Most Mercurial commands accept various flags.

Flag names

==========

Flags for each command are listed in :hg:`help` for that command.

Additionally, some flags, such as --repository, are global and can be used with

any command - those are seen in :hg:`help -v`, and can be specified before or

after the command.

Every flag has at least a long name, such as --repository. Some flags may also

have a short one-letter name, such as the equivalent -R. Using the short or long

name is equivalent and has the same effect. The long name may be abbreviated to

any unambiguous prefix. For example, :hg:`commit --amend` can be abbreviated

to :hg:`commit --am`.

Flags that have a short name can also be bundled together - for instance, to

specify both --edit (short -e) and --interactive (short -i), one could use::

    hg commit -ei

If any of the bundled flags takes a value (i.e. is not a boolean), it must be

last, followed by the value::

    hg commit -im 'Message'

Flag types

==========

Mercurial command-line flags can be strings, numbers, booleans, or lists of

strings.

Specifying flag values

======================

The following syntaxes are allowed, assuming a flag 'flagname' with short name

'f'::

    --flagname=foo

    --flagname foo

    -f foo

    -ffoo

This syntax applies to all non-boolean flags (strings, numbers or lists).

Specifying boolean flags

========================

Boolean flags do not take a value parameter. To specify a boolean, use the flag

name to set it to true, or the same name prefixed with 'no-' to set it to

false::

    hg commit --interactive

    hg commit --no-interactive

Specifying list flags

=====================

List flags take multiple values. To specify them, pass the flag multiple times::

    hg files --include mercurial --include tests

Setting flag defaults

=====================

In order to set a default value for a flag in an hgrc file, it is recommended to

use aliases::

    [alias]

    commit = commit --interactive

For more information on hgrc files, see :hg:`help config`.

Overriding flags on the command line

====================================

If the same non-list flag is specified multiple times on the command line, the

latest specification is used::

    hg commit -m "Ignored value" -m "Used value"

This includes the use of aliases - e.g., if one has::

    [alias]

    committemp = commit -m "Ignored value"

then the following command will override that -m::

    hg committemp -m "Used value"

Overriding flag defaults

========================

Every flag has a default value, and you may also set your own defaults in hgrc

as described above.

Except for list flags, defaults can be overridden on the command line simply by

specifying the flag in that location.

Hidden flags

============

Some flags are not shown in a command's help by default - specifically, those

that are deemed to be experimental, deprecated or advanced. To show all flags,

add the --verbose flag for the help command::

    hg help --verbose commit