Documentation/git-sparse-checkout.txt

   1 git-sparse-checkout(1)
   2 ======================
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-sparse-checkout - Initialize and modify the sparse-checkout
   7 configuration, which reduces the checkout to a set of paths
   8 given by a list of patterns.
   9
  10
  11 SYNOPSIS
  12 --------
  13 [verse]
  14 'git sparse-checkout <subcommand> [options]'
  15
  16
  17 DESCRIPTION
  18 -----------
  19
  20 Initialize and modify the sparse-checkout configuration, which reduces
  21 the checkout to a set of paths given by a list of patterns.
  22
  23 THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. ITS BEHAVIOR, AND THE BEHAVIOR OF OTHER
  24 COMMANDS IN THE PRESENCE OF SPARSE-CHECKOUTS, WILL LIKELY CHANGE IN
  25 THE FUTURE.
  26
  27
  28 COMMANDS
  29 --------
  30 'list'::
  31         Describe the patterns in the sparse-checkout file.
  32
  33 'init'::
  34         Enable the `core.sparseCheckout` setting. If the
  35         sparse-checkout file does not exist, then populate it with
  36         patterns that match every file in the root directory and
  37         no other directories, then will remove all directories tracked
  38         by Git. Add patterns to the sparse-checkout file to
  39         repopulate the working directory.
  40 +
  41 To avoid interfering with other worktrees, it first enables the
  42 `extensions.worktreeConfig` setting and makes sure to set the
  43 `core.sparseCheckout` setting in the worktree-specific config file.
  44
  45 'set'::
  46         Write a set of patterns to the sparse-checkout file, as given as
  47         a list of arguments following the 'set' subcommand. Update the
  48         working directory to match the new patterns. Enable the
  49         core.sparseCheckout config setting if it is not already enabled.
  50 +
  51 When the `--stdin` option is provided, the patterns are read from
  52 standard in as a newline-delimited list instead of from the arguments.
  53
  54 'disable'::
  55         Disable the `core.sparseCheckout` config setting, and restore the
  56         working directory to include all files. Leaves the sparse-checkout
  57         file intact so a later 'git sparse-checkout init' command may
  58         return the working directory to the same state.
  59
  60 SPARSE CHECKOUT
  61 ---------------
  62
  63 "Sparse checkout" allows populating the working directory sparsely.
  64 It uses the skip-worktree bit (see linkgit:git-update-index[1]) to tell
  65 Git whether a file in the working directory is worth looking at. If
  66 the skip-worktree bit is set, then the file is ignored in the working
  67 directory. Git will not populate the contents of those files, which
  68 makes a sparse checkout helpful when working in a repository with many
  69 files, but only a few are important to the current user.
  70
  71 The `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` file is used to define the
  72 skip-worktree reference bitmap. When Git updates the working
  73 directory, it updates the skip-worktree bits in the index based
  74 on this file. The files matching the patterns in the file will
  75 appear in the working directory, and the rest will not.
  76
  77 To enable the sparse-checkout feature, run `git sparse-checkout init` to
  78 initialize a simple sparse-checkout file and enable the `core.sparseCheckout`
  79 config setting. Then, run `git sparse-checkout set` to modify the patterns in
  80 the sparse-checkout file.
  81
  82 To repopulate the working directory with all files, use the
  83 `git sparse-checkout disable` command.
  84
  85
  86 FULL PATTERN SET
  87 ----------------
  88
  89 By default, the sparse-checkout file uses the same syntax as `.gitignore`
  90 files.
  91
  92 While `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is usually used to specify what
  93 files are included, you can also specify what files are _not_ included,
  94 using negative patterns. For example, to remove the file `unwanted`:
  95
  96 ----------------
  97 /*
  98 !unwanted
  99 ----------------
 100
 101
 102 CONE PATTERN SET
 103 ----------------
 104
 105 The full pattern set allows for arbitrary pattern matches and complicated
 106 inclusion/exclusion rules. These can result in O(N*M) pattern matches when
 107 updating the index, where N is the number of patterns and M is the number
 108 of paths in the index. To combat this performance issue, a more restricted
 109 pattern set is allowed when `core.spareCheckoutCone` is enabled.
 110
 111 The accepted patterns in the cone pattern set are:
 112
 113 1. *Recursive:* All paths inside a directory are included.
 114
 115 2. *Parent:* All files immediately inside a directory are included.
 116
 117 In addition to the above two patterns, we also expect that all files in the
 118 root directory are included. If a recursive pattern is added, then all
 119 leading directories are added as parent patterns.
 120
 121 By default, when running `git sparse-checkout init`, the root directory is
 122 added as a parent pattern. At this point, the sparse-checkout file contains
 123 the following patterns:
 124
 125 ----------------
 126 /*
 127 !/*/
 128 ----------------
 129
 130 This says "include everything in root, but nothing two levels below root."
 131 If we then add the folder `A/B/C` as a recursive pattern, the folders `A` and
 132 `A/B` are added as parent patterns. The resulting sparse-checkout file is
 133 now
 134
 135 ----------------
 136 /*
 137 !/*/
 138 /A/
 139 !/A/*/
 140 /A/B/
 141 !/A/B/*/
 142 /A/B/C/
 143 ----------------
 144
 145 Here, order matters, so the negative patterns are overridden by the positive
 146 patterns that appear lower in the file.
 147
 148 If `core.sparseCheckoutCone=true`, then Git will parse the sparse-checkout file
 149 expecting patterns of these types. Git will warn if the patterns do not match.
 150 If the patterns do match the expected format, then Git will use faster hash-
 151 based algorithms to compute inclusion in the sparse-checkout.
 152
 153 In the cone mode case, the `git sparse-checkout list` subcommand will list the
 154 directories that define the recursive patterns. For the example sparse-checkout
 155 file above, the output is as follows:
 156
 157 --------------------------
 158 $ git sparse-checkout list
 159 A/B/C
 160 --------------------------
 161
 162 If `core.ignoreCase=true`, then the pattern-matching algorithm will use a
 163 case-insensitive check. This corrects for case mismatched filenames in the
 164 'git sparse-checkout set' command to reflect the expected cone in the working
 165 directory.
 166
 167
 168 SUBMODULES
 169 ----------
 170
 171 If your repository contains one or more submodules, then those submodules will
 172 appear based on which you initialized with the `git submodule` command. If
 173 your sparse-checkout patterns exclude an initialized submodule, then that
 174 submodule will still appear in your working directory.
 175
 176
 177 SEE ALSO
 178 --------
 179
 180 linkgit:git-read-tree[1]
 181 linkgit:gitignore[5]
 182
 183 GIT
 184 ---
 185 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite