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P4 CLI Documentation | 2026.1

# p4 lock

Lock an opened file against other users submitting changes to the file.

## Syntax

    p4 [g-opts] lock [-c changelist] [file ...]
    p4 [g-opts] lock -g -c changelist

Syntax and naming conventions

## Description

Locking files prevents other users from submitting changes to those files. If the files are already locked by another user, `p4 lock` fails. When the user who locked a particular file submits the file, the lock is released.

This command is normally called with a specific file argument. If no file argument is provided, all open files in the default changelist are locked.

See also the dm.open.show.globallocks configurable.

## Options

Option | Description
--- | ---
`-c changelist` | Lock only files included in changelist changelist
`-g` | Lock files in a commit-edge architecture. Use the `-g` option to lock the files locally and globally. This option can only be used from an edge server, and it must be used with the `-c changelist` option. The lock is removed when the specified changelist is unlocked by p4 unlock or submitted by p4 submit.
`g-opts` | See Global options.

## Usage notes

Can File Arguments Use Revision Specifier? | Can File Arguments Use Revision Range? | Minimal Access Level Required
--- | --- | ---
No | No | `write`

If the server configurable `server.locks.global` is set to `1`, when `p4 lock` is issued on an edge server it takes global locks on the commit server by default.

## Related commands

To unlock locked files | `p4 unlock`
To display all your open, locked files (UNIX) | `p4 opened | grep "*locked*"`

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