xref: /linux/tools/perf/Documentation/perf-top.txt (revision e9f0878c4b2004ac19581274c1ae4c61ae3ca70e)
1perf-top(1)
2===========
3
4NAME
5----
6perf-top - System profiling tool.
7
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
10[verse]
11'perf top' [-e <EVENT> | --event=EVENT] [<options>]
12
13DESCRIPTION
14-----------
15This command generates and displays a performance counter profile in real time.
16
17
18OPTIONS
19-------
20-a::
21--all-cpus::
22        System-wide collection.  (default)
23
24-c <count>::
25--count=<count>::
26	Event period to sample.
27
28-C <cpu-list>::
29--cpu=<cpu>::
30Monitor only on the list of CPUs provided. Multiple CPUs can be provided as a
31comma-separated list with no space: 0,1. Ranges of CPUs are specified with -: 0-2.
32Default is to monitor all CPUS.
33
34-d <seconds>::
35--delay=<seconds>::
36	Number of seconds to delay between refreshes.
37
38-e <event>::
39--event=<event>::
40	Select the PMU event. Selection can be a symbolic event name
41	(use 'perf list' to list all events) or a raw PMU
42	event (eventsel+umask) in the form of rNNN where NNN is a
43	hexadecimal event descriptor.
44
45-E <entries>::
46--entries=<entries>::
47	Display this many functions.
48
49-f <count>::
50--count-filter=<count>::
51	Only display functions with more events than this.
52
53--group::
54        Put the counters into a counter group.
55
56-F <freq>::
57--freq=<freq>::
58	Profile at this frequency. Use 'max' to use the currently maximum
59	allowed frequency, i.e. the value in the kernel.perf_event_max_sample_rate
60	sysctl.
61
62-i::
63--inherit::
64	Child tasks do not inherit counters.
65
66-k <path>::
67--vmlinux=<path>::
68	Path to vmlinux.  Required for annotation functionality.
69
70--ignore-vmlinux::
71	Ignore vmlinux files.
72
73-m <pages>::
74--mmap-pages=<pages>::
75	Number of mmap data pages (must be a power of two) or size
76	specification with appended unit character - B/K/M/G. The
77	size is rounded up to have nearest pages power of two value.
78
79-p <pid>::
80--pid=<pid>::
81	Profile events on existing Process ID (comma separated list).
82
83-t <tid>::
84--tid=<tid>::
85        Profile events on existing thread ID (comma separated list).
86
87-u::
88--uid=::
89        Record events in threads owned by uid. Name or number.
90
91-r <priority>::
92--realtime=<priority>::
93	Collect data with this RT SCHED_FIFO priority.
94
95--sym-annotate=<symbol>::
96        Annotate this symbol.
97
98-K::
99--hide_kernel_symbols::
100        Hide kernel symbols.
101
102-U::
103--hide_user_symbols::
104        Hide user symbols.
105
106--demangle-kernel::
107        Demangle kernel symbols.
108
109-D::
110--dump-symtab::
111        Dump the symbol table used for profiling.
112
113-v::
114--verbose::
115	Be more verbose (show counter open errors, etc).
116
117-z::
118--zero::
119	Zero history across display updates.
120
121-s::
122--sort::
123	Sort by key(s): pid, comm, dso, symbol, parent, srcline, weight,
124	local_weight, abort, in_tx, transaction, overhead, sample, period.
125	Please see description of --sort in the perf-report man page.
126
127--fields=::
128	Specify output field - multiple keys can be specified in CSV format.
129	Following fields are available:
130	overhead, overhead_sys, overhead_us, overhead_children, sample and period.
131	Also it can contain any sort key(s).
132
133	By default, every sort keys not specified in --field will be appended
134	automatically.
135
136-n::
137--show-nr-samples::
138	Show a column with the number of samples.
139
140--show-total-period::
141	Show a column with the sum of periods.
142
143--dsos::
144	Only consider symbols in these dsos.  This option will affect the
145	percentage of the overhead column.  See --percentage for more info.
146
147--comms::
148	Only consider symbols in these comms.  This option will affect the
149	percentage of the overhead column.  See --percentage for more info.
150
151--symbols::
152	Only consider these symbols.  This option will affect the
153	percentage of the overhead column.  See --percentage for more info.
154
155-M::
156--disassembler-style=:: Set disassembler style for objdump.
157
158--source::
159	Interleave source code with assembly code. Enabled by default,
160	disable with --no-source.
161
162--asm-raw::
163	Show raw instruction encoding of assembly instructions.
164
165-g::
166	Enables call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording.
167
168--call-graph [mode,type,min[,limit],order[,key][,branch]]::
169	Setup and enable call-graph (stack chain/backtrace) recording,
170	implies -g.  See `--call-graph` section in perf-record and
171	perf-report man pages for details.
172
173--children::
174	Accumulate callchain of children to parent entry so that then can
175	show up in the output.  The output will have a new "Children" column
176	and will be sorted on the data.  It requires -g/--call-graph option
177	enabled.  See the `overhead calculation' section for more details.
178	Enabled by default, disable with --no-children.
179
180--max-stack::
181	Set the stack depth limit when parsing the callchain, anything
182	beyond the specified depth will be ignored. This is a trade-off
183	between information loss and faster processing especially for
184	workloads that can have a very long callchain stack.
185
186	Default: /proc/sys/kernel/perf_event_max_stack when present, 127 otherwise.
187
188--ignore-callees=<regex>::
189        Ignore callees of the function(s) matching the given regex.
190        This has the effect of collecting the callers of each such
191        function into one place in the call-graph tree.
192
193--percent-limit::
194	Do not show entries which have an overhead under that percent.
195	(Default: 0).
196
197--percentage::
198	Determine how to display the overhead percentage of filtered entries.
199	Filters can be applied by --comms, --dsos and/or --symbols options and
200	Zoom operations on the TUI (thread, dso, etc).
201
202	"relative" means it's relative to filtered entries only so that the
203	sum of shown entries will be always 100%. "absolute" means it retains
204	the original value before and after the filter is applied.
205
206-w::
207--column-widths=<width[,width...]>::
208	Force each column width to the provided list, for large terminal
209	readability.  0 means no limit (default behavior).
210
211--proc-map-timeout::
212	When processing pre-existing threads /proc/XXX/mmap, it may take
213	a long time, because the file may be huge. A time out is needed
214	in such cases.
215	This option sets the time out limit. The default value is 500 ms.
216
217
218-b::
219--branch-any::
220	Enable taken branch stack sampling. Any type of taken branch may be sampled.
221	This is a shortcut for --branch-filter any. See --branch-filter for more infos.
222
223-j::
224--branch-filter::
225	Enable taken branch stack sampling. Each sample captures a series of consecutive
226	taken branches. The number of branches captured with each sample depends on the
227	underlying hardware, the type of branches of interest, and the executed code.
228	It is possible to select the types of branches captured by enabling filters.
229	For a full list of modifiers please see the perf record manpage.
230
231	The option requires at least one branch type among any, any_call, any_ret, ind_call, cond.
232	The privilege levels may be omitted, in which case, the privilege levels of the associated
233	event are applied to the branch filter. Both kernel (k) and hypervisor (hv) privilege
234	levels are subject to permissions.  When sampling on multiple events, branch stack sampling
235	is enabled for all the sampling events. The sampled branch type is the same for all events.
236	The various filters must be specified as a comma separated list: --branch-filter any_ret,u,k
237	Note that this feature may not be available on all processors.
238
239--raw-trace::
240	When displaying traceevent output, do not use print fmt or plugins.
241
242--hierarchy::
243	Enable hierarchy output.
244
245--force::
246	Don't do ownership validation.
247
248--num-thread-synthesize::
249	The number of threads to run when synthesizing events for existing processes.
250	By default, the number of threads equals to the number of online CPUs.
251
252INTERACTIVE PROMPTING KEYS
253--------------------------
254
255[d]::
256	Display refresh delay.
257
258[e]::
259	Number of entries to display.
260
261[E]::
262	Event to display when multiple counters are active.
263
264[f]::
265	Profile display filter (>= hit count).
266
267[F]::
268	Annotation display filter (>= % of total).
269
270[s]::
271	Annotate symbol.
272
273[S]::
274	Stop annotation, return to full profile display.
275
276[K]::
277	Hide kernel symbols.
278
279[U]::
280	Hide user symbols.
281
282[z]::
283	Toggle event count zeroing across display updates.
284
285[qQ]::
286	Quit.
287
288Pressing any unmapped key displays a menu, and prompts for input.
289
290include::callchain-overhead-calculation.txt[]
291
292SEE ALSO
293--------
294linkperf:perf-stat[1], linkperf:perf-list[1], linkperf:perf-report[1]
295