perf-record(1) - Linux man page

Name

perf-record - Run a command and record its profile into perf.data

Synopsis

perf record [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] <command>
perf record [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [-l] [-a] - <command> [<options>]

Description

This command runs a command and gathers a performance counter profile from it, into perf.data - without displaying anything.

This file can then be inspected later on, using perf report.

Options

<command>...

Any command you can specify in a shell.
-e, --event=: Select the PMU event. Selection can be a symbolic event name (use perf list to list all events) or a raw PMU event (eventsel+umask) in the form of rNNN where NNN is a hexadecimal event descriptor.
--filter=<filter>: Event filter.
-a, --all-cpus: System-wide collection from all CPUs.
-l: Scale counter values.
-p, --pid=: Record events on existing process ID (comma separated list).
-t, --tid=: Record events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
-u, --uid=: Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
-r, --realtime=: Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
-D, --no-delay: Collect data without buffering.
-A, --append: Append to the output file to do incremental profiling.
-f, --force: Overwrite existing data file. (deprecated)
-c, --count=: Event period to sample.
-o, --output=: Output file name.
-i, --no-inherit: Child tasks do not inherit counters.
-F, --freq=: Profile at this frequency.
-m, --mmap-pages=: Number of mmap data pages. Must be a power of two.
-g, --call-graph: Do call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
-q, --quiet: Don't print any message, useful for scripting.
-v, --verbose: Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
-s, --stat: Per thread counts.
-d, --data: Sample addresses.
-T, --timestamp: Sample timestamps. Use it with perf report -D to see the timestamps, for instance.
-n, --no-samples: Don't sample.
-R, --raw-samples: Collect raw sample records from all opened counters (default for tracepoint counters).
-C, --cpu: Collect samples only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2. In per-thread mode with inheritance mode on (default), samples are captured only when the thread executes on the designated CPUs. Default is to monitor all CPUs.
-N, --no-buildid-cache: Do not update the builid cache. This saves some overhead in situations where the information in the perf.data file (which includes buildids) is sufficient.
-G name,..., --cgroup name,...: monitor only in the container (cgroup) called "name". This option is available only in per-cpu mode. The cgroup filesystem must be mounted. All threads belonging to container "name" are monitored when they run on the monitored CPUs. Multiple cgroups can be provided. Each cgroup is applied to the corresponding event, i.e., first cgroup to first event, second cgroup to second event and so on. It is possible to provide an empty cgroup (monitor all the time) using, e.g., -G foo,,bar. Cgroups must have corresponding events, i.e., they always refer to events defined earlier on the command line.
-b, --branch-any: Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled. This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
-j, --branch-filter: Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code. It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters. The following filters are defined:; • any: any type of branches; • any_call: any function call or system call; • any_ret: any function return or system call return; • ind_call: any indirect branch; • u: only when the branch target is at the user level; • k: only when the branch target is in the kernel; • hv: only when the target is at the hypervisor level; The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call. The privilege levels may be ommitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege levels are subject to permissions. When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events. The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.

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