Documentation/git-cat-file.txt

   1 git-cat-file(1)
   2 ===============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-cat-file - Provide content or type/size information for repository objects
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 'git-cat-file' [-t | -s | -e | -p | <type>] <object>
  12 'git-cat-file' --batch-check < <list-of-objects>
  13
  14 DESCRIPTION
  15 -----------
  16 In the first form, provides content or type of objects in the repository. The
  17 type is required unless '-t' or '-p' is used to find the object type, or '-s'
  18 is used to find the object size.
  19
  20 In the second form, a list of object (separated by LFs) is provided on stdin,
  21 and the SHA1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout.
  22
  23 OPTIONS
  24 -------
  25 <object>::
  26         The name of the object to show.
  27         For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
  28         "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:git-rev-parse[1].
  29
  30 -t::
  31         Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
  32         <object>.
  33
  34 -s::
  35         Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
  36         <object>.
  37
  38 -e::
  39         Suppress all output; instead exit with zero status if <object>
  40         exists and is a valid object.
  41
  42 -p::
  43         Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
  44
  45 <type>::
  46         Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking
  47         for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
  48         <object> is also permitted.  An example is to ask for a
  49         "tree" with <object> being a commit object that contains it,
  50         or to ask for a "blob" with <object> being a tag object that
  51         points at it.
  52
  53 --batch-check::
  54         Print the SHA1, type, and size of each object provided on stdin. May not be
  55         combined with any other options or arguments.
  56
  57 OUTPUT
  58 ------
  59 If '-t' is specified, one of the <type>.
  60
  61 If '-s' is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
  62
  63 If '-e' is specified, no output.
  64
  65 If '-p' is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
  66
  67 If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object>
  68 will be returned.
  69
  70 If '--batch-check' is specified, output of the following form is printed for
  71 each object specified fon stdin:
  72
  73 ------------
  74 <sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF
  75 ------------
  76
  77 Additionally, output of the following form is printed for each object specified
  78 on stdin that does not exist in the repository:
  79
  80 ------------
  81 <object> SP missing LF
  82 ------------
  83
  84 Author
  85 ------
  86 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
  87
  88 Documentation
  89 --------------
  90 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
  91
  92 GIT
  93 ---
  94 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite