query_language

Selects objects by their metadata

APPLICABILITY

ClearCase (general information)

SYNOPSIS

Query Primitives:

query-function (arg-list)
attribute-type-name  comparison-operator  value

Compound Queries:

query && query
query || query
! query
( query )

DESCRIPTION

The ClearCase query language is used to formulate queries on VOBs. It includes logical operators similar to those in the C programming language. ClearCase uses a query to search one or more VOBs and returns the names of objects: versions, branches, and/or elements. A query may return a single object, many objects, or no objects at all.

A query primitive evaluates to TRUE or FALSE. A TRUE value selects an object, such as an element, branch, or version; a FALSE value excludes it.

A query must be enclosed in quotes if it includes spaces. You may also need to enclose a query in quotes to prevent shell-level interpretation of characters such as ( (open parenthesis); using interactive cleartool removes this need. Quoting parentheses in config specs is not required.

Queries in Version Selectors

You can use a query in a version selector in these contexts:

• Command-line options in the following cleartool commands:

  describe, merge, mkattr, mkbranch, mklabel, rmattr, rmlabel, rmver

• Configuration rules; see the config_spec reference page
• Version-extended pathnames; see the pathnames_ccase reference page

A query in a version selector must be enclosed in braces ( {} ).

When a query is applied to a single branch, ClearCase selects the most recent version on that branch that satisfies the query. For example:

cmd-context describe -ver "\main\{attype(QAed)}" util.c

Using a query without a branch pathname causes an element's entire version tree to be searched. If the query returns a single version, the version-selection operation succeeds; the operation fails if the query returns no version (not found) or returns more than one version (ambiguous). For example:

cmd-context describe -ver "{attype(QAed)}" util.c
cleartool: Error: Ambiguous query: "{attype(QAed)}"

Queries in the find and findmerge Commands

You can also use queries in the find and findmerge commands. In this context, the query can be enclosed in braces ({...}). The query returns the names of all matching objects. For example:

cleartool find util.c -ver "attype(QAed)" -print
util.c@@\main\1
util.c@@\main\3

QUERY PRIMITIVES

The query language includes these primitives:

attribute-type-name  comparison-operator  value

comparison-operator is one of the following:

==    !=    <    <=    >    >=

Examples:

BugNum==4053
BugNum>=4000
Status!="tested"

This primitive is TRUE if the object itself has an attribute of that type and the value comparison is true. To test whether an object or its subobjects has a particular attribute (for example, an element or its branches and versions), use the attr_sub primitive.

NOTE: If no attribute named BugNum has been attached to an object, then !BugNum==671 is TRUE, but BugNum!=671 is FALSE. The second query would be true if an attribute of type BugNum existed, but had a different value.

attr_sub (attribute-type-name, comparison-operator, value)

attype (attribute-type-name)

attype_sub (attribute-type-name)

brtype (branch-type-name)

created_by (login-name)
In all cases, TRUE if the object was created by the user login-name (as shown by the describe command).

created_since (date-time)

In all cases, TRUE if the object was created since date-time. The date-time argument can have any of the following formats:

date.time | date | time | now
where:

Specify the time in 24-hour format, relative to the local time zone. If you omit the time, the default value is 00:00:00. If you omit the date, the default is today. If you omit the century, year, or a specific date, the most recent one is used. Specify UTC if you want ClearCase to resolve the time to the same moment in time regardless of time zone. Use the plus (+) or minus (-) operator to specify a positive or negative offset to the UTC time. If you specify UTC without hour or minute offsets, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is used. (Dates before January 1, 1970 Universal Coordinated Time (UTC) are invalid.)

eltype (element-type-name)
In all cases, TRUE if the element to which the object belongs is of type element-type-name.

hltype (hlink-type-name)

hltype (hlink-type-name , ->)

hltype (hlink-type-name , <-)

In all cases, TRUE if the object is either end of a hyperlink (first form) named hlink-type-name, or is the from-end of a hyperlink (second form), or is the to-end of a hyperlink (third form)

lbtype (label-type-name)
In all cases, TRUE if the object itself is labeled label-type-name. (Because elements and branches cannot have labels, this primitive can be true only for versions.)

lbtype_sub (label-type-name)

pool (pool-name)
In all cases, TRUE if the element to which the object belongs has a source pool or cleartext pool named pool-name.

trtype (trigger-type-name)
In all cases, TRUE if the element to which the object belongs has an attached or inherited trigger named trigger-type-name.

version (version-selector)

Note that in this context, version-selector cannot itself contain a query. For example, version(REL1) is valid, but version(lbtype(REL1)) is not.

COMPOUND QUERIES

Primitives can be combined into expressions with logical operators. An expression can take any of these forms, where query is a primitive or another expression:

OPERATOR PRECEDENCE

The precedence and associativity of the operators for attribute comparisons and formation of logical expressions are the same as in the C programming language:

EXAMPLES

Examples including wildcards or quoting are written for use in cleartool interactive mode. If you use cleartool single-command mode, you may need to change the wildcards and quoting to make your command interpreter process the command appropriately.

In cleartool single-command mode, cmd-context represents the command interpreter prompt. In cleartool interactive mode, cmd-context represents the interactive cleartool prompt. In Attache, cmd-context represents the workspace prompt.

• Attach the label REL6 to the version of test.c that is already labeled REL5.

Z:\vob2\src> cleartool mklabel -ver "{lbtype(REL5)}" REL6 test.c
Created label "REL6" on "test.c" version "\main\4".

• Attach an attribute to the latest version of test.c created since yesterday at 1 P.M. by user asd. Note the use of backslashes (\) to escape quote characters (") required to specify a string argument to mkattr.

cleartool> mkattr -ver "{created_since(yesterday.13:00)&&created_by(asd)}" QAed ^ \"No\" test.c
Created attribute "QAed" on "test.c@@\main\5".

• List each branch named rel2_bugfix that occurs in an element to which a trigger named mail_all has been attached.

Z:\vob2\src> cleartool find . -branch "brtype(rel2_bugfix)&&trtype(mail_all)" -print
.\util.c@@\main\rel2_bugfix

SEE ALSO

config_spec, pathnames_ccase, version_selector