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 atterns.
   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         Provide a list of the contents 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         Remove the sparse-checkout file, set `core.sparseCheckout` to
  56         `false`, and restore the working directory to include all files.
  57
  58 SPARSE CHECKOUT
  59 ---------------
  60
  61 "Sparse checkout" allows populating the working directory sparsely.
  62 It uses the skip-worktree bit (see linkgit:git-update-index[1]) to tell
  63 Git whether a file in the working directory is worth looking at. If
  64 the skip-worktree bit is set, then the file is ignored in the working
  65 directory. Git will not populate the contents of those files, which
  66 makes a sparse checkout helpful when working in a repository with many
  67 files, but only a few are important to the current user.
  68
  69 The `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` file is used to define the
  70 skip-worktree reference bitmap. When Git updates the working
  71 directory, it updates the skip-worktree bits in the index based
  72 on this file. The files matching the patterns in the file will
  73 appear in the working directory, and the rest will not.
  74
  75 To enable the sparse-checkout feature, run `git sparse-checkout init` to
  76 initialize a simple sparse-checkout file and enable the `core.sparseCheckout`
  77 config setting. Then, run `git sparse-checkout set` to modify the patterns in
  78 the sparse-checkout file.
  79
  80 To repopulate the working directory with all files, use the
  81 `git sparse-checkout disable` command.
  82
  83
  84 FULL PATTERN SET
  85 ----------------
  86
  87 By default, the sparse-checkout file uses the same syntax as `.gitignore`
  88 files.
  89
  90 While `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout` is usually used to specify what
  91 files are included, you can also specify what files are _not_ included,
  92 using negative patterns. For example, to remove the file `unwanted`:
  93
  94 ----------------
  95 /*
  96 !unwanted
  97 ----------------
  98
  99
 100 CONE PATTERN SET
 101 ----------------
 102
 103 The full pattern set allows for arbitrary pattern matches and complicated
 104 inclusion/exclusion rules. These can result in O(N*M) pattern matches when
 105 updating the index, where N is the number of patterns and M is the number
 106 of paths in the index. To combat this performance issue, a more restricted
 107 pattern set is allowed when `core.spareCheckoutCone` is enabled.
 108
 109 The accepted patterns in the cone pattern set are:
 110
 111 1. *Recursive:* All paths inside a directory are included.
 112
 113 2. *Parent:* All files immediately inside a directory are included.
 114
 115 In addition to the above two patterns, we also expect that all files in the
 116 root directory are included. If a recursive pattern is added, then all
 117 leading directories are added as parent patterns.
 118
 119 By default, when running `git sparse-checkout init`, the root directory is
 120 added as a parent pattern. At this point, the sparse-checkout file contains
 121 the following patterns:
 122
 123 ----------------
 124 /*
 125 !/*/
 126 ----------------
 127
 128 This says "include everything in root, but nothing two levels below root."
 129 If we then add the folder `A/B/C` as a recursive pattern, the folders `A` and
 130 `A/B` are added as parent patterns. The resulting sparse-checkout file is
 131 now
 132
 133 ----------------
 134 /*
 135 !/*/
 136 /A/
 137 !/A/*/
 138 /A/B/
 139 !/A/B/*/
 140 /A/B/C/
 141 ----------------
 142
 143 Here, order matters, so the negative patterns are overridden by the positive
 144 patterns that appear lower in the file.
 145
 146 If `core.sparseCheckoutCone=true`, then Git will parse the sparse-checkout file
 147 expecting patterns of these types. Git will warn if the patterns do not match.
 148 If the patterns do match the expected format, then Git will use faster hash-
 149 based algorithms to compute inclusion in the sparse-checkout.
 150
 151 SEE ALSO
 152 --------
 153
 154 linkgit:git-read-tree[1]
 155 linkgit:gitignore[5]
 156
 157 GIT
 158 ---
 159 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite