[/Brackets] represent options that are not required to complete a command. Non-bracketed items represent parameters that are required to complete the operation. For example, in the following command, itemspec is required and /recursive is optional:

Syntax Example: c:\projects>tf getitemspec [/recursive]

Actual Command: c:\projects>tf get c:\projects /recursive

Alternative Command: c:\projects>tf get /recursive

In the Alternative Command example, Team Foundation infers that you intend to get the contents of the current directory, c:\projects, and all its subfolders. Therefore, even though the itemspec parameter is required, you do not necessarily have to type it.

When two, pipe (|)-separated options are enclosed by a set of brackets, you can specify either of, but not both of the options. For example, tf Changeset [/comment:comment|@commentfile] indicates that you can type a comment for a Changeset following the /comment: option or (|) you can use the @commentfile syntax to specify a path of a file that contains a comment you want to use. However, you cannot specify both a comment and a commentfile.

In syntax examples, italic items are parameters that you must replace with actual characters to perform a command. Bold items are options that you include verbatim. For example:

Syntax Example:tf shelvesetsshelvesetname [/recursive]

Actual Command:c:\projects>tf shelvesets BuddyTest_23

You can use the “@” character, the command file switch, to perform a set of Team Foundation commands at the same time. The principal advantage of using a command-line switch at the command prompt, a command file, or in a batch or script file is that using a command-line switch can be much faster than performing individual commands. For more information, see Command-Line Options.

The following defined command shortcuts and aliases are supported for the tf command-line utility:

• del = delete

• diff = difference

• edit = checkout

• hist = history

• perm = permission

• prop = properties

• ren = rename

• rename = move

• stat = status

• undel = undelete

For more information about these commands, see Tf Command-Line Utility Commands.

Itemspec Paths

An itemspec, which is an abbreviation for item specification, is a set of one or more characters that Team Foundation resolves as an item or set of items that reference file system or UNC paths mapped to either a workspace or the version control server.

For all Team Foundation commands that accept an itemspec, you can specify either local file paths such as c:\projects or UNC paths such as \\myshare\projects or server paths such as $/projects/myfiles.

For local paths, you can provide relative paths. For example, if your current directory is c:\projects and you want to check out all items in a subdirectory of the projects folder, you can type tf checkout .\* /recursive.

Note:
You can use wildcard characters in Team Foundation version control commands, for example: *, ?, and #.

If your itemspec specifies a server path, it must be fully-qualified. For example, you cannot check out all items underneath the $/projects folder using ./* as your itemspec.

Versionspecs

Concepts

Reference

Other Resources