PERF-ANNOTATE(1)

📦
version 7.3.1 · 42 versions
, in arch rolling

💅 PERF-ANNOTATE — ok bestie, let's read your perf.data together 👑

so this little icon lives in the perf Manual, section 1, and it's about taking a perf.data file and making the code make sense. ngl it's lowkey one of the prettiest things perf does. let's go 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

perf-annotate — Read perf.data (created by perf record) and display annotated code 💖

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

perf annotate [-i <file> | --input=file] [symbol_name]

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

okay so picture this: this command reads the input file and shows you a whole annotated version of the code. ✨

and the way that it gets better — if the object file has debug symbols, you get the source code displayed alongside the assembly code. like, side by side. main character energy fr.

but if there's no debug info in the object? no stress, you just get the annotated assembly displayed instead. still slay, just more raw. 💀

🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

  • -i, --input=<file> — the input file name, bestie. (default: perf.data unless stdin is a fifo 👀)
  • -d, --dsos=<dso[,dso...]> — only consider symbols in these dsos. just these ones. narrow the vibe.
  • -s, --symbol=<symbol> — the symbol you wanna annotate 🎯
  • -f, --force — don't do ownership validation. just. don't. 🙈
  • -v, --verbose — be more verbose. (Show symbol address, etc) — she's chatty and we love that
  • -q, --quiet — do not show any warnings or messages. (Suppress -v) — she's giving silent treatment
  • -n, --show-nr-samples — show the number of samples for each symbol 🔢
  • -D, --dump-raw-trace — dump raw trace in ASCII. raw. unfiltered. 💅
  • -k, --vmlinux=<file> — vmlinux pathname.
⚠️ -m, --modules — load module symbols. WARNING: use only with -k and LIVE kernel. like, fr fr, read that twice.
  • --ignore-vmlinux — ignore vmlinux files. not today ✋
  • -l, --print-line — print matching source lines (may be slow 🐌)
  • -P, --full-paths — don't shorten the displayed pathnames. full government name energy
  • --stdio — use the stdio interface.
  • --stdio2 — use the stdio2 interface, non-interactive, uses the TUI formatting. iconic but offscreen
  • --stdio-color=<mode> — always, never or auto, allowing configuring color output via the command line, in addition to via "color.ui" .perfconfig. Use --stdio-color always to generate color even when redirecting to a pipe or file. Using just --stdio-color is equivalent to using always. 🌈 (yes that's the whole mood)
  • --tui — use the TUI interface. Use of --tui requires a tty; if one is not present, as when piping to other commands, the stdio interface is used. This interfaces starts by centering on the line with more samples, TAB/UNTAB cycles through the lines with more samples. keyboard girlies rise 👑
  • --gtk — use the GTK interface.
  • -C, --cpu=<cpu> — only report samples for 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. Default is to report samples on all CPUs. 💻
  • --asm-raw — show raw instruction encoding of assembly instructions.
  • --show-total-period — show a column with the sum of periods.
  • --source — interleave source code with assembly code. Enabled by default, disable with --no-source.
  • --symfs=<directory[,layout]> — look for files with symbols relative to this directory. The optional layout can be hierarchy (default, matches full path) or flat (only matches base name). This is useful when debug files are stored in a flat directory structure. 🗂️
  • -M, --disassembler-style= — set disassembler style for objdump.
  • --addr2line=<path> — path to addr2line binary.
  • --objdump=<path> — path to objdump binary.
  • --prefix=PREFIX, --prefix-strip=N — remove first N entries from source file path names in executables and add PREFIX. This allows to display source code compiled on systems with different file system layout. 🧚
  • --skip-missing — skip symbols that cannot be annotated.
  • --group — show event group information together.
  • --demangle — demangle symbol names to human readable form. It's enabled by default, disable with --no-demangle.
  • --demangle-kernel — demangle kernel symbol names to human readable form (for C++ kernels). yes, C++ kernels are a thing 💜
  • --percent-type — set annotation percent type from following choices: global-period, local-period, global-hits, local-hits

The local/global keywords set if the percentage is computed in the scope of the function (local) or the whole data (global). The period/hits keywords set the base the percentage is computed on — the samples period or the number of samples (hits). 🧮

  • --percent-limit — do not show functions which have an overhead under that percent on stdio or stdio2 (Default: 0). Note that this is about selection of functions to display, not about lines within the function. ok that distinction matters, don't @ me
  • --data-type[=TYPE_NAME] — display data type annotation instead of code. It infers data type of samples (if they are memory accessing instructions) using DWARF debug information. It can take an optional argument of data type name. In that case it'd show annotation for the type only, otherwise it'd show all data types it finds. 🔍✨
  • --type-stat — show stats for the data type annotation.
  • --skip-empty — do not display empty (or dummy) events.
  • --code-with-type — show data type info in code annotation (for memory instructions only).

🧚 --itrace deep dive (this one's a whole personality) 🌟

  • --itrace — Options for decoding instruction tracing data. The options are:
    • i — synthesize instructions events
    • y — synthesize cycles events
    • b — synthesize branches events
    • c — synthesize branches events (calls only)
    • r — synthesize branches events (returns only)
    • x — synthesize transactions events
    • w — synthesize ptwrite events
    • p — synthesize power events (incl. PSB events for Intel PT)
    • o — synthesize other events recorded due to the use of aux-output (refer to perf record)
    • I — synthesize interrupt or similar (asynchronous) events (e.g. Intel PT Event Trace)
    • e — synthesize error events
    • d — create a debug log
    • f — synthesize first level cache events
    • m — synthesize last level cache events
    • M — synthesize memory events
    • t — synthesize TLB events
    • a — synthesize remote access events
    • g — synthesize a call chain (use with i or x)
    • G — synthesize a call chain on existing event records
    • l — synthesize last branch entries (use with i or x)
    • L — synthesize last branch entries on existing event records
    • s — skip initial number of events
    • q — quicker (less detailed) decoding
    • A — approximate IPC
    • Z — prefer to ignore timestamps (so-called "timeless" decoding)
    • T — use the timestamp trace as kernel time

The default is all events i.e. the same as --itrace=iybxwpe, except for perf script where it is --itrace=ce. 📌

In addition, the period (default 100000, except for perf script where it is 1) for instructions events can be specified in units of:

  • i — instructions
  • t — ticks
  • ms — milliseconds
  • us — microseconds
  • ns — nanoseconds (default)

Also the call chain size (default 16, max. 1024) for instructions or transactions events can be specified. 🔗

Also the number of last branch entries (default 64, max. 1024) for instructions or transactions events can be specified.

Similar to options g and l, size may also be specified for options G and L. On x86, note that G and L work poorly when data has been recorded with large PEBS. Refer linkperf:perf-intel-pt[1] man page for details. 😭 (yes, "work poorly" — that's the actual situation)

It is also possible to skip events generated (instructions, branches, transactions, ptwrite, power) at the beginning. This is useful to ignore initialization code.

--itrace=i0nss1000000

skips the first million instructions. 🫡

The e option may be followed by flags which affect what errors will or will not be reported. Each flag must be preceded by either + or -. The flags are:

  • o — overflow
  • l — trace data lost

If supported, the d option may be followed by flags which affect what debug messages will or will not be logged. Each flag must be preceded by either + or -. The flags are:

  • a — all perf events
  • e — output only on errors (size configurable — see linkperf:perf-config[1])
  • o — output to stdout

If supported, the q option may be repeated to increase the effect. 💅💅💅

To disable decoding entirely, use --no-itrace. bye 👋

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

perf-record(1), perf-report(1)

okay that's the whole page bestie, you're officially an annotate girlie now 💖✨ go forth and annotate. and remember: use --modules only with -k and a LIVE kernel or I will find out 😤🫶

perf Manual · 10/31/2026 — signed, sealed, delivered, periodt. 👑🎀

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