Step 6: Configure typemap settings | Admin

By default, P4 attempts to automatically detect if files should be stored as text or binary data, and sets all files to read-only until you check them out. To ensure that P4 Server handles files with specific extensions or files in specific folders in a specific way, set up a typemap. A typemap can also let you limit the number of versions of a file stored on the server, which saves server space.

If you need to set up a typemap, you must do it before your team starts working on versioned files with P4. Files on the server before the typemap has been implemented are not affected by the typemap. Only files added to the server after the typemap is created or modified are affected by the typemap.

If you are configuring P4 Server with a game engine, you must set up a typemap to ensure that binary assets can only be edited by one person at a time.

If you are not configuring P4 Server with a game engine, read through the information on this page and determine whether you need a typemap or not.

On this page:

Configure a typemap

Complete the following steps to configure the typemap.

At a command prompt, enter p4 typemap and press Enter.

The typemap opens in your default text editor.

The typemap must open in its own window. If typemap not saved is displayed, close all instances of your text editor and run the command again. If p4 client error is displayed, make sure that you are using the correct P4PORT, including the hostname or IP and port for your P4 Server.
- To view your default P4 settings, type p4 set.
- To change the P4PORT value, type p4 set P4PORT=correct server address where correct server address is the P4 Server IP address or and port, for example, 192.168.0.1:1666 or p4d-1.example.com:1666. Then, enter p4 set again to view the new values you set.
Under the TypeMap: add lines for each file extension or path.

To learn more, see Syntax. If you are using P4 with a game engine, you can use examples in Universal game engine typemap.
Save the typemap file and close the text editor.

If the typemap is valid, Typemap saved is displayed at the command prompt. If the typemap is invalid, an error is displayed indicating that the typemap was not saved.

Syntax

Each line in the typemap has two parts, with a space between each part.

In the first part, there is a file type or modifier, or both.

You can specify a file type first, such as binary or text, and then use + to add modifiers. For example, binary+w.
If you have more than one modifier in a line, do not add + between modifiers. For example, binary+wl.

In the second part, there is a depot path pattern.

Start a pattern with //, followed by the depot path and either * for all files in the folder or a specific file pattern. Always use forward slashes. For example, //..._BuiltData.uasset.
Use ... as a wildcard to match any number of characters in any subfolders.
Use * as a recursive wildcard to match any number of characters, but no subfolders,

For example, binary+wS2 //..._BuiltData.uasset indicates that:

The server detects any files ending with _BuiltData.uasset in any depots, streams, and subfolders as binary data.
Files ending in _BuildData.uasset in workspaces are writable.
The server keeps only the two most recent versions of files ending in _BuiltData.usasset.

For more typemap examples, see Examples and Define filetypes with p4 typemap in P4 Server Administration Documentation.

Common modifiers

The following are common typemap modifiers. For a complete list, see File types in the P4 CLI Reference.

Modifier	Description	Use this for:
`w`	Keeps files writable in workspaces. By default, files are read-only until they are checked out.	Files that are updated automatically that you want to track, such as log and build files.
`l`	Set exclusive locking for files. When the file is checked out, it is automatically locked so others cannot edit it.	Binary files, such as game engine files, 3D models, images, and movies that cannot be merged. These files should not be edited by multiple users at the same time.
`S#`	Only stores the most recent versions of the file. Replace `#` with the number of revisions to keep. For example, `+S2` stores the most recent two versions.	For large files and files that change often to save space on the server.

Examples

Simple example

The following example typemap:

Treats all .meta files as binary, regardless of the file contents.
Treats all .exe files as binary, makes them always writable, and only stores the latest revision on the server.
Exclusively locks any .obj files in the project_a depot, does not lock any other files, and lets P4 automatically determine the file type.
Copy
```
1
2
3
4
TypeMap:
    binary //....meta
    binary+wS //....exe
    +l //project_a/....obj
```

Universal game engine typemap

Use the following typemap to get started with Unreal Engine, Unity 3D, or Godot. It also includes exclusive lock settings for common compressed files and media files.

Copy

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
# Perforce File Type Mapping Specifications.
#
#  TypeMap:    a list of filetype mappings; one per line.
#        Each line has two elements:
#
#          Filetype: The filetype to use on 'p4 add'.
#
#          Path:     File pattern which will use this filetype.
#
# See 'p4 help typemap' for more information.

TypeMap:
    # Text files. These lines are probably unnecessary as P4 will auto-detect the type.
    text        //....asmdef
    text        //....asmref
    text        //....cginc
    text        //....cm
    text        //....compute
    text        //....cs
    text        //....csv
    text        //....editorconfig
    text        //....gitignore
    text        //....hlsl
    text        //....js
    text        //....json
    text        //....md
    text        //....package
    text        //....proc
    text        //....proc
    text        //....rsp
    text        //....shader
    text        //....template
    text        //....txt
    text        //....uss
    text        //....xml
    text        //....yaml

    # Text files that should be locked. (These are Unity3D files)
    text+l      //....md5anim
    text+l      //....md5mesh
    text+l      //....meta

    # Text files that should remain writable (often automatically updated)
    # Be EXTRA SURE to reconcile offline work to make sure they are submitted properly.
    text+w      //....config
    text+w      //....DotSettings
    text+w      //....ini
    text+w      //....log
    text+w      //....modules
    text+w      //....pdm
    text+w      //....target
    text+w      //....uatbuildrecord
    text+w      //....uproject
    text+w      //....version

    # Binary files to lock and to store uncompressed (because they are likely already compressed)
    binary+Fl   //....avi
    binary+Fl   //....bz2
    binary+Fl   //....gif
    binary+Fl   //....gz
    binary+Fl   //....jar
    binary+Fl   //....jpeg
    binary+Fl   //....jpg
    binary+Fl   //....mov
    binary+Fl   //....mpg
    binary+Fl   //....rar
    binary+Fl   //....tif
    binary+Fl   //....tiff
    binary+Fl   //....zip

    # Most binary files should be locked to avoid merge conflicts.
    # Feel free to add more file endings as needed.
    # Also, if you want to take advantage of Delta Transfer in P4
    # you could add +F to all binaries to get faster sync/submit
    # at the cost of using more storage space on the server.
    binary+l    //....a
    binary+l    //....aac
    binary+l    //....aar
    binary+l    //....aas
    binary+l    //....ae
    binary+l    //....ai
    binary+l    //....aiff
    binary+l    //....anim
    binary+l    //....apk
    binary+l    //....asset
    binary+l    //....bik
    binary+l    //....bin
    binary+l    //....blend
    binary+l    //....bmp
    binary+l    //....bnk
    binary+l    //....btr
    binary+l    //....celtx
    binary+l    //....cfm
    binary+l    //....class
    binary+l    //....clip
    binary+l    //....controller
    binary+l    //....cubemap
    binary+l    //....dae
    binary+l    //....data
    binary+l    //....dds
    binary+l    //....demo
    binary+l    //....doc
    binary+l    //....docx
    binary+l    //....dot
    binary+l    //....ear
    binary+l    //....fbx
    binary+l    //....flac
    binary+l    //....fnt
    binary+l    //....ibl
    binary+l    //....ico
    binary+l    //....ip
    binary+l    //....light
    binary+l    //....lighting
    binary+l    //....lwo
    binary+l    //....m4a
    binary+l    //....ma
    binary+l    //....mask
    binary+l    //....mat
    binary+l    //....mb
    binary+l    //....mp3
    binary+l    //....mp4
    binary+l    //....navmesh
    binary+l    //....obj
    binary+l    //....odg
    binary+l    //....odp
    binary+l    //....ods
    binary+l    //....odt
    binary+l    //....ogg
    binary+l    //....otf
    binary+l    //....otg
    binary+l    //....ots
    binary+l    //....ott
    binary+l    //....overrideController
    binary+l    //....pac
    binary+l    //....pdf
    binary+l    //....physicMaterial
    binary+l    //....png
    binary+l    //....ppt
    binary+l    //....pptx
    binary+l    //....prefab
    binary+l    //....prefab.unity
    binary+l    //....psb
    binary+l    //....psd
    binary+l    //....raw
    binary+l    //....renderTexture
    binary+l    //....res
    binary+l    //....response
    binary+l    //....roq
    binary+l    //....rpt
    binary+l    //....shadow
    binary+l    //....skp
    binary+l    //....so
    binary+l    //....sxw
    binary+l    //....tar
    binary+l    //....terrain
    binary+l    //....tga
    binary+l    //....tres
    binary+l    //....ttf
    binary+l    //....u
    binary+l    //....uasset
    binary+l    //....udk
    binary+l    //....umap
    binary+l    //....unity
    binary+l    //....unitypackage
    binary+l    //....upk
    binary+l    //....war
    binary+l    //....wav
    binary+l    //....webm
    binary+l    //....wma
    binary+l    //....wmv
    binary+l    //....xls
    binary+l    //....xlsx

    # Binary files that should stay writable because they will be updated automatically,
    # such as when building without requiring checkout first.
    # Be EXTRA SURE to reconcile offline work to make sure they are submitted properly.
    binary+w    //....app
    binary+w    //....dll
    binary+w    //....dylib
    binary+w    //....exe
    binary+w    //....exp
    binary+w    //....ipa
    binary+w    //....lib
    binary+w    //....pdb
    binary+w    //....rc
    binary+w    //....stub
    binary+w    //....ubulk
    binary+w    //....uexp

    # The Sn flag means the server will only keep the latest n versions of the file.
    # This is useful for large files that we want to store but can be regenerated if needed.
    binary+wS2  //..._BuildData.uasset

What's next

Next, create a stream depot, the highest level of organization on a P4 Server.

Go to Step 7: Create a stream depot.