Documentation / git-config.txton commit docs: drop antique comment from Makefile (a3d0551)
   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 exit code ret) if:
  58
  59. The config file is invalid (ret=3),
  60. can not write to the config file (ret=4),
  61. no section or name was provided (ret=2),
  62. the section or key is invalid (ret=1),
  63. you try to unset an option which does not exist (ret=5),
  64. you try to unset/set an option for which multiple lines match (ret=5),
  65. you try to use an invalid regexp (ret=6), or
  66. you use '--global' option without $HOME being properly set (ret=128).
  67
  68On success, the command returns the exit code 0.
  69
  70OPTIONS
  71-------
  72
  73--replace-all::
  74        Default behavior is to replace at most one line. This replaces
  75        all lines matching the key (and optionally the value_regex).
  76
  77--add::
  78        Adds a new line to the option without altering any existing
  79        values.  This is the same as providing '^$' 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 error code 2 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.
 101+
 102For reading options: read only from global ~/.gitconfig rather than
 103from all available files.
 104+
 105See also <<FILES>>.
 106
 107--system::
 108        For writing options: write to system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 109        rather than the repository .git/config.
 110+
 111For reading options: read only from system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
 112rather than from all available files.
 113+
 114See also <<FILES>>.
 115
 116-f config-file::
 117--file config-file::
 118        Use the given config file instead of the one specified by GIT_CONFIG.
 119
 120--remove-section::
 121        Remove the given section from the configuration file.
 122
 123--rename-section::
 124        Rename the given section to a new name.
 125
 126--unset::
 127        Remove the line matching the key from config file.
 128
 129--unset-all::
 130        Remove all lines matching the key from config file.
 131
 132-l::
 133--list::
 134        List all variables set in config file.
 135
 136--bool::
 137        'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or "false"
 138
 139--int::
 140        'git config' will ensure that the output is a simple
 141        decimal number.  An optional value suffix of 'k', 'm', or 'g'
 142        in the config file will cause the value to be multiplied
 143        by 1024, 1048576, or 1073741824 prior to output.
 144
 145--bool-or-int::
 146        'git config' will ensure that the output matches the format of
 147        either --bool or --int, as described above.
 148
 149--path::
 150        'git-config' will expand leading '{tilde}' to the value of
 151        '$HOME', and '{tilde}user' to the home directory for the
 152        specified user.  This option has no effect when setting the
 153        value (but you can use 'git config bla {tilde}/' from the
 154        command line to let your shell do the expansion).
 155
 156-z::
 157--null::
 158        For all options that output values and/or keys, always
 159        end values with the null character (instead of a
 160        newline). Use newline instead as a delimiter between
 161        key and value. This allows for secure parsing of the
 162        output without getting confused e.g. by values that
 163        contain line breaks.
 164
 165--get-colorbool name [stdout-is-tty]::
 166
 167        Find the color setting for `name` (e.g. `color.diff`) and output
 168        "true" or "false".  `stdout-is-tty` should be either "true" or
 169        "false", and is taken into account when configuration says
 170        "auto".  If `stdout-is-tty` is missing, then checks the standard
 171        output of the command itself, and exits with status 0 if color
 172        is to be used, or exits with status 1 otherwise.
 173        When the color setting for `name` is undefined, the command uses
 174        `color.ui` as fallback.
 175
 176--get-color name [default]::
 177
 178        Find the color configured for `name` (e.g. `color.diff.new`) and
 179        output it as the ANSI color escape sequence to the standard
 180        output.  The optional `default` parameter is used instead, if
 181        there is no color configured for `name`.
 182
 183-e::
 184--edit::
 185        Opens an editor to modify the specified config file; either
 186        '--system', '--global', or repository (default).
 187
 188--includes::
 189--no-includes::
 190        Respect `include.*` directives in config files when looking up
 191        values. Defaults to on.
 192
 193[[FILES]]
 194FILES
 195-----
 196
 197If not set explicitly with '--file', there are three files where
 198'git config' will search for configuration options:
 199
 200$GIT_DIR/config::
 201        Repository specific configuration file.
 202
 203~/.gitconfig::
 204        User-specific configuration file. Also called "global"
 205        configuration file.
 206
 207$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig::
 208        System-wide configuration file.
 209
 210If no further options are given, all reading options will read all of these
 211files that are available. If the global or the system-wide configuration
 212file are not available they will be ignored. If the repository configuration
 213file is not available or readable, 'git config' will exit with a non-zero
 214error code. However, in neither case will an error message be issued.
 215
 216All writing options will per default write to the repository specific
 217configuration file. Note that this also affects options like '--replace-all'
 218and '--unset'. *'git config' will only ever change one file at a time*.
 219
 220You can override these rules either by command line options or by environment
 221variables. The '--global' and the '--system' options will limit the file used
 222to the global or system-wide file respectively. The GIT_CONFIG environment
 223variable has a similar effect, but you can specify any filename you want.
 224
 225
 226ENVIRONMENT
 227-----------
 228
 229GIT_CONFIG::
 230        Take the configuration from the given file instead of .git/config.
 231        Using the "--global" option forces this to ~/.gitconfig. Using the
 232        "--system" option forces this to $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig.
 233
 234See also <<FILES>>.
 235
 236
 237[[EXAMPLES]]
 238EXAMPLES
 239--------
 240
 241Given a .git/config like this:
 242
 243        #
 244        # This is the config file, and
 245        # a '#' or ';' character indicates
 246        # a comment
 247        #
 248
 249        ; core variables
 250        [core]
 251                ; Don't trust file modes
 252                filemode = false
 253
 254        ; Our diff algorithm
 255        [diff]
 256                external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
 257                renames = true
 258
 259        ; Proxy settings
 260        [core]
 261                gitproxy="proxy-command" for kernel.org
 262                gitproxy=default-proxy ; for all the rest
 263
 264you can set the filemode to true with
 265
 266------------
 267% git config core.filemode true
 268------------
 269
 270The hypothetical proxy command entries actually have a postfix to discern
 271what URL they apply to. Here is how to change the entry for kernel.org
 272to "ssh".
 273
 274------------
 275% git config core.gitproxy '"ssh" for kernel.org' 'for kernel.org$'
 276------------
 277
 278This makes sure that only the key/value pair for kernel.org is replaced.
 279
 280To delete the entry for renames, do
 281
 282------------
 283% git config --unset diff.renames
 284------------
 285
 286If you want to delete an entry for a multivar (like core.gitproxy above),
 287you have to provide a regex matching the value of exactly one line.
 288
 289To query the value for a given key, do
 290
 291------------
 292% git config --get core.filemode
 293------------
 294
 295or
 296
 297------------
 298% git config core.filemode
 299------------
 300
 301or, to query a multivar:
 302
 303------------
 304% git config --get core.gitproxy "for kernel.org$"
 305------------
 306
 307If you want to know all the values for a multivar, do:
 308
 309------------
 310% git config --get-all core.gitproxy
 311------------
 312
 313If you like to live dangerously, you can replace *all* core.gitproxy by a
 314new one with
 315
 316------------
 317% git config --replace-all core.gitproxy ssh
 318------------
 319
 320However, if you really only want to replace the line for the default proxy,
 321i.e. the one without a "for ..." postfix, do something like this:
 322
 323------------
 324% git config core.gitproxy ssh '! for '
 325------------
 326
 327To actually match only values with an exclamation mark, you have to
 328
 329------------
 330% git config section.key value '[!]'
 331------------
 332
 333To add a new proxy, without altering any of the existing ones, use
 334
 335------------
 336% git config core.gitproxy '"proxy-command" for example.com'
 337------------
 338
 339An example to use customized color from the configuration in your
 340script:
 341
 342------------
 343#!/bin/sh
 344WS=$(git config --get-color color.diff.whitespace "blue reverse")
 345RESET=$(git config --get-color "" "reset")
 346echo "${WS}your whitespace color or blue reverse${RESET}"
 347------------
 348
 349include::config.txt[]
 350
 351GIT
 352---
 353Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite