perf(1)

perf1

Performance analysis tools for linux

Usage

perf [--version] [--help] [OPTIONS] COMMAND [ARGS]

Options

-h, --help

Run perf help command.

-v, --version

Display perf version.

-vv

Print the compiled-in status of libraries.

--exec-path

Display or set exec path.

--html-path

Display html documentation path.

-p, --paginate

Set up pager.

--no-pager

Do not set pager.

--buildid-dir

Setup buildid cache directory. It has higher priority than buildid.dir config file option.

--list-cmds

List the most commonly used perf commands.

--list-opts

List available perf options.

--debugfs-dir

Set debugfs directory or set environment variable PERF_DEBUGFS_DIR.

--debug

Setup debug variable (see list below) in value range (0, 10). Use like: --debug verbose # sets verbose = 1 --debug verbose=2 # sets verbose = 2

List of debug variables allowed to set:
  verbose          - general debug messages
  ordered-events   - ordered events object debug messages
  data-convert     - data convert command debug messages
  stderr           - write debug output (option -v) to stderr
                     in browser mode
  perf-event-open  - Print perf_event_open() arguments and
                     return value
  kmaps            - Print kernel and module maps (perf script
                     and perf report without browser)
--debug-file

Write debug output to a specified file.

Overview

Performance counters for Linux are a new kernel-based subsystem that provide a framework for all things performance analysis. It covers hardware level (CPU/PMU, Performance Monitoring Unit) features and software features (software counters, tracepoints) as well.

Releases

9 releases since Debian 6.0 (Squeeze); the text changed 3 times.

  1. 6.0–11
  2. 12
  3. 13
  4. Arch

--buildid-dir since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --debug since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --debug-file since Debian 13 (Trixie); --debugfs-dir since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --exec-path since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --help since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --html-path since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --list-cmds since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --list-opts since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --no-pager since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --paginate since Debian 12 (Bookworm); --version since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -h since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -p since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -v since Debian 12 (Bookworm); -vv since Debian 12 (Bookworm).

From perf 7.3.1-1 in Arch Linux 2026-11-01. Parsed by carta from the page's man source.