Documentation / git-config.txton commit Merge branch 'maint-1.7.8' into maint (80a3f53)
   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
  47The file-option can be one of '--system', '--global' or '--file'
  48which specify where the values will be read from or written to.
  49The default is to assume the config file of the current repository,
  50.git/config unless defined otherwise with GIT_DIR and GIT_CONFIG
  51(see <<FILES>>).
  52
  53This command will fail (with exit code ret) if:
  54
  55. The config file is invalid (ret=3),
  56. can not write to the config file (ret=4),
  57. no section or name was provided (ret=2),
  58. the section or key is invalid (ret=1),
  59. you try to unset an option which does not exist (ret=5),
  60. you try to unset/set an option for which multiple lines match (ret=5),
  61. you try to use an invalid regexp (ret=6), or
  62. you use '--global' option without $HOME being properly set (ret=128).
  63
  64On success, the command returns the exit code 0.
  65
  66OPTIONS
  67-------
  68
  69--replace-all::
  70        Default behavior is to replace at most one line. This replaces
  71        all lines matching the key (and optionally the value_regex).
  72
  73--add::
  74        Adds a new line to the option without altering any existing
  75        values.  This is the same as providing '^$' as the value_regex
  76        in `--replace-all`.
  77
  78--get::
  79        Get the value for a given key (optionally filtered by a regex
  80        matching the value). Returns error code 1 if the key was not
  81        found and error code 2 if multiple key values were found.
  82
  83--get-all::
  84        Like get, but does not fail if the number of values for the key
  85        is not exactly one.
  86
  87--get-regexp::
  88        Like --get-all, but interprets the name as a regular expression and
  89        writes out the key names.  Regular expression matching is currently
  90        case-sensitive and done against a canonicalized version of the key
  91        in which section and variable names are lowercased, but subsection
  92        names are not.
  93
  94--global::
  95        For writing options: write to global ~/.gitconfig file rather than
  96        the repository .git/config.
  97+
  98For reading options: read only from global ~/.gitconfig rather than
  99from all available files.
 100+
 101See also <<FILES>>.
 102
 103--system::
 104        For writing options: write to system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 105        rather than the repository .git/config.
 106+
 107For reading options: read only from system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 108rather than from all available files.
 109+
 110See also <<FILES>>.
 111
 112-f config-file::
 113--file config-file::
 114        Use the given config file instead of the one specified by GIT_CONFIG.
 115
 116--remove-section::
 117        Remove the given section from the configuration file.
 118
 119--rename-section::
 120        Rename the given section to a new name.
 121
 122--unset::
 123        Remove the line matching the key from config file.
 124
 125--unset-all::
 126        Remove all lines matching the key from config file.
 127
 128-l::
 129--list::
 130        List all variables set in config file.
 131
 132--bool::
 133        'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false"
 134
 135--int::
 136        'git config' will ensure that the output is a simple
 137        decimal number.  An optional value suffix of 'k', 'm', or 'g'
 138        in the config file will cause the value to be multiplied
 139        by 1024, 1048576, or 1073741824 prior to output.
 140
 141--bool-or-int::
 142        'git config' will ensure that the output matches the format of
 143        either --bool or --int, as described above.
 144
 145--path::
 146        'git-config' will expand leading '{tilde}' to the value of
 147        '$HOME', and '{tilde}user' to the home directory for the
 148        specified user.  This option has no effect when setting the
 149        value (but you can use 'git config bla {tilde}/' from the
 150        command line to let your shell do the expansion).
 151
 152-z::
 153--null::
 154        For all options that output values and/or keys, always
 155        end values with the null character (instead of a
 156        newline). Use newline instead as a delimiter between
 157        key and value. This allows for secure parsing of the
 158        output without getting confused e.g. by values that
 159        contain line breaks.
 160
 161--get-colorbool name [stdout-is-tty]::
 162
 163        Find the color setting for `name` (e.g. `color.diff`) and output
 164        "true" or "false".  `stdout-is-tty` should be either "true" or
 165        "false", and is taken into account when configuration says
 166        "auto".  If `stdout-is-tty` is missing, then checks the standard
 167        output of the command itself, and exits with status 0 if color
 168        is to be used, or exits with status 1 otherwise.
 169        When the color setting for `name` is undefined, the command uses
 170        `color.ui` as fallback.
 171
 172--get-color name [default]::
 173
 174        Find the color configured for `name` (e.g. `color.diff.new`) and
 175        output it as the ANSI color escape sequence to the standard
 176        output.  The optional `default` parameter is used instead, if
 177        there is no color configured for `name`.
 178
 179-e::
 180--edit::
 181        Opens an editor to modify the specified config file; either
 182        '--system', '--global', or repository (default).
 183
 184[[FILES]]
 185FILES
 186-----
 187
 188If not set explicitly with '--file', there are three files where
 189'git config' will search for configuration options:
 190
 191$GIT_DIR/config::
 192        Repository specific configuration file. (The filename is
 193        of course relative to the repository root, not the working
 194        directory.)
 195
 196~/.gitconfig::
 197        User-specific configuration file. Also called "global"
 198        configuration file.
 199
 200$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig::
 201        System-wide configuration file.
 202
 203If no further options are given, all reading options will read all of these
 204files that are available. If the global or the system-wide configuration
 205file are not available they will be ignored. If the repository configuration
 206file is not available or readable, 'git config' will exit with a non-zero
 207error code. However, in neither case will an error message be issued.
 208
 209All writing options will per default write to the repository specific
 210configuration file. Note that this also affects options like '--replace-all'
 211and '--unset'. *'git config' will only ever change one file at a time*.
 212
 213You can override these rules either by command line options or by environment
 214variables. The '--global' and the '--system' options will limit the file used
 215to the global or system-wide file respectively. The GIT_CONFIG environment
 216variable has a similar effect, but you can specify any filename you want.
 217
 218
 219ENVIRONMENT
 220-----------
 221
 222GIT_CONFIG::
 223        Take the configuration from the given file instead of .git/config.
 224        Using the "--global" option forces this to ~/.gitconfig. Using the
 225        "--system" option forces this to $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig.
 226
 227See also <<FILES>>.
 228
 229
 230[[EXAMPLES]]
 231EXAMPLES
 232--------
 233
 234Given a .git/config like this:
 235
 236        #
 237        # This is the config file, and
 238        # a '#' or ';' character indicates
 239        # a comment
 240        #
 241
 242        ; core variables
 243        [core]
 244                ; Don't trust file modes
 245                filemode = false
 246
 247        ; Our diff algorithm
 248        [diff]
 249                external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
 250                renames = true
 251
 252        ; Proxy settings
 253        [core]
 254                gitproxy="proxy-command" for kernel.org
 255                gitproxy=default-proxy ; for all the rest
 256
 257you can set the filemode to true with
 258
 259------------
 260% git config core.filemode true
 261------------
 262
 263The hypothetical proxy command entries actually have a postfix to discern
 264what URL they apply to. Here is how to change the entry for kernel.org
 265to "ssh".
 266
 267------------
 268% git config core.gitproxy '"ssh" for kernel.org' 'for kernel.org$'
 269------------
 270
 271This makes sure that only the key/value pair for kernel.org is replaced.
 272
 273To delete the entry for renames, do
 274
 275------------
 276% git config --unset diff.renames
 277------------
 278
 279If you want to delete an entry for a multivar (like core.gitproxy above),
 280you have to provide a regex matching the value of exactly one line.
 281
 282To query the value for a given key, do
 283
 284------------
 285% git config --get core.filemode
 286------------
 287
 288or
 289
 290------------
 291% git config core.filemode
 292------------
 293
 294or, to query a multivar:
 295
 296------------
 297% git config --get core.gitproxy "for kernel.org$"
 298------------
 299
 300If you want to know all the values for a multivar, do:
 301
 302------------
 303% git config --get-all core.gitproxy
 304------------
 305
 306If you like to live dangerously, you can replace *all* core.gitproxy by a
 307new one with
 308
 309------------
 310% git config --replace-all core.gitproxy ssh
 311------------
 312
 313However, if you really only want to replace the line for the default proxy,
 314i.e. the one without a "for ..." postfix, do something like this:
 315
 316------------
 317% git config core.gitproxy ssh '! for '
 318------------
 319
 320To actually match only values with an exclamation mark, you have to
 321
 322------------
 323% git config section.key value '[!]'
 324------------
 325
 326To add a new proxy, without altering any of the existing ones, use
 327
 328------------
 329% git config core.gitproxy '"proxy-command" for example.com'
 330------------
 331
 332An example to use customized color from the configuration in your
 333script:
 334
 335------------
 336#!/bin/sh
 337WS=$(git config --get-color color.diff.whitespace "blue reverse")
 338RESET=$(git config --get-color "" "reset")
 339echo "${WS}your whitespace color or blue reverse${RESET}"
 340------------
 341
 342include::config.txt[]
 343
 344GIT
 345---
 346Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite