6 git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for repository objects
12 'git cat-file' <type> <object>
13 'git cat-file' (-e | -p) <object>
14 'git cat-file' (-t | -s) [--allow-unknown-type] <object>
15 'git cat-file' (--batch | --batch-check | --batch-command) [--batch-all-objects]
16 [--buffer] [--follow-symlinks] [--unordered]
17 [--textconv | --filters]
18 'git cat-file' (--textconv | --filters)
19 [<rev>:<path|tree-ish> | --path=<path|tree-ish> <rev>]
23 In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in
24 the repository. The type is required unless `-t` or `-p` is used to find the
25 object type, or `-s` is used to find the object size, or `--textconv` or
26 `--filters` is used (which imply type "blob").
28 In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is provided on
29 stdin, and the SHA-1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout. The
30 output format can be overridden using the optional `<format>` argument. If
31 either `--textconv` or `--filters` was specified, the input is expected to
32 list the object names followed by the path name, separated by a single
33 whitespace, so that the appropriate drivers can be determined.
38 The name of the object to show.
39 For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
40 the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
43 Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
47 Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
51 Exit with zero status if `<object>` exists and is a valid
52 object. If `<object>` is of an invalid format exit with non-zero and
53 emits an error on stderr.
56 Pretty-print the contents of `<object>` based on its type.
59 Typically this matches the real type of `<object>` but asking
60 for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
61 `<object>` is also permitted. An example is to ask for a
62 "tree" with `<object>` being a commit object that contains it,
63 or to ask for a "blob" with `<object>` being a tag object that
67 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
68 `<object>` has to be of the form `<tree-ish>:<path>`, or `:<path>` in
69 order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at
73 Show the content as converted by the filters configured in
74 the current working tree for the given `<path>` (i.e. smudge filters,
75 end-of-line conversion, etc). In this case, `<object>` has to be of
76 the form `<tree-ish>:<path>`, or `:<path>`.
79 For use with `--textconv` or `--filters`, to allow specifying an object
80 name and a path separately, e.g. when it is difficult to figure out
81 the revision from which the blob came.
85 Print object information and contents for each object provided
86 on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments
87 except `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines
88 also need to specify the path, separated by whitespace. See the
89 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
92 --batch-check=<format>::
93 Print object information for each object provided on stdin. May
94 not be combined with any other options or arguments except
95 `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines also
96 need to specify the path, separated by whitespace. See the
97 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
100 --batch-command=<format>::
101 Enter a command mode that reads commands and arguments from stdin. May
102 only be combined with `--buffer`, `--textconv` or `--filters`. In the
103 case of `--textconv` or `--filters`, the input lines also need to specify
104 the path, separated by whitespace. See the section `BATCH OUTPUT` below
107 `--batch-command` recognizes the following commands:
111 Print object contents for object reference `<object>`. This corresponds to
112 the output of `--batch`.
115 Print object info for object reference `<object>`. This corresponds to the
116 output of `--batch-check`.
119 Used with `--buffer` to execute all preceding commands that were issued
120 since the beginning or since the last flush was issued. When `--buffer`
121 is used, no output will come until a `flush` is issued. When `--buffer`
122 is not used, commands are flushed each time without issuing `flush`.
126 --batch-all-objects::
127 Instead of reading a list of objects on stdin, perform the
128 requested batch operation on all objects in the repository and
129 any alternate object stores (not just reachable objects).
130 Requires `--batch` or `--batch-check` be specified. By default,
131 the objects are visited in order sorted by their hashes; see
132 also `--unordered` below. Objects are presented as-is, without
133 respecting the "replace" mechanism of linkgit:git-replace[1].
136 Normally batch output is flushed after each object is output, so
137 that a process can interactively read and write from
138 `cat-file`. With this option, the output uses normal stdio
139 buffering; this is much more efficient when invoking
140 `--batch-check` or `--batch-command` on a large number of objects.
143 When `--batch-all-objects` is in use, visit objects in an
144 order which may be more efficient for accessing the object
145 contents than hash order. The exact details of the order are
146 unspecified, but if you do not require a specific order, this
147 should generally result in faster output, especially with
148 `--batch`. Note that `cat-file` will still show each object
149 only once, even if it is stored multiple times in the
152 --allow-unknown-type::
153 Allow `-s` or `-t` to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type.
156 With `--batch` or `--batch-check`, follow symlinks inside the
157 repository when requesting objects with extended SHA-1
158 expressions of the form tree-ish:path-in-tree. Instead of
159 providing output about the link itself, provide output about
160 the linked-to object. If a symlink points outside the
161 tree-ish (e.g. a link to `/foo` or a root-level link to `../foo`),
162 the portion of the link which is outside the tree will be
165 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the
166 index is specified (e.g. `:link` instead of `HEAD:link`) rather than
169 This option cannot (currently) be used unless `--batch` or
170 `--batch-check` is used.
172 For example, consider a git repository containing:
175 f: a file containing "hello\n"
177 dir/link: a symlink to ../f
178 plink: a symlink to ../f
179 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
182 For a regular file `f`, `echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch` would print
185 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
188 And `echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks` would
189 print the same thing, as would `HEAD:dir/link`, as they both point at
192 Without `--follow-symlinks`, these would print data about the symlink
193 itself. In the case of `HEAD:link`, you would see
196 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
199 Both `plink` and `alink` point outside the tree, so they would
213 If `-t` is specified, one of the `<type>`.
215 If `-s` is specified, the size of the `<object>` in bytes.
217 If `-e` is specified, no output, unless the `<object>` is malformed.
219 If `-p` is specified, the contents of `<object>` are pretty-printed.
221 If `<type>` is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the `<object>`
227 If `--batch` or `--batch-check` is given, `cat-file` will read objects
228 from stdin, one per line, and print information about them. By default,
229 the whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to
230 linkgit:git-rev-parse[1].
232 When `--batch-command` is given, `cat-file` will read commands from stdin,
233 one per line, and print information based on the command given. With
234 `--batch-command`, the `info` command followed by an object will print
235 information about the object the same way `--batch-check` would, and the
236 `contents` command followed by an object prints contents in the same way
239 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom
240 `<format>`. The `<format>` is copied literally to stdout for each
241 object, with placeholders of the form `%(atom)` expanded, followed by a
242 newline. The available atoms are:
245 The full hex representation of the object name.
248 The type of the object (the same as `cat-file -t` reports).
251 The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as `cat-file -s`
255 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See the
256 note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
259 If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands to the
260 full hex representation of the delta base object name.
261 Otherwise, expands to the null OID (all zeroes). See `CAVEATS`
265 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split
266 at the first whitespace boundary. All characters before that
267 whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters
268 after that first run of whitespace (i.e., the "rest" of the
269 line) are output in place of the `%(rest)` atom.
271 If no format is specified, the default format is `%(objectname)
272 %(objecttype) %(objectsize)`.
274 If `--batch` is specified, or if `--batch-command` is used with the `contents`
275 command, the object information is followed by the object contents (consisting
276 of `%(objectsize)` bytes), followed by a newline.
278 For example, `--batch` without a custom format would produce:
281 <oid> SP <type> SP <size> LF
285 Whereas `--batch-check='%(objectname) %(objecttype)'` would produce:
291 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in
292 the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format and print:
295 <object> SP missing LF
298 If a name is specified that might refer to more than one object (an ambiguous short sha), then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format and print:
301 <object> SP ambiguous LF
304 If `--follow-symlinks` is used, and a symlink in the repository points
305 outside the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format
313 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a `/`), or relative
314 to the tree root. For instance, if dir/link points to `../../foo`, then
315 `<symlink>` will be `../foo`. `<size>` is the size of the symlink in bytes.
317 If `--follow-symlinks` is used, the following error messages will be
321 <object> SP missing LF
323 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist.
326 dangling SP <size> LF
329 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that
330 it (transitive-of) points to does not.
336 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that
337 require more than 40 link resolutions to resolve).
343 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a
349 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
350 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
351 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
352 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
353 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
354 and is subject to change during a repack.
356 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
357 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
362 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / thirdparty / git.git / blob