bf90966c95ef94a81a50b2f2f3d510e254f651f1
   1git-checkout(1)
   2===============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
  12'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] --detach [<branch>]
  13'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] <commit>
  14'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
  15'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
  16'git checkout' [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
  17'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
  18
  19DESCRIPTION
  20-----------
  21Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
  22or the specified tree.  If no paths are given, 'git checkout' will
  23also update `HEAD` to set the specified branch as the current
  24branch.
  25
  26'git checkout' [<branch>]::
  27        To prepare for working on `<branch>`, switch to it by updating
  28        the index and the files in the working tree, and by pointing
  29        `HEAD` at the branch. Local modifications to the files in the
  30        working tree are kept, so that they can be committed to the
  31        `<branch>`.
  32+
  33If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking branch in
  34exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a matching name, treat as
  35equivalent to
  36+
  37------------
  38$ git checkout -b <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
  39------------
  40+
  41If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by
  42the `checkout.defaultRemote` configuration variable, we'll use that
  43one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the `<branch>` isn't
  44unique across all remotes. Set it to
  45e.g. `checkout.defaultRemote=origin` to always checkout remote
  46branches from there if `<branch>` is ambiguous but exists on the
  47'origin' remote. See also `checkout.defaultRemote` in
  48linkgit:git-config[1].
  49+
  50You could omit `<branch>`, in which case the command degenerates to
  51"check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with
  52rather expensive side-effects to show only the tracking information,
  53if exists, for the current branch.
  54
  55'git checkout' -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>]::
  56
  57        Specifying `-b` causes a new branch to be created as if
  58        linkgit:git-branch[1] were called and then checked out.  In
  59        this case you can use the `--track` or `--no-track` options,
  60        which will be passed to 'git branch'.  As a convenience,
  61        `--track` without `-b` implies branch creation; see the
  62        description of `--track` below.
  63+
  64If `-B` is given, `<new_branch>` is created if it doesn't exist; otherwise, it
  65is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of
  66+
  67------------
  68$ git branch -f <branch> [<start point>]
  69$ git checkout <branch>
  70------------
  71+
  72that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git checkout" is
  73successful.
  74
  75'git checkout' --detach [<branch>]::
  76'git checkout' [--detach] <commit>::
  77
  78        Prepare to work on top of `<commit>`, by detaching `HEAD` at it
  79        (see "DETACHED HEAD" section), and updating the index and the
  80        files in the working tree.  Local modifications to the files
  81        in the working tree are kept, so that the resulting working
  82        tree will be the state recorded in the commit plus the local
  83        modifications.
  84+
  85When the `<commit>` argument is a branch name, the `--detach` option can
  86be used to detach `HEAD` at the tip of the branch (`git checkout
  87<branch>` would check out that branch without detaching `HEAD`).
  88+
  89Omitting `<branch>` detaches `HEAD` at the tip of the current branch.
  90
  91'git checkout' [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
  92
  93        Overwrite paths in the working tree by replacing with the
  94        contents in the index or in the `<tree-ish>` (most often a
  95        commit).  When a `<tree-ish>` is given, the paths that
  96        match the `<pathspec>` are updated both in the index and in
  97        the working tree.
  98+
  99The index may contain unmerged entries because of a previous failed merge.
 100By default, if you try to check out such an entry from the index, the
 101checkout operation will fail and nothing will be checked out.
 102Using `-f` will ignore these unmerged entries.  The contents from a
 103specific side of the merge can be checked out of the index by
 104using `--ours` or `--theirs`.  With `-m`, changes made to the working tree
 105file can be discarded to re-create the original conflicted merge result.
 106
 107'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]::
 108        This is similar to the "check out paths to the working tree
 109        from either the index or from a tree-ish" mode described
 110        above, but lets you use the interactive interface to show
 111        the "diff" output and choose which hunks to use in the
 112        result.  See below for the description of `--patch` option.
 113
 114
 115OPTIONS
 116-------
 117-q::
 118--quiet::
 119        Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 120
 121--progress::
 122--no-progress::
 123        Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 124        by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 125        is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 126        attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
 127
 128-f::
 129--force::
 130        When switching branches, proceed even if the index or the
 131        working tree differs from `HEAD`.  This is used to throw away
 132        local changes.
 133+
 134When checking out paths from the index, do not fail upon unmerged
 135entries; instead, unmerged entries are ignored.
 136
 137--ours::
 138--theirs::
 139        When checking out paths from the index, check out stage #2
 140        ('ours') or #3 ('theirs') for unmerged paths.
 141+
 142Note that during `git rebase` and `git pull --rebase`, 'ours' and
 143'theirs' may appear swapped; `--ours` gives the version from the
 144branch the changes are rebased onto, while `--theirs` gives the
 145version from the branch that holds your work that is being rebased.
 146+
 147This is because `rebase` is used in a workflow that treats the
 148history at the remote as the shared canonical one, and treats the
 149work done on the branch you are rebasing as the third-party work to
 150be integrated, and you are temporarily assuming the role of the
 151keeper of the canonical history during the rebase.  As the keeper of
 152the canonical history, you need to view the history from the remote
 153as `ours` (i.e. "our shared canonical history"), while what you did
 154on your side branch as `theirs` (i.e. "one contributor's work on top
 155of it").
 156
 157-b <new_branch>::
 158        Create a new branch named `<new_branch>` and start it at
 159        `<start_point>`; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 160
 161-B <new_branch>::
 162        Creates the branch `<new_branch>` and start it at `<start_point>`;
 163        if it already exists, then reset it to `<start_point>`. This is
 164        equivalent to running "git branch" with "-f"; see
 165        linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 166
 167-t::
 168--track::
 169        When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration. See
 170        "--track" in linkgit:git-branch[1] for details.
 171+
 172If no `-b` option is given, the name of the new branch will be
 173derived from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of
 174the refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 175the initial part up to the "*".
 176This would tell us to use `hack` as the local branch when branching
 177off of `origin/hack` (or `remotes/origin/hack`, or even
 178`refs/remotes/origin/hack`).  If the given name has no slash, or the above
 179guessing results in an empty name, the guessing is aborted.  You can
 180explicitly give a name with `-b` in such a case.
 181
 182--no-track::
 183        Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 184        `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
 185
 186-l::
 187        Create the new branch's reflog; see linkgit:git-branch[1] for
 188        details.
 189
 190--detach::
 191        Rather than checking out a branch to work on it, check out a
 192        commit for inspection and discardable experiments.
 193        This is the default behavior of `git checkout <commit>` when
 194        `<commit>` is not a branch name.  See the "DETACHED HEAD" section
 195        below for details.
 196
 197--orphan <new_branch>::
 198        Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new_branch>`, started from
 199        `<start_point>` and switch to it.  The first commit made on this
 200        new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new
 201        history totally disconnected from all the other branches and
 202        commits.
 203+
 204The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run
 205`git checkout <start_point>`.  This allows you to start a new history
 206that records a set of paths similar to `<start_point>` by easily running
 207`git commit -a` to make the root commit.
 208+
 209This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit
 210without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish
 211an open source branch of a project whose current tree is "clean", but
 212whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of
 213code.
 214+
 215If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths
 216that is totally different from the one of `<start_point>`, then you should
 217clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan
 218branch by running `git rm -rf .` from the top level of the working tree.
 219Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the
 220working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.
 221
 222--ignore-skip-worktree-bits::
 223        In sparse checkout mode, `git checkout -- <paths>` would
 224        update only entries matched by `<paths>` and sparse patterns
 225        in `$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout`. This option ignores
 226        the sparse patterns and adds back any files in `<paths>`.
 227
 228-m::
 229--merge::
 230        When switching branches,
 231        if you have local modifications to one or more files that
 232        are different between the current branch and the branch to
 233        which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
 234        branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
 235        However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
 236        branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
 237        is done, and you will be on the new branch.
 238+
 239When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
 240paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
 241and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
 242should result in deletion of the path).
 243+
 244When checking out paths from the index, this option lets you recreate
 245the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
 246
 247--conflict=<style>::
 248        The same as `--merge` option above, but changes the way the
 249        conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
 250        `merge.conflictStyle` configuration variable.  Possible values are
 251        "merge" (default) and "diff3" (in addition to what is shown by
 252        "merge" style, shows the original contents).
 253
 254-p::
 255--patch::
 256        Interactively select hunks in the difference between the
 257        `<tree-ish>` (or the index, if unspecified) and the working
 258        tree.  The chosen hunks are then applied in reverse to the
 259        working tree (and if a `<tree-ish>` was specified, the index).
 260+
 261This means that you can use `git checkout -p` to selectively discard
 262edits from your current working tree. See the ``Interactive Mode''
 263section of linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate the `--patch` mode.
 264+
 265Note that this option uses the no overlay mode by default (see also
 266`--overlay`), and currently doesn't support overlay mode.
 267
 268--ignore-other-worktrees::
 269        `git checkout` refuses when the wanted ref is already checked
 270        out by another worktree. This option makes it check the ref
 271        out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by more than one
 272        worktree.
 273
 274--overwrite-ignore::
 275--no-overwrite-ignore::
 276        Silently overwrite ignored files when switching branches. This
 277        is the default behavior. Use `--no-overwrite-ignore` to abort
 278        the operation when the new branch contains ignored files.
 279
 280--recurse-submodules::
 281--no-recurse-submodules::
 282        Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all initialized
 283        submodules according to the commit recorded in the superproject. If
 284        local modifications in a submodule would be overwritten the checkout
 285        will fail unless `-f` is used. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`)
 286        is used, the work trees of submodules will not be updated.
 287        Just like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
 288        submodule.
 289
 290--no-guess::
 291        Do not attempt to create a branch if a remote tracking branch
 292        of the same name exists.
 293
 294--overlay::
 295--no-overlay::
 296        In the default overlay mode, `git checkout` never
 297        removes files from the index or the working tree.  When
 298        specifying `--no-overlay`, files that appear in the index and
 299        working tree, but not in `<tree-ish>` are removed, to make them
 300        match `<tree-ish>` exactly.
 301
 302<branch>::
 303        Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
 304        when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
 305        branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
 306        commit, your `HEAD` becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
 307        any branch (see below for details).
 308+
 309You can use the `@{-N}` syntax to refer to the N-th last
 310branch/commit checked out using "git checkout" operation. You may
 311also specify `-` which is synonymous to `@{-1}`.
 312+
 313As a special case, you may use `A...B` as a shortcut for the
 314merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
 315leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
 316
 317<new_branch>::
 318        Name for the new branch.
 319
 320<start_point>::
 321        The name of a commit at which to start the new branch; see
 322        linkgit:git-branch[1] for details. Defaults to `HEAD`.
 323
 324<tree-ish>::
 325        Tree to checkout from (when paths are given). If not specified,
 326        the index will be used.
 327
 328
 329
 330DETACHED HEAD
 331-------------
 332`HEAD` normally refers to a named branch (e.g. `master`). Meanwhile, each
 333branch refers to a specific commit. Let's look at a repo with three
 334commits, one of them tagged, and with branch `master` checked out:
 335
 336------------
 337           HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 338            |
 339            v
 340a---b---c  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'c')
 341    ^
 342    |
 343  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 344------------
 345
 346When a commit is created in this state, the branch is updated to refer to
 347the new commit. Specifically, 'git commit' creates a new commit `d`, whose
 348parent is commit `c`, and then updates branch `master` to refer to new
 349commit `d`. `HEAD` still refers to branch `master` and so indirectly now refers
 350to commit `d`:
 351
 352------------
 353$ edit; git add; git commit
 354
 355               HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 356                |
 357                v
 358a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 359    ^
 360    |
 361  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 362------------
 363
 364It is sometimes useful to be able to checkout a commit that is not at
 365the tip of any named branch, or even to create a new commit that is not
 366referenced by a named branch. Let's look at what happens when we
 367checkout commit `b` (here we show two ways this may be done):
 368
 369------------
 370$ git checkout v2.0  # or
 371$ git checkout master^^
 372
 373   HEAD (refers to commit 'b')
 374    |
 375    v
 376a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 377    ^
 378    |
 379  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 380------------
 381
 382Notice that regardless of which checkout command we use, `HEAD` now refers
 383directly to commit `b`. This is known as being in detached `HEAD` state.
 384It means simply that `HEAD` refers to a specific commit, as opposed to
 385referring to a named branch. Let's see what happens when we create a commit:
 386
 387------------
 388$ edit; git add; git commit
 389
 390     HEAD (refers to commit 'e')
 391      |
 392      v
 393      e
 394     /
 395a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 396    ^
 397    |
 398  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 399------------
 400
 401There is now a new commit `e`, but it is referenced only by `HEAD`. We can
 402of course add yet another commit in this state:
 403
 404------------
 405$ edit; git add; git commit
 406
 407         HEAD (refers to commit 'f')
 408          |
 409          v
 410      e---f
 411     /
 412a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 413    ^
 414    |
 415  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 416------------
 417
 418In fact, we can perform all the normal Git operations. But, let's look
 419at what happens when we then checkout `master`:
 420
 421------------
 422$ git checkout master
 423
 424               HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
 425      e---f     |
 426     /          v
 427a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
 428    ^
 429    |
 430  tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')
 431------------
 432
 433It is important to realize that at this point nothing refers to commit
 434`f`. Eventually commit `f` (and by extension commit `e`) will be deleted
 435by the routine Git garbage collection process, unless we create a reference
 436before that happens. If we have not yet moved away from commit `f`,
 437any of these will create a reference to it:
 438
 439------------
 440$ git checkout -b foo   <1>
 441$ git branch foo        <2>
 442$ git tag foo           <3>
 443------------
 444
 445<1> creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`, and then
 446    updates `HEAD` to refer to branch `foo`. In other words, we'll no longer
 447    be in detached `HEAD` state after this command.
 448
 449<2> similarly creates a new branch `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
 450    but leaves `HEAD` detached.
 451
 452<3> creates a new tag `foo`, which refers to commit `f`,
 453    leaving `HEAD` detached.
 454
 455If we have moved away from commit `f`, then we must first recover its object
 456name (typically by using git reflog), and then we can create a reference to
 457it. For example, to see the last two commits to which `HEAD` referred, we
 458can use either of these commands:
 459
 460------------
 461$ git reflog -2 HEAD # or
 462$ git log -g -2 HEAD
 463------------
 464
 465ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION
 466-----------------------
 467
 468When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. `git
 469checkout abc`), and when the argument is both a valid `<tree-ish>`
 470(e.g. a branch `abc` exists) and a valid `<pathspec>` (e.g. a file
 471or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask
 472you to disambiguate.  Because checking out a branch is so common an
 473operation, however, `git checkout abc` takes "abc" as a `<tree-ish>`
 474in such a situation.  Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want
 475to checkout these paths out of the index.
 476
 477EXAMPLES
 478--------
 479
 480. The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts
 481  the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes `hello.c` by
 482  mistake, and gets it back from the index.
 483+
 484------------
 485$ git checkout master             <1>
 486$ git checkout master~2 Makefile  <2>
 487$ rm -f hello.c
 488$ git checkout hello.c            <3>
 489------------
 490+
 491<1> switch branch
 492<2> take a file out of another commit
 493<3> restore `hello.c` from the index
 494+
 495If you want to check out _all_ C source files out of the index,
 496you can say
 497+
 498------------
 499$ git checkout -- '*.c'
 500------------
 501+
 502Note the quotes around `*.c`.  The file `hello.c` will also be
 503checked out, even though it is no longer in the working tree,
 504because the file globbing is used to match entries in the index
 505(not in the working tree by the shell).
 506+
 507If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this
 508step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
 509You should instead write:
 510+
 511------------
 512$ git checkout -- hello.c
 513------------
 514
 515. After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct
 516  branch would be done using:
 517+
 518------------
 519$ git checkout mytopic
 520------------
 521+
 522However, your "wrong" branch and correct `mytopic` branch may
 523differ in files that you have modified locally, in which case
 524the above checkout would fail like this:
 525+
 526------------
 527$ git checkout mytopic
 528error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
 529------------
 530+
 531You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a
 532three-way merge:
 533+
 534------------
 535$ git checkout -m mytopic
 536Auto-merging frotz
 537------------
 538+
 539After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 540registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 541changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
 542
 543. When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
 544  the `-m` option, you would see something like this:
 545+
 546------------
 547$ git checkout -m mytopic
 548Auto-merging frotz
 549ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
 550fatal: merge program failed
 551------------
 552+
 553At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in
 554the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
 555files.  Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
 556`git add` as usual:
 557+
 558------------
 559$ edit frotz
 560$ git add frotz
 561------------
 562
 563GIT
 564---
 565Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite