Documentation/gitcli.txt

   1 gitcli(7)
   2 =========
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 gitcli - git command line interface and conventions
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 gitcli
  11
  12
  13 DESCRIPTION
  14 -----------
  15
  16 This manual describes the convention used throughout git CLI.
  17
  18 Many commands take revisions (most often "commits", but sometimes
  19 "tree-ish", depending on the context and command) and paths as their
  20 arguments.  Here are the rules:
  21
  22  * Revisions come first and then paths.
  23    E.g. in `git diff v1.0 v2.0 arch/x86 include/asm-x86`,
  24    `v1.0` and `v2.0` are revisions and `arch/x86` and `include/asm-x86`
  25    are paths.
  26
  27  * When an argument can be misunderstood as either a revision or a path,
  28    they can be disambiguated by placing `\--` between them.
  29    E.g. `git diff \-- HEAD` is, "I have a file called HEAD in my work
  30    tree.  Please show changes between the version I staged in the index
  31    and what I have in the work tree for that file". not "show difference
  32    between the HEAD commit and the work tree as a whole".  You can say
  33    `git diff HEAD \--` to ask for the latter.
  34
  35  * Without disambiguating `\--`, git makes a reasonable guess, but errors
  36    out and asking you to disambiguate when ambiguous.  E.g. if you have a
  37    file called HEAD in your work tree, `git diff HEAD` is ambiguous, and
  38    you have to say either `git diff HEAD \--` or `git diff \-- HEAD` to
  39    disambiguate.
  40
  41 When writing a script that is expected to handle random user-input, it is
  42 a good practice to make it explicit which arguments are which by placing
  43 disambiguating `\--` at appropriate places.
  44
  45 Here are the rules regarding the "flags" that you should follow when you are
  46 scripting git:
  47
  48  * it's preferred to use the non dashed form of git commands, which means that
  49    you should prefer `git foo` to `git-foo`.
  50
  51  * splitting short options to separate words (prefer `git foo -a -b`
  52    to `git foo -ab`, the latter may not even work).
  53
  54  * when a command line option takes an argument, use the 'sticked' form.  In
  55    other words, write `git foo -oArg` instead of `git foo -o Arg` for short
  56    options, and `git foo --long-opt=Arg` instead of `git foo --long-opt Arg`
  57    for long options.  An option that takes optional option-argument must be
  58    written in the 'sticked' form.
  59
  60  * when you give a revision parameter to a command, make sure the parameter is
  61    not ambiguous with a name of a file in the work tree.  E.g. do not write
  62    `git log -1 HEAD` but write `git log -1 HEAD --`; the former will not work
  63    if you happen to have a file called `HEAD` in the work tree.
  64
  65
  66 ENHANCED OPTION PARSER
  67 ----------------------
  68 From the git 1.5.4 series and further, many git commands (not all of them at the
  69 time of the writing though) come with an enhanced option parser.
  70
  71 Here is an exhaustive list of the facilities provided by this option parser.
  72
  73
  74 Magic Options
  75 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  76 Commands which have the enhanced option parser activated all understand a
  77 couple of magic command line options:
  78
  79 -h::
  80         gives a pretty printed usage of the command.
  81 +
  82 ---------------------------------------------
  83 $ git describe -h
  84 usage: git describe [options] <committish>*
  85
  86     --contains            find the tag that comes after the commit
  87     --debug               debug search strategy on stderr
  88     --all                 use any ref in .git/refs
  89     --tags                use any tag in .git/refs/tags
  90     --abbrev [<n>]        use <n> digits to display SHA-1s
  91     --candidates <n>      consider <n> most recent tags (default: 10)
  92 ---------------------------------------------
  93
  94 --help-all::
  95         Some git commands take options that are only used for plumbing or that
  96         are deprecated, and such options are hidden from the default usage. This
  97         option gives the full list of options.
  98
  99
 100 Negating options
 101 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 102 Options with long option names can be negated by prefixing `--no-`. For
 103 example, `git branch` has the option `--track` which is 'on' by default. You
 104 can use `--no-track` to override that behaviour. The same goes for `--color`
 105 and `--no-color`.
 106
 107
 108 Aggregating short options
 109 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 110 Commands that support the enhanced option parser allow you to aggregate short
 111 options. This means that you can for example use `git rm -rf` or
 112 `git clean -fdx`.
 113
 114
 115 Separating argument from the option
 116 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 117 You can write the mandatory option parameter to an option as a separate
 118 word on the command line.  That means that all the following uses work:
 119
 120 ----------------------------
 121 $ git foo --long-opt=Arg
 122 $ git foo --long-opt Arg
 123 $ git foo -oArg
 124 $ git foo -o Arg
 125 ----------------------------
 126
 127 However, this is *NOT* allowed for switches with an optional value, where the
 128 'sticked' form must be used:
 129 ----------------------------
 130 $ git describe --abbrev HEAD     # correct
 131 $ git describe --abbrev=10 HEAD  # correct
 132 $ git describe --abbrev 10 HEAD  # NOT WHAT YOU MEANT
 133 ----------------------------
 134
 135
 136 NOTES ON FREQUENTLY CONFUSED OPTIONS
 137 ------------------------------------
 138
 139 Many commands that can work on files in the working tree
 140 and/or in the index can take `--cached` and/or `--index`
 141 options.  Sometimes people incorrectly think that, because
 142 the index was originally called cache, these two are
 143 synonyms.  They are *not* -- these two options mean very
 144 different things.
 145
 146  * The `--cached` option is used to ask a command that
 147    usually works on files in the working tree to *only* work
 148    with the index.  For example, `git grep`, when used
 149    without a commit to specify from which commit to look for
 150    strings in, usually works on files in the working tree,
 151    but with the `--cached` option, it looks for strings in
 152    the index.
 153
 154  * The `--index` option is used to ask a command that
 155    usually works on files in the working tree to *also*
 156    affect the index.  For example, `git stash apply` usually
 157    merges changes recorded in a stash to the working tree,
 158    but with the `--index` option, it also merges changes to
 159    the index as well.
 160
 161 `git apply` command can be used with `--cached` and
 162 `--index` (but not at the same time).  Usually the command
 163 only affects the files in the working tree, but with
 164 `--index`, it patches both the files and their index
 165 entries, and with `--cached`, it modifies only the index
 166 entries.
 167
 168 See also http://marc.info/?l=git&m=116563135620359 and
 169 http://marc.info/?l=git&m=119150393620273 for further
 170 information.
 171
 172 GIT
 173 ---
 174 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite