against the path.
+
The "magic signature" consists of an ASCII symbol that is not
-alphanumeric. Currently only the slash `/` is recognized as a
-"magic signature": it makes the pattern match from the root of
-the working tree, even when you are running the command from
-inside a subdirectory.
+alphanumeric.
++
+--
+top `/`;;
+ The magic word `top` (mnemonic: `/`) makes the pattern match
+ from the root of the working tree, even when you are running
+ the command from inside a subdirectory.
+
+literal;;
+ Wildcards in the pattern such as `*` or `?` are treated
+ as literal characters.
+
+icase;;
+ Case insensitive match.
+
+glob;;
+ Git treats the pattern as a shell glob suitable for
+ consumption by fnmatch(3) with the FNM_PATHNAME flag:
+ wildcards in the pattern will not match a / in the pathname.
+ For example, "Documentation/{asterisk}.html" matches
+ "Documentation/git.html" but not "Documentation/ppc/ppc.html"
+ or "tools/perf/Documentation/perf.html".
++
+Two consecutive asterisks ("`**`") in patterns matched against
+full pathname may have special meaning:
+
+ - A leading "`**`" followed by a slash means match in all
+ directories. For example, "`**/foo`" matches file or directory
+ "`foo`" anywhere, the same as pattern "`foo`". "**/foo/bar"
+ matches file or directory "`bar`" anywhere that is directly
+ under directory "`foo`".
+
+ - A trailing "/**" matches everything inside. For example,
+ "abc/**" matches all files inside directory "abc", relative
+ to the location of the `.gitignore` file, with infinite depth.
+
+ - A slash followed by two consecutive asterisks then a slash
+ matches zero or more directories. For example, "`a/**/b`"
+ matches "`a/b`", "`a/x/b`", "`a/x/y/b`" and so on.
+
+ - Other consecutive asterisks are considered invalid.
++
+Glob magic is incompatible with literal magic.
+--
++
+Currently only the slash `/` is recognized as the "magic signature",
+but it is envisioned that we will support more types of magic in later
+versions of Git.
+
A pathspec with only a colon means "there is no pathspec". This form
should not be combined with other pathspec.
to the result.
[[def_ref]]ref::
- A 40-byte hex representation of a <<def_SHA1,SHA-1>> or a name that
- denotes a particular <<def_object,object>>. They may be stored in
- a file under `$GIT_DIR/refs/` directory, or
- in the `$GIT_DIR/packed-refs` file.
+ A name that begins with `refs/` (e.g. `refs/heads/master`)
+ that points to an <<def_object_name,object name>> or another
+ ref (the latter is called a <<def_symref,symbolic ref>>).
+ For convenience, a ref can sometimes be abbreviated when used
+ as an argument to a Git command; see linkgit:gitrevisions[7]
+ for details.
+ Refs are stored in the <<def_repository,repository>>.
++
+The ref namespace is hierarchical.
+Different subhierarchies are used for different purposes (e.g. the
+`refs/heads/` hierarchy is used to represent local branches).
++
+There are a few special-purpose refs that do not begin with `refs/`.
+The most notable example is `HEAD`.
[[def_reflog]]reflog::
A reflog shows the local "history" of a ref. In other words,
<<def_tree,tree>> is equivalent to a <<def_directory,directory>>.
[[def_tree-ish]]tree-ish (also treeish)::
- A <<def_ref,ref>> pointing to either a <<def_commit_object,commit
- object>>, a <<def_tree_object,tree object>>, or a <<def_tag_object,tag
- object>> pointing to a tag or commit or tree object.
+ A <<def_tree_object,tree object>> or an <<def_object,object>>
+ that can be recursively dereferenced to a tree object.
+ Dereferencing a <<def_commit_object,commit object>> yields the
+ tree object corresponding to the <<def_revision,revision>>'s
+ top <<def_directory,directory>>.
+ The following are all tree-ishes:
+ a <<def_commit-ish,commit-ish>>,
+ a tree object,
+ a <<def_tag_object,tag object>> that points to a tree object,
+ a tag object that points to a tag object that points to a tree
+ object,
+ etc.
[[def_unmerged_index]]unmerged index::
An <<def_index,index>> which contains unmerged