Documentation / git-config.txton commit merge-base: use OPT_CMDMODE and clarify the command line parsing (16e57ae)
   1git-config(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-config - Get and set repository or global options
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11[verse]
  12'git config' [<file-option>] [type] [-z|--null] name [value [value_regex]]
  13'git config' [<file-option>] [type] --add name value
  14'git config' [<file-option>] [type] --replace-all name value [value_regex]
  15'git config' [<file-option>] [type] [-z|--null] --get name [value_regex]
  16'git config' [<file-option>] [type] [-z|--null] --get-all name [value_regex]
  17'git config' [<file-option>] [type] [-z|--null] --get-regexp name_regex [value_regex]
  18'git config' [<file-option>] --unset name [value_regex]
  19'git config' [<file-option>] --unset-all name [value_regex]
  20'git config' [<file-option>] --rename-section old_name new_name
  21'git config' [<file-option>] --remove-section name
  22'git config' [<file-option>] [-z|--null] -l | --list
  23'git config' [<file-option>] --get-color name [default]
  24'git config' [<file-option>] --get-colorbool name [stdout-is-tty]
  25'git config' [<file-option>] -e | --edit
  26
  27DESCRIPTION
  28-----------
  29You can query/set/replace/unset options with this command. The name is
  30actually the section and the key separated by a dot, and the value will be
  31escaped.
  32
  33Multiple lines can be added to an option by using the '--add' option.
  34If you want to update or unset an option which can occur on multiple
  35lines, a POSIX regexp `value_regex` needs to be given.  Only the
  36existing values that match the regexp are updated or unset.  If
  37you want to handle the lines that do *not* match the regex, just
  38prepend a single exclamation mark in front (see also <<EXAMPLES>>).
  39
  40The type specifier can be either '--int' or '--bool', to make
  41'git config' ensure that the variable(s) are of the given type and
  42convert the value to the canonical form (simple decimal number for int,
  43a "true" or "false" string for bool), or '--path', which does some
  44path expansion (see '--path' below).  If no type specifier is passed, no
  45checks or transformations are performed on the value.
  46
  47When reading, the values are read from the system, global and
  48repository local configuration files by default, and options
  49'--system', '--global', '--local' and '--file <filename>' can be
  50used to tell the command to read from only that location (see <<FILES>>).
  51
  52When writing, the new value is written to the repository local
  53configuration file by default, and options '--system', '--global',
  54'--file <filename>' can be used to tell the command to write to
  55that location (you can say '--local' but that is the default).
  56
  57This command will fail with non-zero status upon error.  Some exit
  58codes are:
  59
  60. The config file is invalid (ret=3),
  61. can not write to the config file (ret=4),
  62. no section or name was provided (ret=2),
  63. the section or key is invalid (ret=1),
  64. you try to unset an option which does not exist (ret=5),
  65. you try to unset/set an option for which multiple lines match (ret=5), or
  66. you try to use an invalid regexp (ret=6).
  67
  68On success, the command returns the exit code 0.
  69
  70OPTIONS
  71-------
  72
  73--replace-all::
  74        Default behavior is to replace at most one line. This replaces
  75        all lines matching the key (and optionally the value_regex).
  76
  77--add::
  78        Adds a new line to the option without altering any existing
  79        values.  This is the same as providing '^$' as the value_regex
  80        in `--replace-all`.
  81
  82--get::
  83        Get the value for a given key (optionally filtered by a regex
  84        matching the value). Returns error code 1 if the key was not
  85        found and the last value if multiple key values were found.
  86
  87--get-all::
  88        Like get, but does not fail if the number of values for the key
  89        is not exactly one.
  90
  91--get-regexp::
  92        Like --get-all, but interprets the name as a regular expression and
  93        writes out the key names.  Regular expression matching is currently
  94        case-sensitive and done against a canonicalized version of the key
  95        in which section and variable names are lowercased, but subsection
  96        names are not.
  97
  98--global::
  99        For writing options: write to global ~/.gitconfig file rather than
 100        the repository .git/config, write to $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config file
 101        if this file exists and the ~/.gitconfig file doesn't.
 102+
 103For reading options: read only from global ~/.gitconfig and from
 104$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config rather than from all available files.
 105+
 106See also <<FILES>>.
 107
 108--system::
 109        For writing options: write to system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 110        rather than the repository .git/config.
 111+
 112For reading options: read only from system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 113rather than from all available files.
 114+
 115See also <<FILES>>.
 116
 117--local::
 118        For writing options: write to the repository .git/config file.
 119        This is the default behavior.
 120+
 121For reading options: read only from the repository .git/config rather than
 122from all available files.
 123+
 124See also <<FILES>>.
 125
 126-f config-file::
 127--file config-file::
 128        Use the given config file instead of the one specified by GIT_CONFIG.
 129
 130--blob blob::
 131        Similar to '--file' but use the given blob instead of a file. E.g.
 132        you can use 'master:.gitmodules' to read values from the file
 133        '.gitmodules' in the master branch. See "SPECIFYING REVISIONS"
 134        section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7] for a more complete list of
 135        ways to spell blob names.
 136
 137--remove-section::
 138        Remove the given section from the configuration file.
 139
 140--rename-section::
 141        Rename the given section to a new name.
 142
 143--unset::
 144        Remove the line matching the key from config file.
 145
 146--unset-all::
 147        Remove all lines matching the key from config file.
 148
 149-l::
 150--list::
 151        List all variables set in config file.
 152
 153--bool::
 154        'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false"
 155
 156--int::
 157        'git config' will ensure that the output is a simple
 158        decimal number.  An optional value suffix of 'k', 'm', or 'g'
 159        in the config file will cause the value to be multiplied
 160        by 1024, 1048576, or 1073741824 prior to output.
 161
 162--bool-or-int::
 163        'git config' will ensure that the output matches the format of
 164        either --bool or --int, as described above.
 165
 166--path::
 167        'git-config' will expand leading '{tilde}' to the value of
 168        '$HOME', and '{tilde}user' to the home directory for the
 169        specified user.  This option has no effect when setting the
 170        value (but you can use 'git config bla {tilde}/' from the
 171        command line to let your shell do the expansion).
 172
 173-z::
 174--null::
 175        For all options that output values and/or keys, always
 176        end values with the null character (instead of a
 177        newline). Use newline instead as a delimiter between
 178        key and value. This allows for secure parsing of the
 179        output without getting confused e.g. by values that
 180        contain line breaks.
 181
 182--get-colorbool name [stdout-is-tty]::
 183
 184        Find the color setting for `name` (e.g. `color.diff`) and output
 185        "true" or "false".  `stdout-is-tty` should be either "true" or
 186        "false", and is taken into account when configuration says
 187        "auto".  If `stdout-is-tty` is missing, then checks the standard
 188        output of the command itself, and exits with status 0 if color
 189        is to be used, or exits with status 1 otherwise.
 190        When the color setting for `name` is undefined, the command uses
 191        `color.ui` as fallback.
 192
 193--get-color name [default]::
 194
 195        Find the color configured for `name` (e.g. `color.diff.new`) and
 196        output it as the ANSI color escape sequence to the standard
 197        output.  The optional `default` parameter is used instead, if
 198        there is no color configured for `name`.
 199
 200-e::
 201--edit::
 202        Opens an editor to modify the specified config file; either
 203        '--system', '--global', or repository (default).
 204
 205--[no-]includes::
 206        Respect `include.*` directives in config files when looking up
 207        values. Defaults to on.
 208
 209[[FILES]]
 210FILES
 211-----
 212
 213If not set explicitly with '--file', there are four files where
 214'git config' will search for configuration options:
 215
 216$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig::
 217        System-wide configuration file.
 218
 219$XDG_CONFIG_HOME/git/config::
 220        Second user-specific configuration file. If $XDG_CONFIG_HOME is not set
 221        or empty, $HOME/.config/git/config will be used. Any single-valued
 222        variable set in this file will be overwritten by whatever is in
 223        ~/.gitconfig.  It is a good idea not to create this file if
 224        you sometimes use older versions of Git, as support for this
 225        file was added fairly recently.
 226
 227~/.gitconfig::
 228        User-specific configuration file. Also called "global"
 229        configuration file.
 230
 231$GIT_DIR/config::
 232        Repository specific configuration file.
 233
 234If no further options are given, all reading options will read all of these
 235files that are available. If the global or the system-wide configuration
 236file are not available they will be ignored. If the repository configuration
 237file is not available or readable, 'git config' will exit with a non-zero
 238error code. However, in neither case will an error message be issued.
 239
 240The files are read in the order given above, with last value found taking
 241precedence over values read earlier.  When multiple values are taken then all
 242values of a key from all files will be used.
 243
 244All writing options will per default write to the repository specific
 245configuration file. Note that this also affects options like '--replace-all'
 246and '--unset'. *'git config' will only ever change one file at a time*.
 247
 248You can override these rules either by command line options or by environment
 249variables. The '--global' and the '--system' options will limit the file used
 250to the global or system-wide file respectively. The GIT_CONFIG environment
 251variable has a similar effect, but you can specify any filename you want.
 252
 253
 254ENVIRONMENT
 255-----------
 256
 257GIT_CONFIG::
 258        Take the configuration from the given file instead of .git/config.
 259        Using the "--global" option forces this to ~/.gitconfig. Using the
 260        "--system" option forces this to $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig.
 261
 262GIT_CONFIG_NOSYSTEM::
 263        Whether to skip reading settings from the system-wide
 264        $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig file. See linkgit:git[1] for details.
 265
 266See also <<FILES>>.
 267
 268
 269[[EXAMPLES]]
 270EXAMPLES
 271--------
 272
 273Given a .git/config like this:
 274
 275        #
 276        # This is the config file, and
 277        # a '#' or ';' character indicates
 278        # a comment
 279        #
 280
 281        ; core variables
 282        [core]
 283                ; Don't trust file modes
 284                filemode = false
 285
 286        ; Our diff algorithm
 287        [diff]
 288                external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
 289                renames = true
 290
 291        ; Proxy settings
 292        [core]
 293                gitproxy=proxy-command for kernel.org
 294                gitproxy=default-proxy ; for all the rest
 295
 296you can set the filemode to true with
 297
 298------------
 299% git config core.filemode true
 300------------
 301
 302The hypothetical proxy command entries actually have a postfix to discern
 303what URL they apply to. Here is how to change the entry for kernel.org
 304to "ssh".
 305
 306------------
 307% git config core.gitproxy '"ssh" for kernel.org' 'for kernel.org$'
 308------------
 309
 310This makes sure that only the key/value pair for kernel.org is replaced.
 311
 312To delete the entry for renames, do
 313
 314------------
 315% git config --unset diff.renames
 316------------
 317
 318If you want to delete an entry for a multivar (like core.gitproxy above),
 319you have to provide a regex matching the value of exactly one line.
 320
 321To query the value for a given key, do
 322
 323------------
 324% git config --get core.filemode
 325------------
 326
 327or
 328
 329------------
 330% git config core.filemode
 331------------
 332
 333or, to query a multivar:
 334
 335------------
 336% git config --get core.gitproxy "for kernel.org$"
 337------------
 338
 339If you want to know all the values for a multivar, do:
 340
 341------------
 342% git config --get-all core.gitproxy
 343------------
 344
 345If you like to live dangerously, you can replace *all* core.gitproxy by a
 346new one with
 347
 348------------
 349% git config --replace-all core.gitproxy ssh
 350------------
 351
 352However, if you really only want to replace the line for the default proxy,
 353i.e. the one without a "for ..." postfix, do something like this:
 354
 355------------
 356% git config core.gitproxy ssh '! for '
 357------------
 358
 359To actually match only values with an exclamation mark, you have to
 360
 361------------
 362% git config section.key value '[!]'
 363------------
 364
 365To add a new proxy, without altering any of the existing ones, use
 366
 367------------
 368% git config --add core.gitproxy '"proxy-command" for example.com'
 369------------
 370
 371An example to use customized color from the configuration in your
 372script:
 373
 374------------
 375#!/bin/sh
 376WS=$(git config --get-color color.diff.whitespace "blue reverse")
 377RESET=$(git config --get-color "" "reset")
 378echo "${WS}your whitespace color or blue reverse${RESET}"
 379------------
 380
 381include::config.txt[]
 382
 383GIT
 384---
 385Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite