Documentation/git-checkout.txt

   1 git-checkout(1)
   2 ===============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
  12 'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] --detach [<branch>]
  13 'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] <commit>
  14 'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
  15 'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
  16 'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
  17
  18 DESCRIPTION
  19 -----------
  20 Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
  21 or the specified tree.  If no pathspec was given, 'git checkout' will
  22 also update `HEAD` to set the specified branch as the current
  23 branch.
  24
  25 'git checkout' [<branch>]::
  26         To prepare for working on `<branch>`, switch to it by updating
  27         the index and the files in the working tree, and by pointing
  28         `HEAD` at the branch. Local modifications to the files in the
  29         working tree are kept, so that they can be committed to the
  30         `<branch>`.
  31 +
  32 If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking branch in
  33 exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a matching name and
  34 `--no-guess` is not specified, treat as equivalent to
  35 +
  36 ------------
  37 $ git checkout -b <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
  38 ------------
  39 +
  40 You could omit `<branch>`, in which case the command degenerates to
  41 "check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with
  42 rather expensive side-effects to show only the tracking information,
  43 if exists, for the current branch.
  44
  45 'git checkout' -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>]::
  46
  47         Specifying `-b` causes a new branch to be created as if
  48         linkgit:git-branch[1] were called and then checked out.  In
  49         this case you can use the `--track` or `--no-track` options,
  50         which will be passed to 'git branch'.  As a convenience,
  51         `--track` without `-b` implies branch creation; see the
  52         description of `--track` below.
  53 +
  54 If `-B` is given, `<new_branch>` is created if it doesn't exist; otherwise, it
  55 is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of
  56 +
  57 ------------
  58 $ git branch -f <branch> [<start point>]
  59 $ git checkout <branch>
  60 ------------
  61 +
  62 that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git checkout" is
  63 successful.
  64
  65 'git checkout' --detach [<branch>]::
  66 'git checkout' [--detach] <commit>::
  67
  68         Prepare to work on top of `<commit>`, by detaching `HEAD` at it
  69         (see "DETACHED HEAD" section), and updating the index and the
  70         files in the working tree.  Local modifications to the files
  71         in the working tree are kept, so that the resulting working
  72         tree will be the state recorded in the commit plus the local
  73         modifications.
  74 +
  75 When the `<commit>` argument is a branch name, the `--detach` option can
  76 be used to detach `HEAD` at the tip of the branch (`git checkout
  77 <branch>` would check out that branch without detaching `HEAD`).
  78 +
  79 Omitting `<branch>` detaches `HEAD` at the tip of the current branch.
  80
  81 'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
  82
  83         Overwrite the contents of the files that match the pathspec.
  84         When the `<tree-ish>` (most often a commit) is not given,
  85         overwrite working tree with the contents in the index.
  86         When the `<tree-ish>` is given, overwrite both the index and
  87         the working tree with the contents at the `<tree-ish>`.
  88 +
  89 The index may contain unmerged entries because of a previous failed merge.
  90 By default, if you try to check out such an entry from the index, the
  91 checkout operation will fail and nothing will be checked out.
  92 Using `-f` will ignore these unmerged entries.  The contents from a
  93 specific side of the merge can be checked out of the index by
  94 using `--ours` or `--theirs`.  With `-m`, changes made to the working tree
  95 file can be discarded to re-create the original conflicted merge result.
  96
  97 'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]::
  98         This is similar to the previous mode, but lets you use the
  99         interactive interface to show the "diff" output and choose which
 100         hunks to use in the result.  See below for the description of
 101         `--patch` option.
 102
 103 OPTIONS
 104 -------
 105 -q::
 106 --quiet::
 107         Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 108
 109 --progress::
 110 --no-progress::
 111         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 112         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 113         is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 114         attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
 115
 116 -f::
 117 --force::
 118         When switching branches, proceed even if the index or the
 119         working tree differs from `HEAD`.  This is used to throw away
 120         local changes.
 121 +
 122 When checking out paths from the index, do not fail upon unmerged
 123 entries; instead, unmerged entries are ignored.
 124
 125 --ours::
 126 --theirs::
 127         When checking out paths from the index, check out stage #2
 128         ('ours') or #3 ('theirs') for unmerged paths.
 129 +
 130 Note that during `git rebase` and `git pull --rebase`, 'ours' and
 131 'theirs' may appear swapped; `--ours` gives the version from the
 132 branch the changes are rebased onto, while `--theirs` gives the
 133 version from the branch that holds your work that is being rebased.
 134 +
 135 This is because `rebase` is used in a workflow that treats the
 136 history at the remote as the shared canonical one, and treats the
 137 work done on the branch you are rebasing as the third-party work to
 138 be integrated, and you are temporarily assuming the role of the
 139 keeper of the canonical history during the rebase.  As the keeper of
 140 the canonical history, you need to view the history from the remote
 141 as `ours` (i.e. "our shared canonical history"), while what you did
 142 on your side branch as `theirs` (i.e. "one contributor's work on top
 143 of it").
 144
 145 -b <new_branch>::
 146         Create a new branch named `<new_branch>` and start it at
 147         `<start_point>`; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 148
 149 -B <new_branch>::
 150         Creates the branch `<new_branch>` and start it at `<start_point>`;
 151         if it already exists, then reset it to `<start_point>`. This is
 152         equivalent to running "git branch" with "-f"; see
 153         linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 154
 155 -t::
 156 --track::
 157         When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration. See
 158         "--track" in linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 159 +
 160 If no `-b` option is given, the name of the new branch will be
 161 derived from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of
 162 the refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 163 the initial part up to the "*".
 164 This would tell us to use `hack` as the local branch when branching
 165 off of `origin/hack` (or `remotes/origin/hack`, or even
 166 `refs/remotes/origin/hack`).  If the given name has no slash, or the above
 167 guessing results in an empty name, the guessing is aborted.  You can
 168 explicitly give a name with `-b` in such a case.
 169
 170 --no-track::
 171         Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 172         `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
 173
 174 --guess::
 175 --no-guess::
 176         If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking
 177         branch in exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a
 178         matching name, treat as equivalent to
 179 +
 180 ------------
 181 $ git checkout -b <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
 182 ------------
 183 +
 184 If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by
 185 the `checkout.defaultRemote` configuration variable, we'll use that
 186 one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the `<branch>` isn't
 187 unique across all remotes. Set it to
 188 e.g. `checkout.defaultRemote=origin` to always checkout remote
 189 branches from there if `<branch>` is ambiguous but exists on the
 190 'origin' remote. See also `checkout.defaultRemote` in
 191 linkgit:git-config[1].
 192 +
 193 Use `--no-guess` to disable this.
 194
 195 -l::
 196         Create the new branch's reflog; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for
 197         details.
 198
 199 --detach::
 200         Rather than checking out a branch to work on it, check out a
 201         commit for inspection and discardable experiments.
 202         This is the default behavior of `git checkout <commit>` when
 203         `<commit>` is not a branch name.  See the "DETACHED HEAD" section
 204         below for details.
 205
 206 --orphan <new_branch>::
 207         Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new_branch>`, started from
 208         `<start_point>` and switch to it.  The first commit made on this
 209         new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new
 210         history totally disconnected from all the other branches and
 211         commits.
 212 +
 213 The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run
 214 `git checkout <start_point>`.  This allows you to start a new history
 215 that records a set of paths similar to `<start_point>` by easily running
 216 `git commit -a` to make the root commit.
 217 +
 218 This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit
 219 without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish
 220 an open source branch of a project whose current tree is "clean", but
 221 whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of
 222 code.
 223 +
 224 If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths
 225 that is totally different from the one of `<start_point>`, then you should
 226 clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan
 227 branch by running `git rm -rf .` from the top level of the working tree.
 228 Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the
 229 working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.
 230
 231 --ignore-skip-worktree-bits::
 232         In sparse checkout mode, `git checkout -- <paths>` would
 233         update only entries matched by `<paths>` and sparse patterns
 234         in `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout`. This option ignores
 235         the sparse patterns and adds back any files in `<paths>`.
 236
 237 -m::
 238 --merge::
 239         When switching branches,
 240         if you have local modifications to one or more files that
 241         are different between the current branch and the branch to
 242         which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
 243         branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
 244         However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
 245         branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
 246         is done, and you will be on the new branch.
 247 +
 248 When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
 249 paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
 250 and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
 251 should result in deletion of the path).
 252 +
 253 When checking out paths from the index, this option lets you recreate
 254 the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
 255 +
 256 When switching branches with `--merge`, staged changes may be lost.
 257
 258 --conflict=<style>::
 259         The same as `--merge` option above, but changes the way the
 260         conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
 261         `merge.conflictStyle` configuration variable.  Possible values are
 262         "merge" (default) and "diff3" (in addition to what is shown by
 263         "merge" style, shows the original contents).
 264
 265 -p::
 266 --patch::
 267         Interactively select hunks in the difference between the
 268         `<tree-ish>` (or the index, if unspecified) and the working
 269         tree.  The chosen hunks are then applied in reverse to the
 270         working tree (and if a `<tree-ish>` was specified, the index).
 271 +
 272 This means that you can use `git checkout -p` to selectively discard
 273 edits from your current working tree. See the ``Interactive Mode''
 274 section of linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate the `--patch` mode.
 275 +
 276 Note that this option uses the no overlay mode by default (see also
 277 `--overlay`), and currently doesn't support overlay mode.
 278
 279 --ignore-other-worktrees::
 280         `git checkout` refuses when the wanted ref is already checked
 281         out by another worktree. This option makes it check the ref
 282         out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by more than one
 283         worktree.
 284
 285 --overwrite-ignore::
 286 --no-overwrite-ignore::
 287         Silently overwrite ignored files when switching branches. This
 288         is the default behavior. Use `--no-overwrite-ignore` to abort
 289         the operation when the new branch contains ignored files.
 290
 291 --recurse-submodules::
 292 --no-recurse-submodules::
 293         Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all initialized
 294         submodules according to the commit recorded in the superproject. If
 295         local modifications in a submodule would be overwritten the checkout
 296         will fail unless `-f` is used. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`)
 297         is used, the work trees of submodules will not be updated.
 298         Just like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
 299         submodule.
 300
 301 --overlay::
 302 --no-overlay::
 303         In the default overlay mode, `git checkout` never
 304         removes files from the index or the working tree.  When
 305         specifying `--no-overlay`, files that appear in the index and
 306         working tree, but not in `<tree-ish>` are removed, to make them
 307         match `<tree-ish>` exactly.
 308
 309 <branch>::
 310         Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
 311         when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
 312         branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
 313         commit, your `HEAD` becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
 314         any branch (see below for details).
 315 +
 316 You can use the `@{-N}` syntax to refer to the N-th last
 317 branch/commit checked out using "git checkout" operation. You may
 318 also specify `-` which is synonymous to `@{-1}`.
 319 +
 320 As a special case, you may use `A...B` as a shortcut for the
 321 merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
 322 leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
 323
 324 <new_branch>::
 325         Name for the new branch.
 326
 327 <start_point>::
 328         The name of a commit at which to start the new branch; see
 329         linkgit:git-branch[1] for details. Defaults to `HEAD`.
 330 +
 331 As a special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
 332 merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
 333 leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
 334
 335 <tree-ish>::
 336         Tree to checkout from (when paths are given). If not specified,
 337         the index will be used.
 338
 339 \--::
 340         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 341
 342 <pathspec>...::
 343         Limits the paths affected by the operation.
 344 +
 345 For more details, see the 'pathspec' entry in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
 346
 347 DETACHED HEAD
 348 -------------
 349 `HEAD` normally refers to a named branch (e.g. `master`). Meanwhile, each
 350 branch refers to a specific commit. Let's look at a repo with three
 351 commits, one of them tagged, and with branch `master` checked out:
 352
 353 ------------
 354            HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 355             |
 356             v
 357 a---b---c  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'c')
 358     ^
 359     |
 360   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 361 ------------
 362
 363 When a commit is created in this state, the branch is updated to refer to
 364 the new commit. Specifically, 'git commit' creates a new commit `d`, whose
 365 parent is commit `c`, and then updates branch `master` to refer to new
 366 commit `d`. `HEAD` still refers to branch `master` and so indirectly now refers
 367 to commit `d`:
 368
 369 ------------
 370 $ edit; git add; git commit
 371
 372                HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 373                 |
 374                 v
 375 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 376     ^
 377     |
 378   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 379 ------------
 380
 381 It is sometimes useful to be able to checkout a commit that is not at
 382 the tip of any named branch, or even to create a new commit that is not
 383 referenced by a named branch. Let's look at what happens when we
 384 checkout commit `b` (here we show two ways this may be done):
 385
 386 ------------
 387 $ git checkout v2.0  # or
 388 $ git checkout master^^
 389
 390    HEAD (refers to commit 'b')
 391     |
 392     v
 393 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 394     ^
 395     |
 396   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 397 ------------
 398
 399 Notice that regardless of which checkout command we use, `HEAD` now refers
 400 directly to commit `b`. This is known as being in detached `HEAD` state.
 401 It means simply that `HEAD` refers to a specific commit, as opposed to
 402 referring to a named branch. Let's see what happens when we create a commit:
 403
 404 ------------
 405 $ edit; git add; git commit
 406
 407      HEAD (refers to commit 'e')
 408       |
 409       v
 410       e
 411      /
 412 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 413     ^
 414     |
 415   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 416 ------------
 417
 418 There is now a new commit `e`, but it is referenced only by `HEAD`. We can
 419 of course add yet another commit in this state:
 420
 421 ------------
 422 $ edit; git add; git commit
 423
 424          HEAD (refers to commit 'f')
 425           |
 426           v
 427       e---f
 428      /
 429 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 430     ^
 431     |
 432   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 433 ------------
 434
 435 In fact, we can perform all the normal Git operations. But, let's look
 436 at what happens when we then checkout `master`:
 437
 438 ------------
 439 $ git checkout master
 440
 441                HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 442       e---f     |
 443      /          v
 444 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 445     ^
 446     |
 447   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 448 ------------
 449
 450 It is important to realize that at this point nothing refers to commit
 451 `f`. Eventually commit `f` (and by extension commit `e`) will be deleted
 452 by the routine Git garbage collection process, unless we create a reference
 453 before that happens. If we have not yet moved away from commit `f`,
 454 any of these will create a reference to it:
 455
 456 ------------
 457 $ git checkout -b foo   <1>
 458 $ git branch foo        <2>
 459 $ git tag foo           <3>
 460 ------------
 461
 462 <1> creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`, and then
 463     updates `HEAD` to refer to branch `foo`. In other words, we'll no longer
 464     be in detached `HEAD` state after this command.
 465
 466 <2> similarly creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
 467     but leaves `HEAD` detached.
 468
 469 <3> creates a new tag `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
 470     leaving `HEAD` detached.
 471
 472 If we have moved away from commit `f`, then we must first recover its object
 473 name (typically by using git reflog), and then we can create a reference to
 474 it. For example, to see the last two commits to which `HEAD` referred, we
 475 can use either of these commands:
 476
 477 ------------
 478 $ git reflog -2 HEAD # or
 479 $ git log -g -2 HEAD
 480 ------------
 481
 482 ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION
 483 -----------------------
 484
 485 When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. `git
 486 checkout abc`), and when the argument is both a valid `<tree-ish>`
 487 (e.g. a branch `abc` exists) and a valid `<pathspec>` (e.g. a file
 488 or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask
 489 you to disambiguate.  Because checking out a branch is so common an
 490 operation, however, `git checkout abc` takes "abc" as a `<tree-ish>`
 491 in such a situation.  Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want
 492 to checkout these paths out of the index.
 493
 494 EXAMPLES
 495 --------
 496
 497 . The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts
 498   the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes `hello.c` by
 499   mistake, and gets it back from the index.
 500 +
 501 ------------
 502 $ git checkout master             <1>
 503 $ git checkout master~2 Makefile  <2>
 504 $ rm -f hello.c
 505 $ git checkout hello.c            <3>
 506 ------------
 507 +
 508 <1> switch branch
 509 <2> take a file out of another commit
 510 <3> restore `hello.c` from the index
 511 +
 512 If you want to check out _all_ C source files out of the index,
 513 you can say
 514 +
 515 ------------
 516 $ git checkout -- '*.c'
 517 ------------
 518 +
 519 Note the quotes around `*.c`.  The file `hello.c` will also be
 520 checked out, even though it is no longer in the working tree,
 521 because the file globbing is used to match entries in the index
 522 (not in the working tree by the shell).
 523 +
 524 If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
 525 step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
 526 You should instead write:
 527 +
 528 ------------
 529 $ git checkout -- hello.c
 530 ------------
 531
 532 . After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct
 533   branch would be done using:
 534 +
 535 ------------
 536 $ git checkout mytopic
 537 ------------
 538 +
 539 However, your "wrong" branch and correct `mytopic` branch may
 540 differ in files that you have modified locally, in which case
 541 the above checkout would fail like this:
 542 +
 543 ------------
 544 $ git checkout mytopic
 545 error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
 546 ------------
 547 +
 548 You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a
 549 three-way merge:
 550 +
 551 ------------
 552 $ git checkout -m mytopic
 553 Auto-merging frotz
 554 ------------
 555 +
 556 After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 557 registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 558 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
 559
 560 . When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
 561   the `-m` option, you would see something like this:
 562 +
 563 ------------
 564 $ git checkout -m mytopic
 565 Auto-merging frotz
 566 ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
 567 fatal: merge program failed
 568 ------------
 569 +
 570 At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in
 571 the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
 572 files.  Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
 573 `git add` as usual:
 574 +
 575 ------------
 576 $ edit frotz
 577 $ git add frotz
 578 ------------
 579
 580 SEE ALSO
 581 --------
 582 linkgit:git-switch[1],
 583 linkgit:git-restore[1]
 584
 585 GIT
 586 ---
 587 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite