Documentation/git-checkout.txt - jrn/git - Git at Google

 git-checkout(1)
 ===============

 NAME
 ----
 git-checkout - Checkout and switch to a branch

 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git-checkout' [-q] [-f] [[--track | --no-track] -b <new_branch> [-l]] [-m] [<branch>]
 'git-checkout' [<tree-ish>] <paths>...

 DESCRIPTION
 -----------

 When <paths> are not given, this command switches branches by
 updating the index and working tree to reflect the specified
 branch, <branch>, and updating HEAD to be <branch> or, if
 specified, <new_branch>.  Using -b will cause <new_branch> to
 be created; in this case you can use the --track or --no-track
 options, which will be passed to `git branch`.

 When <paths> are given, this command does *not* switch
 branches.  It updates the named paths in the working tree from
 the index file (i.e. it runs `git-checkout-index -f -u`), or
 from a named commit.  In
 this case, the `-f` and `-b` options are meaningless and giving
 either of them results in an error.  <tree-ish> argument can be
 used to specify a specific tree-ish (i.e. commit, tag or tree)
 to update the index for the given paths before updating the
 working tree.


 OPTIONS
 -------
 -q::
 	Quiet, suppress feedback messages.

 -f::
 	Proceed even if the index or the working tree differs
 	from HEAD.  This is used to throw away local changes.

 -b::
 	Create a new branch named <new_branch> and start it at
 	<branch>.  The new branch name must pass all checks defined
 	by linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1].  Some of these checks
 	may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.

 --track::
 	When creating a new branch, set up configuration so that git-pull
 	will automatically retrieve data from the start point, which must be
 	a branch. Use this if you always pull from the same upstream branch
 	into the new branch, and if you don't want to use "git pull
 	<repository> <refspec>" explicitly. This behavior is the default
 	when the start point is a remote branch. Set the
 	branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you want
 	git-checkout and git-branch to always behave as if '--no-track' were
 	given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
 	start-point is either a local or remote branch.

 --no-track::
 	Ignore the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable.

 -l::
 	Create the new branch's reflog.  This activates recording of
 	all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date
 	based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}".

 -m::
 	If you have local modifications to one or more files that
 	are different between the current branch and the branch to
 	which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
 	branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
 	However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
 	branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
 	is done, and you will be on the new branch.
 +
 When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
 paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
 and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
 should result in deletion of the path).

 <new_branch>::
 	Name for the new branch.

 <branch>::
 	Branch to checkout; may be any object ID that resolves to a
 	commit.  Defaults to HEAD.
 +
 When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object),
 your HEAD becomes 'detached'.


 Detached HEAD
 -------------

 It is sometimes useful to be able to 'checkout' a commit that is
 not at the tip of one of your branches.  The most obvious
 example is to check out the commit at a tagged official release
 point, like this:

 ------------
 $ git checkout v2.6.18
 ------------

 Earlier versions of git did not allow this and asked you to
 create a temporary branch using `-b` option, but starting from
 version 1.5.0, the above command 'detaches' your HEAD from the
 current branch and directly point at the commit named by the tag
 (`v2.6.18` in the above example).

 You can use usual git commands while in this state.  You can use
 `git-reset --hard $othercommit` to further move around, for
 example.  You can make changes and create a new commit on top of
 a detached HEAD.  You can even create a merge by using `git
 merge $othercommit`.

 The state you are in while your HEAD is detached is not recorded
 by any branch (which is natural --- you are not on any branch).
 What this means is that you can discard your temporary commits
 and merges by switching back to an existing branch (e.g. `git
 checkout master`), and a later `git prune` or `git gc` would
 garbage-collect them.  If you did this by mistake, you can ask
 the reflog for HEAD where you were, e.g.

 ------------
 $ git log -g -2 HEAD
 ------------


 EXAMPLES
 --------

 . The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts
 the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes hello.c by
 mistake, and gets it back from the index.
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout master             <1>
 $ git checkout master~2 Makefile  <2>
 $ rm -f hello.c
 $ git checkout hello.c            <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> switch branch
 <2> take out a file out of other commit
 <3> restore hello.c from HEAD of current branch
 +
 If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
 step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
 You should instead write:
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout -- hello.c
 ------------

 . After working in a wrong branch, switching to the correct
 branch would be done using:
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout mytopic
 ------------
 +
 However, your "wrong" branch and correct "mytopic" branch may
 differ in files that you have locally modified, in which case,
 the above checkout would fail like this:
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout mytopic
 fatal: Entry 'frotz' not uptodate. Cannot merge.
 ------------
 +
 You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a
 three-way merge:
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout -m mytopic
 Auto-merging frotz
 ------------
 +
 After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.

 . When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
 the `-m` option, you would see something like this:
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout -m mytopic
 Auto-merging frotz
 merge: warning: conflicts during merge
 ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
 fatal: merge program failed
 ------------
 +
 At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in
 the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
 files.  Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
 `git add` as usual:
 +
 ------------
 $ edit frotz
 $ git add frotz
 ------------


 Author
 ------
 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

 Documentation
 --------------
 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite
	git-checkout(1)
	===============

	NAME
	----
	git-checkout - Checkout and switch to a branch

	SYNOPSIS
	--------
	[verse]
	'git-checkout' [-q] [-f] [[--track \| --no-track] -b <new_branch> [-l]] [-m] [<branch>]
	'git-checkout' [<tree-ish>] <paths>...

	DESCRIPTION
	-----------

	When <paths> are not given, this command switches branches by
	updating the index and working tree to reflect the specified
	branch, <branch>, and updating HEAD to be <branch> or, if
	specified, <new_branch>. Using -b will cause <new_branch> to
	be created; in this case you can use the --track or --no-track
	options, which will be passed to `git branch`.

	When <paths> are given, this command does not switch
	branches. It updates the named paths in the working tree from
	the index file (i.e. it runs `git-checkout-index -f -u`), or
	from a named commit. In
	this case, the `-f` and `-b` options are meaningless and giving
	either of them results in an error. <tree-ish> argument can be
	used to specify a specific tree-ish (i.e. commit, tag or tree)
	to update the index for the given paths before updating the
	working tree.


	OPTIONS
	-------
	-q::
	Quiet, suppress feedback messages.

	-f::
	Proceed even if the index or the working tree differs
	from HEAD. This is used to throw away local changes.

	-b::
	Create a new branch named <new_branch> and start it at
	<branch>. The new branch name must pass all checks defined
	by linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks
	may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.

	--track::
	When creating a new branch, set up configuration so that git-pull
	will automatically retrieve data from the start point, which must be
	a branch. Use this if you always pull from the same upstream branch
	into the new branch, and if you don't want to use "git pull
	<repository> <refspec>" explicitly. This behavior is the default
	when the start point is a remote branch. Set the
	branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you want
	git-checkout and git-branch to always behave as if '--no-track' were
	given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
	start-point is either a local or remote branch.

	--no-track::
	Ignore the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable.

	-l::
	Create the new branch's reflog. This activates recording of
	all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date
	based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}".

	-m::
	If you have local modifications to one or more files that
	are different between the current branch and the branch to
	which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
	branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
	However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
	branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
	is done, and you will be on the new branch.
	+
	When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
	paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
	and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
	should result in deletion of the path).

	<new_branch>::
	Name for the new branch.

	<branch>::
	Branch to checkout; may be any object ID that resolves to a
	commit. Defaults to HEAD.
	+
	When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object),
	your HEAD becomes 'detached'.


	Detached HEAD
	-------------

	It is sometimes useful to be able to 'checkout' a commit that is
	not at the tip of one of your branches. The most obvious
	example is to check out the commit at a tagged official release
	point, like this:

	------------
	$ git checkout v2.6.18
	------------

	Earlier versions of git did not allow this and asked you to
	create a temporary branch using `-b` option, but starting from
	version 1.5.0, the above command 'detaches' your HEAD from the
	current branch and directly point at the commit named by the tag
	(`v2.6.18` in the above example).

	You can use usual git commands while in this state. You can use
	`git-reset --hard $othercommit` to further move around, for
	example. You can make changes and create a new commit on top of
	a detached HEAD. You can even create a merge by using `git
	merge $othercommit`.

	The state you are in while your HEAD is detached is not recorded
	by any branch (which is natural --- you are not on any branch).
	What this means is that you can discard your temporary commits
	and merges by switching back to an existing branch (e.g. `git
	checkout master`), and a later `git prune` or `git gc` would
	garbage-collect them. If you did this by mistake, you can ask
	the reflog for HEAD where you were, e.g.

	------------
	$ git log -g -2 HEAD
	------------


	EXAMPLES
	--------

	. The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts
	the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes hello.c by
	mistake, and gets it back from the index.
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout master <1>
	$ git checkout master~2 Makefile <2>
	$ rm -f hello.c
	$ git checkout hello.c <3>
	------------
	+
	<1> switch branch
	<2> take out a file out of other commit
	<3> restore hello.c from HEAD of current branch
	+
	If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
	step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
	You should instead write:
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout -- hello.c
	------------

	. After working in a wrong branch, switching to the correct
	branch would be done using:
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout mytopic
	------------
	+
	However, your "wrong" branch and correct "mytopic" branch may
	differ in files that you have locally modified, in which case,
	the above checkout would fail like this:
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout mytopic
	fatal: Entry 'frotz' not uptodate. Cannot merge.
	------------
	+
	You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a
	three-way merge:
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout -m mytopic
	Auto-merging frotz
	------------
	+
	After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
	registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
	changes you made since the tip of the new branch.

	. When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
	the `-m` option, you would see something like this:
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout -m mytopic
	Auto-merging frotz
	merge: warning: conflicts during merge
	ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
	fatal: merge program failed
	------------
	+
	At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in
	the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
	files. Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
	`git add` as usual:
	+
	------------
	$ edit frotz
	$ git add frotz
	------------


	Author
	------
	Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

	Documentation
	--------------
	Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

	GIT
	---
	Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite