Documentation/git-apply.txt

   1 git-apply(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-apply - Apply a patch to files and/or to the index
   7
   8
   9 SYNOPSIS
  10 --------
  11 [verse]
  12 'git apply' [--stat] [--numstat] [--summary] [--check] [--index] [--3way]
  13           [--apply] [--no-add] [--build-fake-ancestor=<file>] [-R | --reverse]
  14           [--allow-binary-replacement | --binary] [--reject] [-z]
  15           [-p<n>] [-C<n>] [--inaccurate-eof] [--recount] [--cached]
  16           [--ignore-space-change | --ignore-whitespace]
  17           [--whitespace=(nowarn|warn|fix|error|error-all)]
  18           [--exclude=<path>] [--include=<path>] [--directory=<root>]
  19           [--verbose] [--unsafe-paths] [<patch>...]
  20
  21 DESCRIPTION
  22 -----------
  23 Reads the supplied diff output (i.e. "a patch") and applies it to files.
  24 When running from a subdirectory in a repository, patched paths
  25 outside the directory are ignored.
  26 With the `--index` option the patch is also applied to the index, and
  27 with the `--cached` option the patch is only applied to the index.
  28 Without these options, the command applies the patch only to files,
  29 and does not require them to be in a Git repository.
  30
  31 This command applies the patch but does not create a commit.  Use
  32 linkgit:git-am[1] to create commits from patches generated by
  33 linkgit:git-format-patch[1] and/or received by email.
  34
  35 OPTIONS
  36 -------
  37 <patch>...::
  38         The files to read the patch from.  '-' can be used to read
  39         from the standard input.
  40
  41 --stat::
  42         Instead of applying the patch, output diffstat for the
  43         input.  Turns off "apply".
  44
  45 --numstat::
  46         Similar to `--stat`, but shows the number of added and
  47         deleted lines in decimal notation and the pathname without
  48         abbreviation, to make it more machine friendly.  For
  49         binary files, outputs two `-` instead of saying
  50         `0 0`.  Turns off "apply".
  51
  52 --summary::
  53         Instead of applying the patch, output a condensed
  54         summary of information obtained from git diff extended
  55         headers, such as creations, renames and mode changes.
  56         Turns off "apply".
  57
  58 --check::
  59         Instead of applying the patch, see if the patch is
  60         applicable to the current working tree and/or the index
  61         file and detects errors.  Turns off "apply".
  62
  63 --index::
  64         When `--check` is in effect, or when applying the patch
  65         (which is the default when none of the options that
  66         disables it is in effect), make sure the patch is
  67         applicable to what the current index file records.  If
  68         the file to be patched in the working tree is not
  69         up-to-date, it is flagged as an error.  This flag also
  70         causes the index file to be updated.
  71
  72 --cached::
  73         Apply a patch without touching the working tree. Instead take the
  74         cached data, apply the patch, and store the result in the index
  75         without using the working tree. This implies `--index`.
  76
  77 -3::
  78 --3way::
  79         When the patch does not apply cleanly, fall back on 3-way merge if
  80         the patch records the identity of blobs it is supposed to apply to,
  81         and we have those blobs available locally, possibly leaving the
  82         conflict markers in the files in the working tree for the user to
  83         resolve.  This option implies the `--index` option, and is incompatible
  84         with the `--reject` and the `--cached` options.
  85
  86 --build-fake-ancestor=<file>::
  87         Newer 'git diff' output has embedded 'index information'
  88         for each blob to help identify the original version that
  89         the patch applies to.  When this flag is given, and if
  90         the original versions of the blobs are available locally,
  91         builds a temporary index containing those blobs.
  92 +
  93 When a pure mode change is encountered (which has no index information),
  94 the information is read from the current index instead.
  95
  96 -R::
  97 --reverse::
  98         Apply the patch in reverse.
  99
 100 --reject::
 101         For atomicity, 'git apply' by default fails the whole patch and
 102         does not touch the working tree when some of the hunks
 103         do not apply.  This option makes it apply
 104         the parts of the patch that are applicable, and leave the
 105         rejected hunks in corresponding *.rej files.
 106
 107 -z::
 108         When `--numstat` has been given, do not munge pathnames,
 109         but use a NUL-terminated machine-readable format.
 110 +
 111 Without this option, each pathname output will have TAB, LF, double quotes,
 112 and backslash characters replaced with `\t`, `\n`, `\"`, and `\\`,
 113 respectively, and the pathname will be enclosed in double quotes if
 114 any of those replacements occurred.
 115
 116 -p<n>::
 117         Remove <n> leading slashes from traditional diff paths. The
 118         default is 1.
 119
 120 -C<n>::
 121         Ensure at least <n> lines of surrounding context match before
 122         and after each change.  When fewer lines of surrounding
 123         context exist they all must match.  By default no context is
 124         ever ignored.
 125
 126 --unidiff-zero::
 127         By default, 'git apply' expects that the patch being
 128         applied is a unified diff with at least one line of context.
 129         This provides good safety measures, but breaks down when
 130         applying a diff generated with `--unified=0`. To bypass these
 131         checks use `--unidiff-zero`.
 132 +
 133 Note, for the reasons stated above usage of context-free patches is
 134 discouraged.
 135
 136 --apply::
 137         If you use any of the options marked "Turns off
 138         'apply'" above, 'git apply' reads and outputs the
 139         requested information without actually applying the
 140         patch.  Give this flag after those flags to also apply
 141         the patch.
 142
 143 --no-add::
 144         When applying a patch, ignore additions made by the
 145         patch.  This can be used to extract the common part between
 146         two files by first running 'diff' on them and applying
 147         the result with this option, which would apply the
 148         deletion part but not the addition part.
 149
 150 --allow-binary-replacement::
 151 --binary::
 152         Historically we did not allow binary patch applied
 153         without an explicit permission from the user, and this
 154         flag was the way to do so.  Currently we always allow binary
 155         patch application, so this is a no-op.
 156
 157 --exclude=<path-pattern>::
 158         Don't apply changes to files matching the given path pattern. This can
 159         be useful when importing patchsets, where you want to exclude certain
 160         files or directories.
 161
 162 --include=<path-pattern>::
 163         Apply changes to files matching the given path pattern. This can
 164         be useful when importing patchsets, where you want to include certain
 165         files or directories.
 166 +
 167 When `--exclude` and `--include` patterns are used, they are examined in the
 168 order they appear on the command line, and the first match determines if a
 169 patch to each path is used.  A patch to a path that does not match any
 170 include/exclude pattern is used by default if there is no include pattern
 171 on the command line, and ignored if there is any include pattern.
 172
 173 --ignore-space-change::
 174 --ignore-whitespace::
 175         When applying a patch, ignore changes in whitespace in context
 176         lines if necessary.
 177         Context lines will preserve their whitespace, and they will not
 178         undergo whitespace fixing regardless of the value of the
 179         `--whitespace` option. New lines will still be fixed, though.
 180
 181 --whitespace=<action>::
 182         When applying a patch, detect a new or modified line that has
 183         whitespace errors.  What are considered whitespace errors is
 184         controlled by `core.whitespace` configuration.  By default,
 185         trailing whitespaces (including lines that solely consist of
 186         whitespaces) and a space character that is immediately followed
 187         by a tab character inside the initial indent of the line are
 188         considered whitespace errors.
 189 +
 190 By default, the command outputs warning messages but applies the patch.
 191 When `git-apply` is used for statistics and not applying a
 192 patch, it defaults to `nowarn`.
 193 +
 194 You can use different `<action>` values to control this
 195 behavior:
 196 +
 197 * `nowarn` turns off the trailing whitespace warning.
 198 * `warn` outputs warnings for a few such errors, but applies the
 199   patch as-is (default).
 200 * `fix` outputs warnings for a few such errors, and applies the
 201   patch after fixing them (`strip` is a synonym --- the tool
 202   used to consider only trailing whitespace characters as errors, and the
 203   fix involved 'stripping' them, but modern Gits do more).
 204 * `error` outputs warnings for a few such errors, and refuses
 205   to apply the patch.
 206 * `error-all` is similar to `error` but shows all errors.
 207
 208 --inaccurate-eof::
 209         Under certain circumstances, some versions of 'diff' do not correctly
 210         detect a missing new-line at the end of the file. As a result, patches
 211         created by such 'diff' programs do not record incomplete lines
 212         correctly. This option adds support for applying such patches by
 213         working around this bug.
 214
 215 -v::
 216 --verbose::
 217         Report progress to stderr. By default, only a message about the
 218         current patch being applied will be printed. This option will cause
 219         additional information to be reported.
 220
 221 --recount::
 222         Do not trust the line counts in the hunk headers, but infer them
 223         by inspecting the patch (e.g. after editing the patch without
 224         adjusting the hunk headers appropriately).
 225
 226 --directory=<root>::
 227         Prepend <root> to all filenames.  If a "-p" argument was also passed,
 228         it is applied before prepending the new root.
 229 +
 230 For example, a patch that talks about updating `a/git-gui.sh` to `b/git-gui.sh`
 231 can be applied to the file in the working tree `modules/git-gui/git-gui.sh` by
 232 running `git apply --directory=modules/git-gui`.
 233
 234 --unsafe-paths::
 235         By default, a patch that affects outside the working area
 236         (either a Git controlled working tree, or the current working
 237         directory when "git apply" is used as a replacement of GNU
 238         patch) is rejected as a mistake (or a mischief).
 239 +
 240 When `git apply` is used as a "better GNU patch", the user can pass
 241 the `--unsafe-paths` option to override this safety check.  This option
 242 has no effect when `--index` or `--cached` is in use.
 243
 244 Configuration
 245 -------------
 246
 247 apply.ignoreWhitespace::
 248         Set to 'change' if you want changes in whitespace to be ignored by default.
 249         Set to one of: no, none, never, false if you want changes in
 250         whitespace to be significant.
 251 apply.whitespace::
 252         When no `--whitespace` flag is given from the command
 253         line, this configuration item is used as the default.
 254
 255 Submodules
 256 ----------
 257 If the patch contains any changes to submodules then 'git apply'
 258 treats these changes as follows.
 259
 260 If `--index` is specified (explicitly or implicitly), then the submodule
 261 commits must match the index exactly for the patch to apply.  If any
 262 of the submodules are checked-out, then these check-outs are completely
 263 ignored, i.e., they are not required to be up-to-date or clean and they
 264 are not updated.
 265
 266 If `--index` is not specified, then the submodule commits in the patch
 267 are ignored and only the absence or presence of the corresponding
 268 subdirectory is checked and (if possible) updated.
 269
 270 SEE ALSO
 271 --------
 272 linkgit:git-am[1].
 273
 274 GIT
 275 ---
 276 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite