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Junio C Hamano215a7ad2005-09-07 17:26:23 -07001git-checkout(1)
2===============
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -07003
4NAME
5----
Torsten Bögershausenc4ac5252015-06-17 09:54:51 +02006git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -07007
8SYNOPSIS
9--------
Jon Loeliger71bb1032006-03-17 18:26:01 -060010[verse]
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -040011'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
Junio C Hamano26776c92013-09-11 10:05:17 -070012'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] --detach [<branch>]
13'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] <commit>
Tay Ray Chuan02ac9832010-06-24 03:29:00 +080014'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +000015'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
Alexandr Miloslavskiya9aecc72019-12-03 14:02:18 +000016'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] --pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +000017'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -070018
19DESCRIPTION
20-----------
Jonathan Niederb831ded2010-06-01 02:25:23 -050021Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +000022or the specified tree. If no pathspec was given, 'git checkout' will
Jonathan Niederb831ded2010-06-01 02:25:23 -050023also update `HEAD` to set the specified branch as the current
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -040024branch.
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -070025
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy37f80022019-03-29 17:38:54 +070026'git checkout' [<branch>]::
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070027 To prepare for working on `<branch>`, switch to it by updating
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060028 the index and the files in the working tree, and by pointing
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070029 `HEAD` at the branch. Local modifications to the files in the
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060030 working tree are kept, so that they can be committed to the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070031 `<branch>`.
Jonathan Niederc5b41512010-05-30 03:41:53 -050032+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070033If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking branch in
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyccb111b2019-03-29 17:39:13 +070034exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a matching name and
35`--no-guess` is not specified, treat as equivalent to
Chris Rorvick00bb4372012-12-17 00:45:02 -060036+
37------------
38$ git checkout -b <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
39------------
40+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070041You could omit `<branch>`, in which case the command degenerates to
Evan Zacksbe945682017-09-12 15:58:39 -070042"check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060043rather expensive side-effects to show only the tracking information,
44if exists, for the current branch.
45
46'git checkout' -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>]::
47
48 Specifying `-b` causes a new branch to be created as if
49 linkgit:git-branch[1] were called and then checked out. In
50 this case you can use the `--track` or `--no-track` options,
51 which will be passed to 'git branch'. As a convenience,
52 `--track` without `-b` implies branch creation; see the
53 description of `--track` below.
Tay Ray Chuan02ac9832010-06-24 03:29:00 +080054+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070055If `-B` is given, `<new_branch>` is created if it doesn't exist; otherwise, it
Tay Ray Chuan02ac9832010-06-24 03:29:00 +080056is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of
57+
58------------
59$ git branch -f <branch> [<start point>]
60$ git checkout <branch>
61------------
62+
63that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git checkout" is
64successful.
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -070065
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060066'git checkout' --detach [<branch>]::
Junio C Hamano26776c92013-09-11 10:05:17 -070067'git checkout' [--detach] <commit>::
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060068
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070069 Prepare to work on top of `<commit>`, by detaching `HEAD` at it
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060070 (see "DETACHED HEAD" section), and updating the index and the
71 files in the working tree. Local modifications to the files
72 in the working tree are kept, so that the resulting working
73 tree will be the state recorded in the commit plus the local
74 modifications.
75+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070076When the `<commit>` argument is a branch name, the `--detach` option can
77be used to detach `HEAD` at the tip of the branch (`git checkout
78<branch>` would check out that branch without detaching `HEAD`).
Junio C Hamano26776c92013-09-11 10:05:17 -070079+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +070080Omitting `<branch>` detaches `HEAD` at the tip of the current branch.
Chris Rorvicke1cdf632012-12-17 00:45:01 -060081
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +000082'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
Alexandr Miloslavskiya9aecc72019-12-03 14:02:18 +000083'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] --pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]::
A Large Angry SCM0270f7c2005-09-07 17:17:18 -040084
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +000085 Overwrite the contents of the files that match the pathspec.
86 When the `<tree-ish>` (most often a commit) is not given,
87 overwrite working tree with the contents in the index.
88 When the `<tree-ish>` is given, overwrite both the index and
89 the working tree with the contents at the `<tree-ish>`.
Torsten Bögershausenc4ac5252015-06-17 09:54:51 +020090+
Jonathan Niederb831ded2010-06-01 02:25:23 -050091The index may contain unmerged entries because of a previous failed merge.
92By default, if you try to check out such an entry from the index, the
Junio C Hamanodb941092008-08-30 07:46:55 -070093checkout operation will fail and nothing will be checked out.
Jonathan Niederb831ded2010-06-01 02:25:23 -050094Using `-f` will ignore these unmerged entries. The contents from a
Junio C Hamano38901a42008-08-30 07:48:18 -070095specific side of the merge can be checked out of the index by
Jonathan Niederb831ded2010-06-01 02:25:23 -050096using `--ours` or `--theirs`. With `-m`, changes made to the working tree
97file can be discarded to re-create the original conflicted merge result.
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -070098
Junio C Hamanob59698a2017-10-11 11:21:03 +090099'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]::
Alexandr Miloslavskiy6fdc9ad2019-12-03 14:02:15 +0000100 This is similar to the previous mode, but lets you use the
101 interactive interface to show the "diff" output and choose which
102 hunks to use in the result. See below for the description of
103 `--patch` option.
Junio C Hamanob59698a2017-10-11 11:21:03 +0900104
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700105OPTIONS
106-------
Nicolas Pitre6124aee2007-02-01 12:31:26 -0500107-q::
René Scharfef7aec122009-08-29 11:05:00 +0200108--quiet::
Dave Watson2be7fcb2007-08-19 22:27:52 -0400109 Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
Nicolas Pitre6124aee2007-02-01 12:31:26 -0500110
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd333f672019-03-29 17:38:53 +0700111--progress::
112--no-progress::
Edmundo Carmona Antoranz870ebdb2015-11-01 15:19:05 -0600113 Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
114 by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
115 is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
116 attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
117
A Large Angry SCM0270f7c2005-09-07 17:17:18 -0400118-f::
René Scharfef7aec122009-08-29 11:05:00 +0200119--force::
Junio C Hamanodb941092008-08-30 07:46:55 -0700120 When switching branches, proceed even if the index or the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700121 working tree differs from `HEAD`. This is used to throw away
Junio C Hamanodb941092008-08-30 07:46:55 -0700122 local changes.
123+
124When checking out paths from the index, do not fail upon unmerged
125entries; instead, unmerged entries are ignored.
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700126
Junio C Hamano38901a42008-08-30 07:48:18 -0700127--ours::
128--theirs::
129 When checking out paths from the index, check out stage #2
130 ('ours') or #3 ('theirs') for unmerged paths.
Simon A. Eugsterf3030162015-07-10 13:07:11 -0700131+
132Note that during `git rebase` and `git pull --rebase`, 'ours' and
133'theirs' may appear swapped; `--ours` gives the version from the
134branch the changes are rebased onto, while `--theirs` gives the
135version from the branch that holds your work that is being rebased.
136+
137This is because `rebase` is used in a workflow that treats the
138history at the remote as the shared canonical one, and treats the
139work done on the branch you are rebasing as the third-party work to
140be integrated, and you are temporarily assuming the role of the
141keeper of the canonical history during the rebase. As the keeper of
142the canonical history, you need to view the history from the remote
143as `ours` (i.e. "our shared canonical history"), while what you did
144on your side branch as `theirs` (i.e. "one contributor's work on top
145of it").
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700146
Junio C Hamano45aaf032012-08-26 11:40:08 -0700147-b <new_branch>::
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700148 Create a new branch named `<new_branch>` and start it at
149 `<start_point>`; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700150
Junio C Hamano45aaf032012-08-26 11:40:08 -0700151-B <new_branch>::
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700152 Creates the branch `<new_branch>` and start it at `<start_point>`;
153 if it already exists, then reset it to `<start_point>`. This is
Tay Ray Chuan02ac9832010-06-24 03:29:00 +0800154 equivalent to running "git branch" with "-f"; see
155 linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
156
Stephan Beyer32402402008-06-08 03:36:09 +0200157-t::
158--track::
Jeff King26d22dc2009-04-13 07:18:52 -0400159 When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration. See
160 "--track" in linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
Johannes Schindelinbb0ceb62008-08-09 16:00:12 +0200161+
Matthieu Moy23f82392016-06-28 13:40:10 +0200162If no `-b` option is given, the name of the new branch will be
Johan Herlandfa83a332013-04-21 23:52:01 +0200163derived from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of
164the refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
165the initial part up to the "*".
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700166This would tell us to use `hack` as the local branch when branching
167off of `origin/hack` (or `remotes/origin/hack`, or even
168`refs/remotes/origin/hack`). If the given name has no slash, or the above
Alex Riesen9188ed82008-08-21 19:23:20 +0200169guessing results in an empty name, the guessing is aborted. You can
Matthieu Moy23f82392016-06-28 13:40:10 +0200170explicitly give a name with `-b` in such a case.
Paolo Bonzini0746d192007-03-08 10:58:35 +0100171
172--no-track::
Jeff King167d7442009-04-13 07:11:56 -0400173 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700174 `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
Paolo Bonzini0746d192007-03-08 10:58:35 +0100175
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyccb111b2019-03-29 17:39:13 +0700176--guess::
177--no-guess::
178 If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking
179 branch in exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a
180 matching name, treat as equivalent to
181+
182------------
183$ git checkout -b <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
184------------
185+
186If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by
187the `checkout.defaultRemote` configuration variable, we'll use that
188one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the `<branch>` isn't
189unique across all remotes. Set it to
190e.g. `checkout.defaultRemote=origin` to always checkout remote
191branches from there if `<branch>` is ambiguous but exists on the
192'origin' remote. See also `checkout.defaultRemote` in
193linkgit:git-config[1].
194+
Denton Liu64f1f582020-10-07 22:48:15 -0700195`--guess` is the default behavior. Use `--no-guess` to disable it.
196+
197The default behavior can be set via the `checkout.guess` configuration
198variable.
Paolo Bonzini0746d192007-03-08 10:58:35 +0100199
Shawn Pearce969d3262006-05-19 05:17:16 -0400200-l::
Jeff King26d22dc2009-04-13 07:18:52 -0400201 Create the new branch's reflog; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for
202 details.
Shawn Pearce969d3262006-05-19 05:17:16 -0400203
Eric Sunshine07351d92020-09-06 20:02:20 -0400204-d::
Junio C Hamano32669672011-02-08 04:32:49 -0600205--detach::
206 Rather than checking out a branch to work on it, check out a
207 commit for inspection and discardable experiments.
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700208 This is the default behavior of `git checkout <commit>` when
209 `<commit>` is not a branch name. See the "DETACHED HEAD" section
Junio C Hamano32669672011-02-08 04:32:49 -0600210 below for details.
211
Junio C Hamano45aaf032012-08-26 11:40:08 -0700212--orphan <new_branch>::
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700213 Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new_branch>`, started from
214 `<start_point>` and switch to it. The first commit made on this
Erick Mattosfeb98d12010-05-21 21:28:35 -0300215 new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new
216 history totally disconnected from all the other branches and
217 commits.
Erick Mattos9db5ebf2010-03-21 12:34:38 -0300218+
Erick Mattosfeb98d12010-05-21 21:28:35 -0300219The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700220`git checkout <start_point>`. This allows you to start a new history
221that records a set of paths similar to `<start_point>` by easily running
222`git commit -a` to make the root commit.
Erick Mattos9db5ebf2010-03-21 12:34:38 -0300223+
Erick Mattosfeb98d12010-05-21 21:28:35 -0300224This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit
225without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish
226an open source branch of a project whose current tree is "clean", but
227whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of
228code.
229+
230If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700231that is totally different from the one of `<start_point>`, then you should
Erick Mattosfeb98d12010-05-21 21:28:35 -0300232clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700233branch by running `git rm -rf .` from the top level of the working tree.
Erick Mattosfeb98d12010-05-21 21:28:35 -0300234Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the
235working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.
Erick Mattos9db5ebf2010-03-21 12:34:38 -0300236
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy08d595d2013-04-13 09:12:08 +1000237--ignore-skip-worktree-bits::
238 In sparse checkout mode, `git checkout -- <paths>` would
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700239 update only entries matched by `<paths>` and sparse patterns
240 in `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout`. This option ignores
241 the sparse patterns and adds back any files in `<paths>`.
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy08d595d2013-04-13 09:12:08 +1000242
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800243-m::
Junio C Hamanoeac5a402008-08-31 19:32:40 -0700244--merge::
Junio C Hamano0cf85812008-08-30 07:52:24 -0700245 When switching branches,
246 if you have local modifications to one or more files that
Jon Loeliger71bb1032006-03-17 18:26:01 -0600247 are different between the current branch and the branch to
248 which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
249 branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
250 However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800251 branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
252 is done, and you will be on the new branch.
253+
254When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
255paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
Shawn O. Pearced7f078b2007-02-17 04:43:42 -0500256and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
257should result in deletion of the path).
Junio C Hamano0cf85812008-08-30 07:52:24 -0700258+
259When checking out paths from the index, this option lets you recreate
260the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duya7256de2019-03-19 16:39:10 +0700261+
262When switching branches with `--merge`, staged changes may be lost.
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800263
Junio C Hamanoeac5a402008-08-31 19:32:40 -0700264--conflict=<style>::
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700265 The same as `--merge` option above, but changes the way the
Junio C Hamanoeac5a402008-08-31 19:32:40 -0700266 conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700267 `merge.conflictStyle` configuration variable. Possible values are
Junio C Hamanoeac5a402008-08-31 19:32:40 -0700268 "merge" (default) and "diff3" (in addition to what is shown by
269 "merge" style, shows the original contents).
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700270
Thomas Rast4f353652009-08-15 13:48:30 +0200271-p::
272--patch::
273 Interactively select hunks in the difference between the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700274 `<tree-ish>` (or the index, if unspecified) and the working
Thomas Rast4f353652009-08-15 13:48:30 +0200275 tree. The chosen hunks are then applied in reverse to the
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700276 working tree (and if a `<tree-ish>` was specified, the index).
Thomas Rast4f353652009-08-15 13:48:30 +0200277+
278This means that you can use `git checkout -p` to selectively discard
Valentin Haenela31538e2011-05-05 20:48:48 +0200279edits from your current working tree. See the ``Interactive Mode''
Jeff King6cf378f2012-04-26 04:51:57 -0400280section of linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate the `--patch` mode.
Thomas Gummerer091e04b2019-01-08 21:52:24 +0000281+
282Note that this option uses the no overlay mode by default (see also
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd333f672019-03-29 17:38:53 +0700283`--overlay`), and currently doesn't support overlay mode.
Thomas Rast4f353652009-08-15 13:48:30 +0200284
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy1d0fa892015-01-03 16:41:26 +0700285--ignore-other-worktrees::
286 `git checkout` refuses when the wanted ref is already checked
287 out by another worktree. This option makes it check the ref
288 out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by more than one
289 worktree.
290
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy9d223d42019-03-29 17:38:55 +0700291--overwrite-ignore::
292--no-overwrite-ignore::
293 Silently overwrite ignored files when switching branches. This
294 is the default behavior. Use `--no-overwrite-ignore` to abort
295 the operation when the new branch contains ignored files.
296
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd333f672019-03-29 17:38:53 +0700297--recurse-submodules::
298--no-recurse-submodules::
Damien Robertacbfae32020-04-06 15:57:09 +0200299 Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all active
Stefan Beller1fc458d2017-03-14 14:46:41 -0700300 submodules according to the commit recorded in the superproject. If
301 local modifications in a submodule would be overwritten the checkout
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700302 will fail unless `-f` is used. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`)
Damien Robertb3cec572020-04-06 15:57:06 +0200303 is used, submodules working trees will not be updated.
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700304 Just like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
305 submodule.
Stefan Beller1fc458d2017-03-14 14:46:41 -0700306
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd333f672019-03-29 17:38:53 +0700307--overlay::
308--no-overlay::
Thomas Gummerer091e04b2019-01-08 21:52:24 +0000309 In the default overlay mode, `git checkout` never
310 removes files from the index or the working tree. When
311 specifying `--no-overlay`, files that appear in the index and
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700312 working tree, but not in `<tree-ish>` are removed, to make them
313 match `<tree-ish>` exactly.
Thomas Gummerer091e04b2019-01-08 21:52:24 +0000314
Alexandr Miloslavskiya9aecc72019-12-03 14:02:18 +0000315--pathspec-from-file=<file>::
316 Pathspec is passed in `<file>` instead of commandline args. If
317 `<file>` is exactly `-` then standard input is used. Pathspec
318 elements are separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be
319 quoted as explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath`
320 (see linkgit:git-config[1]). See also `--pathspec-file-nul` and
321 global `--literal-pathspecs`.
322
323--pathspec-file-nul::
324 Only meaningful with `--pathspec-from-file`. Pathspec elements are
325 separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
326 literally (including newlines and quotes).
327
A Large Angry SCM0270f7c2005-09-07 17:17:18 -0400328<branch>::
Jeff King08087232009-04-13 07:21:04 -0400329 Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
330 when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
331 branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700332 commit, your `HEAD` becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
Jeff King08087232009-04-13 07:21:04 -0400333 any branch (see below for details).
Thomas Rast696acf42009-01-17 17:09:56 +0100334+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700335You can use the `@{-N}` syntax to refer to the N-th last
Kaartic Sivaraam75ce1492017-11-27 22:58:33 +0530336branch/commit checked out using "git checkout" operation. You may
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700337also specify `-` which is synonymous to `@{-1}`.
Michael J Gruber873c3472010-06-01 17:16:42 +0200338+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700339As a special case, you may use `A...B` as a shortcut for the
Michael J Gruber873c3472010-06-01 17:16:42 +0200340merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
341leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800342
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -0400343<new_branch>::
344 Name for the new branch.
345
346<start_point>::
347 The name of a commit at which to start the new branch; see
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700348 linkgit:git-branch[1] for details. Defaults to `HEAD`.
Denton Liue3d65392019-04-27 05:02:22 -0700349+
350As a special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
351merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
352leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -0400353
354<tree-ish>::
355 Tree to checkout from (when paths are given). If not specified,
356 the index will be used.
Denton Liuc693ef72020-10-07 00:56:16 -0700357+
358As a special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
359merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
360leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -0400361
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +0000362\--::
363 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
Jeff King76cfadf2009-04-13 07:19:33 -0400364
Alexandr Miloslavskiy8ea11892019-12-03 14:02:16 +0000365<pathspec>...::
366 Limits the paths affected by the operation.
367+
368For more details, see the 'pathspec' entry in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800369
Junio C Hamano32669672011-02-08 04:32:49 -0600370DETACHED HEAD
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800371-------------
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700372`HEAD` normally refers to a named branch (e.g. `master`). Meanwhile, each
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500373branch refers to a specific commit. Let's look at a repo with three
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700374commits, one of them tagged, and with branch `master` checked out:
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800375
376------------
Andreas Heiduk39a36822018-10-22 22:45:42 +0200377 HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
378 |
379 v
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500380a---b---c branch 'master' (refers to commit 'c')
381 ^
382 |
383 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800384------------
385
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500386When a commit is created in this state, the branch is updated to refer to
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700387the new commit. Specifically, 'git commit' creates a new commit `d`, whose
388parent is commit `c`, and then updates branch `master` to refer to new
389commit `d`. `HEAD` still refers to branch `master` and so indirectly now refers
390to commit `d`:
Junio C Hamano5e1a2e82007-01-17 10:43:50 -0800391
Junio C Hamanocec8d142007-02-13 08:58:01 -0800392------------
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500393$ edit; git add; git commit
394
Andreas Heiduk39a36822018-10-22 22:45:42 +0200395 HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
396 |
397 v
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500398a---b---c---d branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
399 ^
400 |
401 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
402------------
403
404It is sometimes useful to be able to checkout a commit that is not at
405the tip of any named branch, or even to create a new commit that is not
406referenced by a named branch. Let's look at what happens when we
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700407checkout commit `b` (here we show two ways this may be done):
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500408
409------------
410$ git checkout v2.0 # or
411$ git checkout master^^
412
413 HEAD (refers to commit 'b')
414 |
415 v
416a---b---c---d branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
417 ^
418 |
419 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
420------------
421
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700422Notice that regardless of which checkout command we use, `HEAD` now refers
423directly to commit `b`. This is known as being in detached `HEAD` state.
424It means simply that `HEAD` refers to a specific commit, as opposed to
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500425referring to a named branch. Let's see what happens when we create a commit:
426
427------------
428$ edit; git add; git commit
429
430 HEAD (refers to commit 'e')
431 |
432 v
433 e
434 /
435a---b---c---d branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
436 ^
437 |
438 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
439------------
440
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700441There is now a new commit `e`, but it is referenced only by `HEAD`. We can
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500442of course add yet another commit in this state:
443
444------------
445$ edit; git add; git commit
446
447 HEAD (refers to commit 'f')
448 |
449 v
450 e---f
451 /
452a---b---c---d branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
453 ^
454 |
455 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
456------------
457
Thomas Ackermann2de9b712013-01-21 20:17:53 +0100458In fact, we can perform all the normal Git operations. But, let's look
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700459at what happens when we then checkout `master`:
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500460
461------------
462$ git checkout master
463
Andreas Heiduk39a36822018-10-22 22:45:42 +0200464 HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500465 e---f |
466 / v
467a---b---c---d branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
468 ^
469 |
470 tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
471------------
472
473It is important to realize that at this point nothing refers to commit
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700474`f`. Eventually commit `f` (and by extension commit `e`) will be deleted
Thomas Ackermann2de9b712013-01-21 20:17:53 +0100475by the routine Git garbage collection process, unless we create a reference
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700476before that happens. If we have not yet moved away from commit `f`,
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500477any of these will create a reference to it:
478
479------------
480$ git checkout -b foo <1>
481$ git branch foo <2>
482$ git tag foo <3>
483------------
484
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700485<1> creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`, and then
486 updates `HEAD` to refer to branch `foo`. In other words, we'll no longer
487 be in detached `HEAD` state after this command.
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500488
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700489<2> similarly creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
490 but leaves `HEAD` detached.
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500491
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700492<3> creates a new tag `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
493 leaving `HEAD` detached.
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500494
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700495If we have moved away from commit `f`, then we must first recover its object
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500496name (typically by using git reflog), and then we can create a reference to
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700497it. For example, to see the last two commits to which `HEAD` referred, we
Jay Soffianbe8ef332011-02-20 00:21:50 -0500498can use either of these commands:
499
500------------
501$ git reflog -2 HEAD # or
Junio C Hamanocec8d142007-02-13 08:58:01 -0800502$ git log -g -2 HEAD
503------------
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700504
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy19e56562016-09-07 18:19:40 +0700505ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION
506-----------------------
507
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700508When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. `git
509checkout abc`), and when the argument is both a valid `<tree-ish>`
510(e.g. a branch `abc` exists) and a valid `<pathspec>` (e.g. a file
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy19e56562016-09-07 18:19:40 +0700511or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask
512you to disambiguate. Because checking out a branch is so common an
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700513operation, however, `git checkout abc` takes "abc" as a `<tree-ish>`
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy19e56562016-09-07 18:19:40 +0700514in such a situation. Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want
515to checkout these paths out of the index.
516
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800517EXAMPLES
518--------
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -0700519
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800520. The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700521 the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes `hello.c` by
Jean-Noël Avilaba170512019-01-22 21:16:35 +0100522 mistake, and gets it back from the index.
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800523+
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -0700524------------
Sean Estabrooks48aeecd2006-04-28 09:15:05 -0400525$ git checkout master <1>
526$ git checkout master~2 Makefile <2>
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -0700527$ rm -f hello.c
Sean Estabrooks48aeecd2006-04-28 09:15:05 -0400528$ git checkout hello.c <3>
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -0700529------------
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800530+
Sean Estabrooks48aeecd2006-04-28 09:15:05 -0400531<1> switch branch
Michael J Gruberc7cb12b2009-03-10 16:06:30 +0100532<2> take a file out of another commit
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700533<3> restore `hello.c` from the index
Sean Estabrooks48aeecd2006-04-28 09:15:05 -0400534+
Junio C Hamanocaae3192012-09-04 08:28:27 -0700535If you want to check out _all_ C source files out of the index,
536you can say
537+
538------------
539$ git checkout -- '*.c'
540------------
541+
542Note the quotes around `*.c`. The file `hello.c` will also be
543checked out, even though it is no longer in the working tree,
544because the file globbing is used to match entries in the index
545(not in the working tree by the shell).
546+
Sean Estabrooks48aeecd2006-04-28 09:15:05 -0400547If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
548step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
549You should instead write:
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800550+
Junio C Hamano4aaa7022005-10-18 01:29:27 -0700551------------
552$ git checkout -- hello.c
553------------
554
Michael J Gruberc7cb12b2009-03-10 16:06:30 +0100555. After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct
Jean-Noël Avilaba170512019-01-22 21:16:35 +0100556 branch would be done using:
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800557+
558------------
559$ git checkout mytopic
560------------
561+
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy181e3722019-03-29 17:38:56 +0700562However, your "wrong" branch and correct `mytopic` branch may
Michael J Gruberc7cb12b2009-03-10 16:06:30 +0100563differ in files that you have modified locally, in which case
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800564the above checkout would fail like this:
565+
566------------
567$ git checkout mytopic
Nicolas Sebrecht142183d2010-07-09 22:27:48 +0200568error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800569------------
570+
571You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a
572three-way merge:
573+
574------------
575$ git checkout -m mytopic
576Auto-merging frotz
577------------
578+
579After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
580registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
581changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
582
583. When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
Jean-Noël Avilaba170512019-01-22 21:16:35 +0100584 the `-m` option, you would see something like this:
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800585+
586------------
587$ git checkout -m mytopic
588Auto-merging frotz
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800589ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
590fatal: merge program failed
591------------
592+
593At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in
594the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
595files. Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
Shawn O. Pearced7f078b2007-02-17 04:43:42 -0500596`git add` as usual:
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800597+
598------------
599$ edit frotz
Shawn O. Pearced7f078b2007-02-17 04:43:42 -0500600$ git add frotz
Junio C Hamano1be06592006-01-12 14:04:36 -0800601------------
602
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd787d312019-03-29 17:39:05 +0700603SEE ALSO
604--------
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy46e91b62019-04-25 16:45:45 +0700605linkgit:git-switch[1],
606linkgit:git-restore[1]
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duyd787d312019-03-29 17:39:05 +0700607
Junio C Hamano7fc9d692005-08-23 01:49:47 -0700608GIT
609---
Christian Couder9e1f0a82008-06-06 09:07:32 +0200610Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite