Documentation / git-config.txton commit user-manual: don't assume refs are stored under .git/refs (fc74ecc)
   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
  24DESCRIPTION
  25-----------
  26You can query/set/replace/unset options with this command. The name is
  27actually the section and the key separated by a dot, and the value will be
  28escaped.
  29
  30Multiple lines can be added to an option by using the '--add' option.
  31If you want to update or unset an option which can occur on multiple
  32lines, a POSIX regexp `value_regex` needs to be given.  Only the
  33existing values that match the regexp are updated or unset.  If
  34you want to handle the lines that do *not* match the regex, just
  35prepend a single exclamation mark in front (see also <<EXAMPLES>>).
  36
  37The type specifier can be either '--int' or '--bool', which will make
  38'git-config' ensure that the variable(s) are of the given type and
  39convert the value to the canonical form (simple decimal number for int,
  40a "true" or "false" string for bool).  If no type specifier is passed,
  41no checks or transformations are performed on the value.
  42
  43The file-option can be one of '--system', '--global' or '--file'
  44which specify where the values will be read from or written to.
  45The default is to assume the config file of the current repository,
  46.git/config unless defined otherwise with GIT_DIR and GIT_CONFIG
  47(see <<FILES>>).
  48
  49This command will fail if:
  50
  51. The config file is invalid,
  52. Can not write to the config file,
  53. no section was provided,
  54. the section or key is invalid,
  55. you try to unset an option which does not exist,
  56. you try to unset/set an option for which multiple lines match, or
  57. you use '--global' option without $HOME being properly set.
  58
  59
  60OPTIONS
  61-------
  62
  63--replace-all::
  64        Default behavior is to replace at most one line. This replaces
  65        all lines matching the key (and optionally the value_regex).
  66
  67--add::
  68        Adds a new line to the option without altering any existing
  69        values.  This is the same as providing '^$' as the value_regex.
  70
  71--get::
  72        Get the value for a given key (optionally filtered by a regex
  73        matching the value). Returns error code 1 if the key was not
  74        found and error code 2 if multiple key values were found.
  75
  76--get-all::
  77        Like get, but does not fail if the number of values for the key
  78        is not exactly one.
  79
  80--get-regexp::
  81        Like --get-all, but interprets the name as a regular expression.
  82        Also outputs the key names.
  83
  84--global::
  85        For writing options: write to global ~/.gitconfig file rather than
  86        the repository .git/config.
  87+
  88For reading options: read only from global ~/.gitconfig rather than
  89from all available files.
  90+
  91See also <<FILES>>.
  92
  93--system::
  94        For writing options: write to system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
  95        rather than the repository .git/config.
  96+
  97For reading options: read only from system-wide $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig
  98rather than from all available files.
  99+
 100See also <<FILES>>.
 101
 102-f config-file, --file config-file::
 103        Use the given config file instead of the one specified by GIT_CONFIG.
 104
 105--remove-section::
 106        Remove the given section from the configuration file.
 107
 108--rename-section::
 109        Rename the given section to a new name.
 110
 111--unset::
 112        Remove the line matching the key from config file.
 113
 114--unset-all::
 115        Remove all lines matching the key from config file.
 116
 117-l, --list::
 118        List all variables set in config file.
 119
 120--bool::
 121        git-config will ensure that the output is "true" or "false"
 122
 123--int::
 124        git-config will ensure that the output is a simple
 125        decimal number.  An optional value suffix of 'k', 'm', or 'g'
 126        in the config file will cause the value to be multiplied
 127        by 1024, 1048576, or 1073741824 prior to output.
 128
 129-z, --null::
 130        For all options that output values and/or keys, always
 131        end values with with the null character (instead of a
 132        newline). Use newline instead as a delimiter between
 133        key and value. This allows for secure parsing of the
 134        output without getting confused e.g. by values that
 135        contain line breaks.
 136
 137
 138[[FILES]]
 139FILES
 140-----
 141
 142If not set explicitly with '--file', there are three files where
 143git-config will search for configuration options:
 144
 145$GIT_DIR/config::
 146        Repository specific configuration file. (The filename is
 147        of course relative to the repository root, not the working
 148        directory.)
 149
 150~/.gitconfig::
 151        User-specific configuration file. Also called "global"
 152        configuration file.
 153
 154$(prefix)/etc/gitconfig::
 155        System-wide configuration file.
 156
 157If no further options are given, all reading options will read all of these
 158files that are available. If the global or the system-wide configuration
 159file are not available they will be ignored. If the repository configuration
 160file is not available or readable, git-config will exit with a non-zero
 161error code. However, in neither case will an error message be issued.
 162
 163All writing options will per default write to the repository specific
 164configuration file. Note that this also affects options like '--replace-all'
 165and '--unset'. *git-config will only ever change one file at a time*.
 166
 167You can override these rules either by command line options or by environment
 168variables. The '--global' and the '--system' options will limit the file used
 169to the global or system-wide file respectively. The GIT_CONFIG environment
 170variable has a similar effect, but you can specify any filename you want.
 171
 172The GIT_CONFIG_LOCAL environment variable on the other hand only changes
 173the name used instead of the repository configuration file. The global and
 174the system-wide configuration files will still be read. (For writing options
 175this will obviously result in the same behavior as using GIT_CONFIG.)
 176
 177
 178ENVIRONMENT
 179-----------
 180
 181GIT_CONFIG::
 182        Take the configuration from the given file instead of .git/config.
 183        Using the "--global" option forces this to ~/.gitconfig. Using the
 184        "--system" option forces this to $(prefix)/etc/gitconfig.
 185
 186GIT_CONFIG_LOCAL::
 187        Take the configuration from the given file instead if .git/config.
 188        Still read the global and the system-wide configuration files, though.
 189
 190See also <<FILES>>.
 191
 192
 193[[EXAMPLES]]
 194EXAMPLES
 195--------
 196
 197Given a .git/config like this:
 198
 199        #
 200        # This is the config file, and
 201        # a '#' or ';' character indicates
 202        # a comment
 203        #
 204
 205        ; core variables
 206        [core]
 207                ; Don't trust file modes
 208                filemode = false
 209
 210        ; Our diff algorithm
 211        [diff]
 212                external = "/usr/local/bin/gnu-diff -u"
 213                renames = true
 214
 215        ; Proxy settings
 216        [core]
 217                gitproxy="proxy-command" for kernel.org
 218                gitproxy=default-proxy ; for all the rest
 219
 220you can set the filemode to true with
 221
 222------------
 223% git config core.filemode true
 224------------
 225
 226The hypothetical proxy command entries actually have a postfix to discern
 227what URL they apply to. Here is how to change the entry for kernel.org
 228to "ssh".
 229
 230------------
 231% git config core.gitproxy '"ssh" for kernel.org' 'for kernel.org$'
 232------------
 233
 234This makes sure that only the key/value pair for kernel.org is replaced.
 235
 236To delete the entry for renames, do
 237
 238------------
 239% git config --unset diff.renames
 240------------
 241
 242If you want to delete an entry for a multivar (like core.gitproxy above),
 243you have to provide a regex matching the value of exactly one line.
 244
 245To query the value for a given key, do
 246
 247------------
 248% git config --get core.filemode
 249------------
 250
 251or
 252
 253------------
 254% git config core.filemode
 255------------
 256
 257or, to query a multivar:
 258
 259------------
 260% git config --get core.gitproxy "for kernel.org$"
 261------------
 262
 263If you want to know all the values for a multivar, do:
 264
 265------------
 266% git config --get-all core.gitproxy
 267------------
 268
 269If you like to live dangerous, you can replace *all* core.gitproxy by a
 270new one with
 271
 272------------
 273% git config --replace-all core.gitproxy ssh
 274------------
 275
 276However, if you really only want to replace the line for the default proxy,
 277i.e. the one without a "for ..." postfix, do something like this:
 278
 279------------
 280% git config core.gitproxy ssh '! for '
 281------------
 282
 283To actually match only values with an exclamation mark, you have to
 284
 285------------
 286% git config section.key value '[!]'
 287------------
 288
 289To add a new proxy, without altering any of the existing ones, use
 290
 291------------
 292% git config core.gitproxy '"proxy-command" for example.com'
 293------------
 294
 295
 296include::config.txt[]
 297
 298
 299Author
 300------
 301Written by Johannes Schindelin <Johannes.Schindelin@gmx.de>
 302
 303Documentation
 304--------------
 305Documentation by Johannes Schindelin, Petr Baudis and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 306
 307GIT
 308---
 309Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite