STAPREF(1)

💖 STAPREF(1) 💖

okay bestie, welcome to stapref, aka the systemtap language reference — this is your one-stop glow-up guide for the whole systemtap scripting language, from the General Commands Manual section of your local man pages. pull up a chair, grab a boba, and let's get into it 🧋✨

---

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

stapref

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

it's the reference for the systemtap scripting language. that's it, that's the description. the whole language, right here, no cap 💅

---

👑 LANGUAGE 👑

🔑 Keywords

your reserved-word royalty, do not use these as names or they will absolutely call you out:

• break
• continue
• delete
• else
• exit
• foreach
• for
• function
• global
• private
• if
• in
• next
• probe
• return
• try/catch
• while

🧮 Data Types and Operators

Integers

• var1 = 5
• global var2 = 10

Strings

• var1 = "string1"
• global var2 = "string2"

Associative Arrays

• global array1[]
• global array2[SIZE]
• array[index] = 5

Context Variables

• $var
• $var$ — this one is the pretty printed string form, she's dressed up 💅

Binary numeric operators

• * / % + - << >> >>> & ^ | && ||

Binary string operators

• . — that's string concatenation, gluing strings together like besties holding hands 🫶

Numeric assignment operators

• = += -= *= /= %= >>= <<= &= ^= |=

String assignment operators

• = .=

Unary numeric operators

• + - ! ~ ++ --

Numeric & string comparison operators

• < > <= >= == !=

Regular expression matching operators

• =~ !~

Ternary operator

• cond ? exp1 : exp2

Grouping operator

• ( expression )

Array operators

• array[index] — that's the array read/write right there
• [index] in array

Aggregation operator

• var <<< value

📝 Statements

Jump Statements

• continue
• break
• next — early return from a probe, she leaves the party early, iconic
• return expression — from a function
• try statement catch (message) statement

Selection Statements

• if (expression) statement
• else statement

Iteration Statements

• foreach (variable in array) statement
• foreach ([var1,var2,...] in array) statement
• for (expression; expression; expression) statement
• while (expression) statement

Declaration Statements

• function name (variable : type, ...) { statement }
• function name : type (variable : type, ...) { statement }
• function name : type (variable : type, ...) %{ c_statement %}
• probe probepoint { statement }
• probe label = probepoint { statement }

🔤 Lexical Structure

Comments

• # ... comment
• // ... comment
• /* ... comment ... */

Preprocessor

• %( expression %? true_tokens %: false_tokens %)
• @define label (variable, ...) %{ statement %}

🛠️ Builtin Functions

Aggregation Builtin Functions

• @avg (variable)
• @count (variable)
• @hist_linear (variable, N, N, N)
• @hist_log (variable)
• @max (variable)
• @min (variable)
• @sum (variable)

Output Builtin Functions

• print (variable)
• printf (format:string, variable, ...) — where format is of the form: %[flags][width][.precision][length]specifier
• printd (delimiter:string, variable, ...)
• printdln (delimiter:string, variable, ...)
• println ()
• sprint:string (variable)
• sprintf:string (format:string, variable, ...)

Variable Access Builtin Functions

• @var ("varname[@src/FILE.c]"[, "module"]) — static or global
• @cast (variable, "type_name"[, "module"])
• @defined (variable)
• @probewrite (variable)

🎯 Probepoints

some of the more commonly used probepoints:

• kernel.function(PATTERN) kernel.function(PATTERN).call
• kernel.function(PATTERN).return
• kernel.FUNCTION (PATTERN).return.maxactive(VALUE)
• kernel.FUNCTION (PATTERN).inline
• kernel.FUNCTION (PATTERN).label(LPATTERN)
• module(MPATTERN).FUNCTION (PATTERN)
• module(MPATTERN).FUNCTION (PATTERN).call
• module(MPATTERN).FUNCTION (PATTERN).return.maxactive(VALUE)
• module(MPATTERN).FUNCTION (PATTERN).inline
• kernel.statement(PATTERN)
• kernel.statement(ADDRESS).absolute
• module(MPATTERN).statement(PATTERN)
• kprobe.FUNCTION (FUNCTION)
• kprobe.FUNCTION (FUNCTION).return
• kprobe.module(NAME).FUNCTION (FUNCTION)
• kprobe.module(NAME).FUNCTION (FUNCTION).return
• kprobe.statement(ADDRESS).absolute
• process.begin process("PATH").begin
• process(PID).begin process.thread.begin
• process("PATH").thread.begin
• process(PID).thread.begin
• process.end
• process("PATH").end
• process(PID).end
• process.thread.end
• process("PATH").thread.end
• process(PID).thread.end
• process("PATH").syscall
• process(PID).syscall
• process.syscall.return
• process("PATH").syscall.return
• process(PID).syscall.return
• process("PATH").FUNCTION ("NAME")
• process("PATH").statement("*@FILE.c:123")
• process("PATH").FUNCTION ("*").return
• process("PATH").FUNCTION ("myfun").label("foo")
• process("PATH").mark("LABEL")
• java("PNAME").class("CLASSNAME").method("PATTERN")
• java("PNAME").class("CLASSNAME").method("PATTERN").return
• java(PID).class("CLASSNAME").method("PATTERN")
• java(PID).class("CLASSNAME").method("PATTERN").return
• python3.module("MODULENAME").function("PATTERN")
• python3.module("MODULENAME").function("PATTERN").return

🧚 Tapset Functions

some of the more commonly used tapset functions:

• addr:long ()
• backtrace:string ()
• caller:string ()
• caller_addr:long ()
• cmdline_arg:string (N:long)
• cmdline_args:string (N:long,m:long,delim:string)
• cmdline_str:string ()
• env_var:string (name:string)
• execname:string ()
• int_arg:long (N:long)
• isinstr:long(s1:string,s2:string)
• long_arg:long (N:long)
• modname:string ()
• module_name:string ()
• pid:long ()
• pn:string ()
• pointer_arg:string (N:long)
• pp:string ()
• print_backtrace ()
• probefunc:string ()
• register:long(name:string)
• str_replace:string(prnt_str:string,srch_str:string,rplc_str:string)
• stringat:long(str:string,pos:long)
• strlen:long(str:string)
• strtol:long(str:string,base:long)
• substr:string(str:string,start:long,length:long)
• user_long:long(addr:long)
• user_string:string(addr:long)

---

🌈 SEE ALSO 🌈

• stap(1)

💀 BUGS 💀

found a bug? use the Bugzilla link of the project web page, or slide into our mailing list:

• http://sourceware.org/systemtap/,<systemtap@sourceware.org>

---

ngl if you got this far you're lowkey a systemtap legend already. go write some probes, bestie 🫶

and that's the whole page, babes — this is stapref(1) from the General Commands Manual section, and the footer's just that same stapref(1) name stamped at the bottom like a little signature. no date, no version drama, just vibes. periodt 💅✨