into text and concatenating them.

stripdir

Treat the text as path and strip a directory level, if possible. For example, "foo" and "foo/bar" becomes "foo".

tabindent

Any text. Returns the text, with every non-empty line except the first starting with a tab character.

upper

Any text. Converts the text to uppercase.

urlescape

Any text. Escapes all "special" characters. For example, "foo bar" becomes "foo%20bar".

user

Any text. Returns a short representation of a user name or email address.

utf8

Any text. Converts from the local character encoding to UTF-8.

Note that a filter is nothing more than a function call, i.e. "expr|filter" is equivalent to "filter(expr)".

Functions

In addition to filters, there are some basic built-in functions:

date(date[, fmt])

Format a date. See 'hg help dates' for formatting strings. The default is a Unix date format, including the timezone: "Mon Sep 04 15:13:13 2006 0700".

dict([[key=]value...])

Construct a dict from key-value pairs. A key may be omitted if a value expression can provide an unambiguous name.

diff([includepattern [, excludepattern]])

Show a diff, optionally specifying files to include or exclude.

extdata(source)

Show a text read from the specified extdata source. (EXPERIMENTAL)

files(pattern)

All files of the current changeset matching the pattern. See 'hg help patterns'.

fill(text[, width[, initialident[, hangindent]]])

Fill many paragraphs with optional indentation. See the "fill" filter.

filter(iterable[, expr])

Remove empty elements from a list or a dict. If expr specified, it's applied to each element to test emptiness.

formatnode(node)

Obtain the preferred form of a changeset hash. (DEPRECATED)

get(dict, key)

Get an attribute/key from an object. Some keywords are complex types. This function allows you to obtain the value of an attribute on these types.

if(expr, then[, else])

Conditionally execute based on the result of an expression.

ifcontains(needle, haystack, then[, else])

Conditionally execute based on whether the item "needle" is in "haystack".

ifeq(expr1, expr2, then[, else])

Conditionally execute based on whether 2 items are equivalent.

indent(text, indentchars[, firstline])

Indents all non-empty lines with the characters given in the indentchars string. An optional third parameter will override the indent for the first line only if present.

join(list, sep)

Join items in a list with a delimiter.

label(label, expr)

Apply a label to generated content. Content with a label applied can result in additional post-processing, such as automatic colorization.

latesttag([pattern])

The global tags matching the given pattern on the most recent globally tagged ancestor of this changeset. If no such tags exist, the "{tag}" template resolves to the string "null". See 'hg help revisions.patterns' for the pattern syntax.

localdate(date[, tz])

Converts a date to the specified timezone. The default is local date.

mailmap(author)

Return the author, updated according to the value set in the .mailmap file

max(iterable)

Return the max of an iterable

min(iterable)

Return the min of an iterable

mod(a, b)

Calculate a mod b such that a / b + a mod b == a

obsfatedate(markers)

Compute obsfate related information based on markers (EXPERIMENTAL)

obsfateoperations(markers)

Compute obsfate related information based on markers (EXPERIMENTAL)

obsfateusers(markers)

Compute obsfate related information based on markers (EXPERIMENTAL)

obsfateverb(successors, markers)

Compute obsfate related information based on successors (EXPERIMENTAL)

pad(text, width[, fillchar=' '[, left=False[, truncate=False]]])

Pad text with a fill character.

relpath(path)

Convert a repository-absolute path into a filesystem path relative to the current working directory.

revset(query[, formatargs...])

Execute a revision set query. See 'hg help revset'.

rstdoc(text, style)

Format reStructuredText.

separate(sep, args...)

Add a separator between non-empty arguments.

shortest(node, minlength=4)

Obtain the shortest representation of a node.

startswith(pattern, text)

Returns the value from the "text" argument if it begins with the content from the "pattern" argument.

strip(text[, chars])

Strip characters from a string. By default, strips all leading and trailing whitespace.

sub(pattern, replacement, expression)

Perform text substitution using regular expressions.

word(number, text[, separator])

Return the nth word from a string.

Operators

We provide a limited set of infix arithmetic operations on integers:

+ for addition
- for subtraction
* for multiplication
/ for floor division (division rounded to integer nearest -infinity)

Division fulfills the law x = x / y + mod(x, y).

Also, for any expression that returns a list, there is a list operator:

expr % "{template}"

As seen in the above example, "{template}" is interpreted as a template. To prevent it from being interpreted, you can use an escape character "\{" or a raw string prefix, "r'...'".

The dot operator can be used as a shorthand for accessing a sub item:

• "expr.member" is roughly equivalent to "expr % '{member}'" if "expr" returns a non-list/dict. The returned value is not stringified.
• "dict.key" is identical to "get(dict, 'key')".

Aliases

New keywords and functions can be defined in the "templatealias" section of a Mercurial configuration file:

<alias> = <definition>

Arguments of the form 'a1', 'a2', etc. are substituted from the alias into the definition.

For example,

[templatealias]
r = rev
rn = "{r}:{node|short}"
leftpad(s, w) = pad(s, w, ' ', True)

defines two symbol aliases, "r" and "rn", and a function alias "leftpad()".

It's also possible to specify complete template strings, using the "templates" section. The syntax used is the general template string syntax.

For example,

[templates]
nodedate = "{node|short}: {date(date, "%Y-%m-%d")}\n"

defines a template, "nodedate", which can be called like:

$ hg log -r . -Tnodedate

A template defined in "templates" section can also be referenced from another template:

$ hg log -r . -T "{rev} {nodedate}"

but be aware that the keywords cannot be overridden by templates. For example, a template defined as "templates.rev" cannot be referenced as "{rev}".

A template defined in "templates" section may have sub templates which are inserted before/after/between items:

[templates]
myjson = ' {dict(rev, node|short)|json}'
myjson:docheader = '\{\n'
myjson:docfooter = '\n}\n'
myjson:separator = ',\n'

Examples

Some sample command line templates:

• Format lists, e.g. files:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "files:\n{files % '  {file}\n'}"
  

• Join the list of files with a ", ":

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "files: {join(files, ', ')}\n"
  

• Join the list of files ending with ".py" with a ", ":

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "pythonfiles: {join(files('**.py'), ', ')}\n"
  

• Separate non-empty arguments by a " ":

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{separate(' ', node, bookmarks, tags}\n"
  

• Modify each line of a commit description:

  $ hg log --template "{splitlines(desc) % '**** {line}\n'}"
  

• Format date:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{date(date, '%Y')}\n"
  

• Display date in UTC:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{localdate(date, 'UTC')|date}\n"
  

• Output the description set to a fill-width of 30:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{fill(desc, 30)}"
  

• Use a conditional to test for the default branch:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{ifeq(branch, 'default', 'on the main branch',
  'on branch {branch}')}\n"
  

• Append a newline if not empty:

  $ hg tip --template "{if(author, '{author}\n')}"
  

• Label the output for use with the color extension:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{label('changeset.{phase}', node|short)}\n"
  

• Invert the firstline filter, i.e. everything but the first line:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{sub(r'^.*\n?\n?', '', desc)}\n"
  

• Display the contents of the 'extra' field, one per line:

  $ hg log -r 0 --template "{join(extras, '\n')}\n"
  

• Mark the active bookmark with '*':

  $ hg log --template "{bookmarks % '{bookmark}{ifeq(bookmark, active, '*')} '}\n"
  

• Find the previous release candidate tag, the distance and changes since the tag:

  $ hg log -r . --template "{latesttag('re:^.*-rc$') % '{tag}, {changes}, {distance}'}\n"
  

• Mark the working copy parent with '@':

  $ hg log --template "{ifcontains(rev, revset('.'), '@')}\n"
  

• Show details of parent revisions:

  $ hg log --template "{revset('parents(%d)', rev) % '{desc|firstline}\n'}"
  

• Show only commit descriptions that start with "template":

  $ hg log --template "{startswith('template', firstline(desc))}\n"
  

• Print the first word of each line of a commit message:

  $ hg log --template "{word(0, desc)}\n"