'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] <commit>
'git checkout' [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
'git checkout' [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
-'git checkout' [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
+'git checkout' [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
+'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
------------
+
You could omit <branch>, in which case the command degenerates to
-"check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with a
+"check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with
rather expensive side-effects to show only the tracking information,
if exists, for the current branch.
+
Omitting <branch> detaches HEAD at the tip of the current branch.
-'git checkout' [
-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
+'git checkout' [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
- When <paths> or `--patch` are given, 'git checkout' does *not*
- switch branches. It updates the named paths in the working tree
- from the index file or from a named <tree-ish> (most often a
- commit). In this case, the `-b` and `--track` options are
- meaningless and giving either of them results in an error. The
- <tree-ish> argument can be used to specify a specific tree-ish
- (i.e. commit, tag or tree) to update the index for the given
- paths before updating the working tree.
-+
-'git checkout' with <paths> or `--patch` is used to restore modified or
-deleted paths to their original contents from the index or replace paths
-with the contents from a named <tree-ish> (most often a commit-ish).
+ Overwrite paths in the working tree by replacing with the
+ contents in the index or in the <tree-ish> (most often a
+ commit). When a <tree-ish> is given, the paths that
+ match the <pathspec> are updated both in the index and in
+ the working tree.
+
The index may contain unmerged entries because of a previous failed merge.
By default, if you try to check out such an entry from the index, the
using `--ours` or `--theirs`. With `-m`, changes made to the working tree
file can be discarded to re-create the original conflicted merge result.
+'git checkout' (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]::
+ This is similar to the "check out paths to the working tree
+ from either the index or from a tree-ish" mode described
+ above, but lets you use the interactive interface to show
+ the "diff" output and choose which hunks to use in the
+ result. See below for the description of `--patch` option.
+
+
OPTIONS
-------
-q::
out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by more than one
worktree.
+--[no-]recurse-submodules::
+ Using --recurse-submodules will update the content of all initialized
+ submodules according to the commit recorded in the superproject. If
+ local modifications in a submodule would be overwritten the checkout
+ will fail unless `-f` is used. If nothing (or --no-recurse-submodules)
+ is used, the work trees of submodules will not be updated.
+ Just like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach the
+ submodules HEAD.
+
<branch>::
Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
commit, your HEAD becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
any branch (see below for details).
+
- As a special case, the `"@{-N}"` syntax for the N-th last branch/commit
- checks out branches (instead of detaching). You may also specify
- `-` which is synonymous with `"@{-1}"`.
+ You can use the `"@{-N}"` syntax to refer to the N-th last
+ branch/commit checked out using "git checkout" operation. You may
+ also specify `-` which is synonymous to `"@{-1}`.
+
- As a further special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
+ As a special case, you may use `"A...B"` as a shortcut for the
merge base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can
leave out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.