SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-checkout-index' [-u] [-q] [-a] [-f] [-n] [--prefix=<string>]
+'git checkout-index' [-u] [-q] [-a] [-f] [-n] [--prefix=<string>]
[--stage=<number>|all]
[--temp]
[-z] [--stdin]
The order of the flags used to matter, but not anymore.
-Just doing `git-checkout-index` does nothing. You probably meant
-`git-checkout-index -a`. And if you want to force it, you want
-`git-checkout-index -f -a`.
+Just doing `git checkout-index` does nothing. You probably meant
+`git checkout-index -a`. And if you want to force it, you want
+`git checkout-index -f -a`.
Intuitiveness is not the goal here. Repeatability is. The reason for
the "no arguments means no work" behavior is that from scripts you are
supposed to be able to do:
----------------
-$ find . -name '*.h' -print0 | xargs -0 git-checkout-index -f --
+$ find . -name '*.h' -print0 | xargs -0 git checkout-index -f --
----------------
which will force all existing `*.h` files to be replaced with their
cached copies. If an empty command line implied "all", then this would
force-refresh everything in the index, which was not the point. But
-since git-checkout-index accepts --stdin it would be faster to use:
+since 'git-checkout-index' accepts --stdin it would be faster to use:
----------------
-$ find . -name '*.h' -print0 | git-checkout-index -f -z --stdin
+$ find . -name '*.h' -print0 | git checkout-index -f -z --stdin
----------------
The `--` is just a good idea when you know the rest will be filenames;
Using --temp or --stage=all
---------------------------
When `--temp` is used (or implied by `--stage=all`)
-`git-checkout-index` will create a temporary file for each index
+'git-checkout-index' will create a temporary file for each index
entry being checked out. The index will not be updated with stat
information. These options can be useful if the caller needs all
stages of all unmerged entries so that the unmerged files can be
To update and refresh only the files already checked out::
+
----------------
-$ git-checkout-index -n -f -a && git-update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
+$ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
----------------
-Using `git-checkout-index` to "export an entire tree"::
+Using 'git-checkout-index' to "export an entire tree"::
The prefix ability basically makes it trivial to use
- `git-checkout-index` as an "export as tree" function.
+ 'git-checkout-index' as an "export as tree" function.
Just read the desired tree into the index, and do:
+
----------------
-$ git-checkout-index --prefix=git-export-dir/ -a
+$ git checkout-index --prefix=git-export-dir/ -a
----------------
+
-`git-checkout-index` will "export" the index into the specified
+`git checkout-index` will "export" the index into the specified
directory.
+
The final "/" is important. The exported name is literally just
Export files with a prefix::
+
----------------
-$ git-checkout-index --prefix=.merged- Makefile
+$ git checkout-index --prefix=.merged- Makefile
----------------
+
This will check out the currently cached copy of `Makefile`