git-checkout.html

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 735 <body class="manpage">
 736 <div id="header">
 737 <h1>
 738 git-checkout(1) Manual Page
 739 </h1>
 740 <h2>NAME</h2>
 741 <div class="sectionbody">
 742 <p>git-checkout -
 743    Switch branches or restore working tree files
 744 </p>
 745 </div>
 746 </div>
 747 <div id="content">
 748 <div class="sect1">
 749 <h2 id="_synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2>
 750 <div class="sectionbody">
 751 <div class="verseblock">
 752 <pre class="content"><em>git checkout</em> [-q] [-f] [-m] [&lt;branch&gt;]
 753 <em>git checkout</em> [-q] [-f] [-m] --detach [&lt;branch&gt;]
 754 <em>git checkout</em> [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] &lt;commit&gt;
 755 <em>git checkout</em> [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] &lt;new-branch&gt;] [&lt;start-point&gt;]
 756 <em>git checkout</em> [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=&lt;style&gt;] [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] [--] &lt;pathspec&gt;&#8230;
 757 <em>git checkout</em> [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=&lt;style&gt;] [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] --pathspec-from-file=&lt;file&gt; [--pathspec-file-nul]
 758 <em>git checkout</em> (-p|--patch) [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] [--] [&lt;pathspec&gt;&#8230;]</pre>
 759 <div class="attribution">
 760 </div></div>
 761 </div>
 762 </div>
 763 <div class="sect1">
 764 <h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
 765 <div class="sectionbody">
 766 <div class="paragraph"><p>Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
 767 or the specified tree.  If no pathspec was given, <em>git checkout</em> will
 768 also update <code>HEAD</code> to set the specified branch as the current
 769 branch.</p></div>
 770 <div class="dlist"><dl>
 771 <dt class="hdlist1">
 772 <em>git checkout</em> [&lt;branch&gt;]
 773 </dt>
 774 <dd>
 775 <p>
 776         To prepare for working on <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code>, switch to it by updating
 777         the index and the files in the working tree, and by pointing
 778         <code>HEAD</code> at the branch. Local modifications to the files in the
 779         working tree are kept, so that they can be committed to the
 780         <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code>.
 781 </p>
 782 <div class="paragraph"><p>If <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code> is not found but there does exist a tracking branch in
 783 exactly one remote (call it <code>&lt;remote&gt;</code>) with a matching name and
 784 <code>--no-guess</code> is not specified, treat as equivalent to</p></div>
 785 <div class="listingblock">
 786 <div class="content">
 787 <pre><code>$ git checkout -b &lt;branch&gt; --track &lt;remote&gt;/&lt;branch&gt;</code></pre>
 788 </div></div>
 789 <div class="paragraph"><p>You could omit <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code>, in which case the command degenerates to
 790 "check out the current branch", which is a glorified no-op with
 791 rather expensive side-effects to show only the tracking information,
 792 if exists, for the current branch.</p></div>
 793 </dd>
 794 <dt class="hdlist1">
 795 <em>git checkout</em> -b|-B &lt;new-branch&gt; [&lt;start-point&gt;]
 796 </dt>
 797 <dd>
 798 <p>
 799         Specifying <code>-b</code> causes a new branch to be created as if
 800         <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> were called and then checked out.  In
 801         this case you can use the <code>--track</code> or <code>--no-track</code> options,
 802         which will be passed to <em>git branch</em>.  As a convenience,
 803         <code>--track</code> without <code>-b</code> implies branch creation; see the
 804         description of <code>--track</code> below.
 805 </p>
 806 <div class="paragraph"><p>If <code>-B</code> is given, <code>&lt;new-branch&gt;</code> is created if it doesn&#8217;t exist; otherwise, it
 807 is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of</p></div>
 808 <div class="listingblock">
 809 <div class="content">
 810 <pre><code>$ git branch -f &lt;branch&gt; [&lt;start-point&gt;]
 811 $ git checkout &lt;branch&gt;</code></pre>
 812 </div></div>
 813 <div class="paragraph"><p>that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git checkout" is
 814 successful.</p></div>
 815 </dd>
 816 <dt class="hdlist1">
 817 <em>git checkout</em> --detach [&lt;branch&gt;]
 818 </dt>
 819 <dt class="hdlist1">
 820 <em>git checkout</em> [--detach] &lt;commit&gt;
 821 </dt>
 822 <dd>
 823 <p>
 824         Prepare to work on top of <code>&lt;commit&gt;</code>, by detaching <code>HEAD</code> at it
 825         (see "DETACHED HEAD" section), and updating the index and the
 826         files in the working tree.  Local modifications to the files
 827         in the working tree are kept, so that the resulting working
 828         tree will be the state recorded in the commit plus the local
 829         modifications.
 830 </p>
 831 <div class="paragraph"><p>When the <code>&lt;commit&gt;</code> argument is a branch name, the <code>--detach</code> option can
 832 be used to detach <code>HEAD</code> at the tip of the branch (<code>git checkout
 833 &lt;branch&gt;</code> would check out that branch without detaching <code>HEAD</code>).</p></div>
 834 <div class="paragraph"><p>Omitting <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code> detaches <code>HEAD</code> at the tip of the current branch.</p></div>
 835 </dd>
 836 <dt class="hdlist1">
 837 <em>git checkout</em> [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=&lt;style&gt;] [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] [--] &lt;pathspec&gt;&#8230;
 838 </dt>
 839 <dt class="hdlist1">
 840 <em>git checkout</em> [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=&lt;style&gt;] [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] --pathspec-from-file=&lt;file&gt; [--pathspec-file-nul]
 841 </dt>
 842 <dd>
 843 <p>
 844         Overwrite the contents of the files that match the pathspec.
 845         When the <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> (most often a commit) is not given,
 846         overwrite working tree with the contents in the index.
 847         When the <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> is given, overwrite both the index and
 848         the working tree with the contents at the <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code>.
 849 </p>
 850 <div class="paragraph"><p>The index may contain unmerged entries because of a previous failed merge.
 851 By default, if you try to check out such an entry from the index, the
 852 checkout operation will fail and nothing will be checked out.
 853 Using <code>-f</code> will ignore these unmerged entries.  The contents from a
 854 specific side of the merge can be checked out of the index by
 855 using <code>--ours</code> or <code>--theirs</code>.  With <code>-m</code>, changes made to the working tree
 856 file can be discarded to re-create the original conflicted merge result.</p></div>
 857 </dd>
 858 <dt class="hdlist1">
 859 <em>git checkout</em> (-p|--patch) [&lt;tree-ish&gt;] [--] [&lt;pathspec&gt;&#8230;]
 860 </dt>
 861 <dd>
 862 <p>
 863         This is similar to the previous mode, but lets you use the
 864         interactive interface to show the "diff" output and choose which
 865         hunks to use in the result.  See below for the description of
 866         <code>--patch</code> option.
 867 </p>
 868 </dd>
 869 </dl></div>
 870 </div>
 871 </div>
 872 <div class="sect1">
 873 <h2 id="_options">OPTIONS</h2>
 874 <div class="sectionbody">
 875 <div class="dlist"><dl>
 876 <dt class="hdlist1">
 877 -q
 878 </dt>
 879 <dt class="hdlist1">
 880 --quiet
 881 </dt>
 882 <dd>
 883 <p>
 884         Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 885 </p>
 886 </dd>
 887 <dt class="hdlist1">
 888 --progress
 889 </dt>
 890 <dt class="hdlist1">
 891 --no-progress
 892 </dt>
 893 <dd>
 894 <p>
 895         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 896         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless <code>--quiet</code>
 897         is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 898         attached to a terminal, regardless of <code>--quiet</code>.
 899 </p>
 900 </dd>
 901 <dt class="hdlist1">
 902 -f
 903 </dt>
 904 <dt class="hdlist1">
 905 --force
 906 </dt>
 907 <dd>
 908 <p>
 909         When switching branches, proceed even if the index or the
 910         working tree differs from <code>HEAD</code>, and even if there are untracked
 911         files in the way.  This is used to throw away local changes and
 912         any untracked files or directories that are in the way.
 913 </p>
 914 <div class="paragraph"><p>When checking out paths from the index, do not fail upon unmerged
 915 entries; instead, unmerged entries are ignored.</p></div>
 916 </dd>
 917 <dt class="hdlist1">
 918 --ours
 919 </dt>
 920 <dt class="hdlist1">
 921 --theirs
 922 </dt>
 923 <dd>
 924 <p>
 925         When checking out paths from the index, check out stage #2
 926         (<em>ours</em>) or #3 (<em>theirs</em>) for unmerged paths.
 927 </p>
 928 <div class="paragraph"><p>Note that during <code>git rebase</code> and <code>git pull --rebase</code>, <em>ours</em> and
 929 <em>theirs</em> may appear swapped; <code>--ours</code> gives the version from the
 930 branch the changes are rebased onto, while <code>--theirs</code> gives the
 931 version from the branch that holds your work that is being rebased.</p></div>
 932 <div class="paragraph"><p>This is because <code>rebase</code> is used in a workflow that treats the
 933 history at the remote as the shared canonical one, and treats the
 934 work done on the branch you are rebasing as the third-party work to
 935 be integrated, and you are temporarily assuming the role of the
 936 keeper of the canonical history during the rebase.  As the keeper of
 937 the canonical history, you need to view the history from the remote
 938 as <code>ours</code> (i.e. "our shared canonical history"), while what you did
 939 on your side branch as <code>theirs</code> (i.e. "one contributor&#8217;s work on top
 940 of it").</p></div>
 941 </dd>
 942 <dt class="hdlist1">
 943 -b &lt;new-branch&gt;
 944 </dt>
 945 <dd>
 946 <p>
 947         Create a new branch named <code>&lt;new-branch&gt;</code>, start it at
 948         <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code>, and check the resulting branch out;
 949         see <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> for details.
 950 </p>
 951 </dd>
 952 <dt class="hdlist1">
 953 -B &lt;new-branch&gt;
 954 </dt>
 955 <dd>
 956 <p>
 957         Creates the branch <code>&lt;new-branch&gt;</code>, start it at <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code>;
 958         if it already exists, then reset it to <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code>. And then
 959         check the resulting branch out.  This is equivalent to running
 960         "git branch" with "-f" followed by "git checkout" of that branch;
 961         see <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> for details.
 962 </p>
 963 </dd>
 964 <dt class="hdlist1">
 965 -t
 966 </dt>
 967 <dt class="hdlist1">
 968 --track[=(direct|inherit)]
 969 </dt>
 970 <dd>
 971 <p>
 972         When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration. See
 973         "--track" in <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> for details.
 974 </p>
 975 <div class="paragraph"><p>If no <code>-b</code> option is given, the name of the new branch will be
 976 derived from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of
 977 the refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 978 the initial part up to the "*".
 979 This would tell us to use <code>hack</code> as the local branch when branching
 980 off of <code>origin/hack</code> (or <code>remotes/origin/hack</code>, or even
 981 <code>refs/remotes/origin/hack</code>).  If the given name has no slash, or the above
 982 guessing results in an empty name, the guessing is aborted.  You can
 983 explicitly give a name with <code>-b</code> in such a case.</p></div>
 984 </dd>
 985 <dt class="hdlist1">
 986 --no-track
 987 </dt>
 988 <dd>
 989 <p>
 990         Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 991         <code>branch.autoSetupMerge</code> configuration variable is true.
 992 </p>
 993 </dd>
 994 <dt class="hdlist1">
 995 --guess
 996 </dt>
 997 <dt class="hdlist1">
 998 --no-guess
 999 </dt>
1000 <dd>
1001 <p>
1002         If <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code> is not found but there does exist a tracking
1003         branch in exactly one remote (call it <code>&lt;remote&gt;</code>) with a
1004         matching name, treat as equivalent to
1005 </p>
1006 <div class="listingblock">
1007 <div class="content">
1008 <pre><code>$ git checkout -b &lt;branch&gt; --track &lt;remote&gt;/&lt;branch&gt;</code></pre>
1009 </div></div>
1010 <div class="paragraph"><p>If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by
1011 the <code>checkout.defaultRemote</code> configuration variable, we&#8217;ll use that
1012 one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code> isn&#8217;t
1013 unique across all remotes. Set it to
1014 e.g. <code>checkout.defaultRemote=origin</code> to always checkout remote
1015 branches from there if <code>&lt;branch&gt;</code> is ambiguous but exists on the
1016 <em>origin</em> remote. See also <code>checkout.defaultRemote</code> in
1017 <a href="git-config.html">git-config(1)</a>.</p></div>
1018 <div class="paragraph"><p><code>--guess</code> is the default behavior. Use <code>--no-guess</code> to disable it.</p></div>
1019 <div class="paragraph"><p>The default behavior can be set via the <code>checkout.guess</code> configuration
1020 variable.</p></div>
1021 </dd>
1022 <dt class="hdlist1">
1023 -l
1024 </dt>
1025 <dd>
1026 <p>
1027         Create the new branch&#8217;s reflog; see <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> for
1028         details.
1029 </p>
1030 </dd>
1031 <dt class="hdlist1">
1032 -d
1033 </dt>
1034 <dt class="hdlist1">
1035 --detach
1036 </dt>
1037 <dd>
1038 <p>
1039         Rather than checking out a branch to work on it, check out a
1040         commit for inspection and discardable experiments.
1041         This is the default behavior of <code>git checkout &lt;commit&gt;</code> when
1042         <code>&lt;commit&gt;</code> is not a branch name.  See the "DETACHED HEAD" section
1043         below for details.
1044 </p>
1045 </dd>
1046 <dt class="hdlist1">
1047 --orphan &lt;new-branch&gt;
1048 </dt>
1049 <dd>
1050 <p>
1051         Create a new <em>orphan</em> branch, named <code>&lt;new-branch&gt;</code>, started from
1052         <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code> and switch to it.  The first commit made on this
1053         new branch will have no parents and it will be the root of a new
1054         history totally disconnected from all the other branches and
1055         commits.
1056 </p>
1057 <div class="paragraph"><p>The index and the working tree are adjusted as if you had previously run
1058 <code>git checkout &lt;start-point&gt;</code>.  This allows you to start a new history
1059 that records a set of paths similar to <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code> by easily running
1060 <code>git commit -a</code> to make the root commit.</p></div>
1061 <div class="paragraph"><p>This can be useful when you want to publish the tree from a commit
1062 without exposing its full history. You might want to do this to publish
1063 an open source branch of a project whose current tree is "clean", but
1064 whose full history contains proprietary or otherwise encumbered bits of
1065 code.</p></div>
1066 <div class="paragraph"><p>If you want to start a disconnected history that records a set of paths
1067 that is totally different from the one of <code>&lt;start-point&gt;</code>, then you should
1068 clear the index and the working tree right after creating the orphan
1069 branch by running <code>git rm -rf .</code> from the top level of the working tree.
1070 Afterwards you will be ready to prepare your new files, repopulating the
1071 working tree, by copying them from elsewhere, extracting a tarball, etc.</p></div>
1072 </dd>
1073 <dt class="hdlist1">
1074 --ignore-skip-worktree-bits
1075 </dt>
1076 <dd>
1077 <p>
1078         In sparse checkout mode, <code>git checkout -- &lt;paths&gt;</code> would
1079         update only entries matched by <code>&lt;paths&gt;</code> and sparse patterns
1080         in <code>$GIT_DIR/info/sparse-checkout</code>. This option ignores
1081         the sparse patterns and adds back any files in <code>&lt;paths&gt;</code>.
1082 </p>
1083 </dd>
1084 <dt class="hdlist1">
1085 -m
1086 </dt>
1087 <dt class="hdlist1">
1088 --merge
1089 </dt>
1090 <dd>
1091 <p>
1092         When switching branches,
1093         if you have local modifications to one or more files that
1094         are different between the current branch and the branch to
1095         which you are switching, the command refuses to switch
1096         branches in order to preserve your modifications in context.
1097         However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current
1098         branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch
1099         is done, and you will be on the new branch.
1100 </p>
1101 <div class="paragraph"><p>When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
1102 paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
1103 and mark the resolved paths with <code>git add</code> (or <code>git rm</code> if the merge
1104 should result in deletion of the path).</p></div>
1105 <div class="paragraph"><p>When checking out paths from the index, this option lets you recreate
1106 the conflicted merge in the specified paths.</p></div>
1107 <div class="paragraph"><p>When switching branches with <code>--merge</code>, staged changes may be lost.</p></div>
1108 </dd>
1109 <dt class="hdlist1">
1110 --conflict=&lt;style&gt;
1111 </dt>
1112 <dd>
1113 <p>
1114         The same as <code>--merge</code> option above, but changes the way the
1115         conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
1116         <code>merge.conflictStyle</code> configuration variable.  Possible values are
1117         "merge" (default), "diff3", and "zdiff3".
1118 </p>
1119 </dd>
1120 <dt class="hdlist1">
1121 -p
1122 </dt>
1123 <dt class="hdlist1">
1124 --patch
1125 </dt>
1126 <dd>
1127 <p>
1128         Interactively select hunks in the difference between the
1129         <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> (or the index, if unspecified) and the working
1130         tree.  The chosen hunks are then applied in reverse to the
1131         working tree (and if a <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> was specified, the index).
1132 </p>
1133 <div class="paragraph"><p>This means that you can use <code>git checkout -p</code> to selectively discard
1134 edits from your current working tree. See the &#8220;Interactive Mode&#8221;
1135 section of <a href="git-add.html">git-add(1)</a> to learn how to operate the <code>--patch</code> mode.</p></div>
1136 <div class="paragraph"><p>Note that this option uses the no overlay mode by default (see also
1137 <code>--overlay</code>), and currently doesn&#8217;t support overlay mode.</p></div>
1138 </dd>
1139 <dt class="hdlist1">
1140 --ignore-other-worktrees
1141 </dt>
1142 <dd>
1143 <p>
1144         <code>git checkout</code> refuses when the wanted ref is already checked
1145         out by another worktree. This option makes it check the ref
1146         out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by more than one
1147         worktree.
1148 </p>
1149 </dd>
1150 <dt class="hdlist1">
1151 --overwrite-ignore
1152 </dt>
1153 <dt class="hdlist1">
1154 --no-overwrite-ignore
1155 </dt>
1156 <dd>
1157 <p>
1158         Silently overwrite ignored files when switching branches. This
1159         is the default behavior. Use <code>--no-overwrite-ignore</code> to abort
1160         the operation when the new branch contains ignored files.
1161 </p>
1162 </dd>
1163 <dt class="hdlist1">
1164 --recurse-submodules
1165 </dt>
1166 <dt class="hdlist1">
1167 --no-recurse-submodules
1168 </dt>
1169 <dd>
1170 <p>
1171         Using <code>--recurse-submodules</code> will update the content of all active
1172         submodules according to the commit recorded in the superproject. If
1173         local modifications in a submodule would be overwritten the checkout
1174         will fail unless <code>-f</code> is used. If nothing (or <code>--no-recurse-submodules</code>)
1175         is used, submodules working trees will not be updated.
1176         Just like <a href="git-submodule.html">git-submodule(1)</a>, this will detach <code>HEAD</code> of the
1177         submodule.
1178 </p>
1179 </dd>
1180 <dt class="hdlist1">
1181 --overlay
1182 </dt>
1183 <dt class="hdlist1">
1184 --no-overlay
1185 </dt>
1186 <dd>
1187 <p>
1188         In the default overlay mode, <code>git checkout</code> never
1189         removes files from the index or the working tree.  When
1190         specifying <code>--no-overlay</code>, files that appear in the index and
1191         working tree, but not in <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> are removed, to make them
1192         match <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code> exactly.
1193 </p>
1194 </dd>
1195 <dt class="hdlist1">
1196 --pathspec-from-file=&lt;file&gt;
1197 </dt>
1198 <dd>
1199 <p>
1200         Pathspec is passed in <code>&lt;file&gt;</code> instead of commandline args. If
1201         <code>&lt;file&gt;</code> is exactly <code>-</code> then standard input is used. Pathspec
1202         elements are separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be
1203         quoted as explained for the configuration variable <code>core.quotePath</code>
1204         (see <a href="git-config.html">git-config(1)</a>). See also <code>--pathspec-file-nul</code> and
1205         global <code>--literal-pathspecs</code>.
1206 </p>
1207 </dd>
1208 <dt class="hdlist1">
1209 --pathspec-file-nul
1210 </dt>
1211 <dd>
1212 <p>
1213         Only meaningful with <code>--pathspec-from-file</code>. Pathspec elements are
1214         separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
1215         literally (including newlines and quotes).
1216 </p>
1217 </dd>
1218 <dt class="hdlist1">
1219 &lt;branch&gt;
1220 </dt>
1221 <dd>
1222 <p>
1223         Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
1224         when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
1225         branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
1226         commit, your <code>HEAD</code> becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
1227         any branch (see below for details).
1228 </p>
1229 <div class="paragraph"><p>You can use the <code>@{-N}</code> syntax to refer to the N-th last
1230 branch/commit checked out using "git checkout" operation. You may
1231 also specify <code>-</code> which is synonymous to <code>@{-1}</code>.</p></div>
1232 <div class="paragraph"><p>As a special case, you may use <code>A...B</code> as a shortcut for the
1233 merge base of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code> if there is exactly one merge base. You can
1234 leave out at most one of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code>, in which case it defaults to <code>HEAD</code>.</p></div>
1235 </dd>
1236 <dt class="hdlist1">
1237 &lt;new-branch&gt;
1238 </dt>
1239 <dd>
1240 <p>
1241         Name for the new branch.
1242 </p>
1243 </dd>
1244 <dt class="hdlist1">
1245 &lt;start-point&gt;
1246 </dt>
1247 <dd>
1248 <p>
1249         The name of a commit at which to start the new branch; see
1250         <a href="git-branch.html">git-branch(1)</a> for details. Defaults to <code>HEAD</code>.
1251 </p>
1252 <div class="paragraph"><p>As a special case, you may use <code>"A...B"</code> as a shortcut for the
1253 merge base of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code> if there is exactly one merge base. You can
1254 leave out at most one of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code>, in which case it defaults to <code>HEAD</code>.</p></div>
1255 </dd>
1256 <dt class="hdlist1">
1257 &lt;tree-ish&gt;
1258 </dt>
1259 <dd>
1260 <p>
1261         Tree to checkout from (when paths are given). If not specified,
1262         the index will be used.
1263 </p>
1264 <div class="paragraph"><p>As a special case, you may use <code>"A...B"</code> as a shortcut for the
1265 merge base of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code> if there is exactly one merge base. You can
1266 leave out at most one of <code>A</code> and <code>B</code>, in which case it defaults to <code>HEAD</code>.</p></div>
1267 </dd>
1268 <dt class="hdlist1">
1269 --
1270 </dt>
1271 <dd>
1272 <p>
1273         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
1274 </p>
1275 </dd>
1276 <dt class="hdlist1">
1277 &lt;pathspec&gt;&#8230;
1278 </dt>
1279 <dd>
1280 <p>
1281         Limits the paths affected by the operation.
1282 </p>
1283 <div class="paragraph"><p>For more details, see the <em>pathspec</em> entry in <a href="gitglossary.html">gitglossary(7)</a>.</p></div>
1284 </dd>
1285 </dl></div>
1286 </div>
1287 </div>
1288 <div class="sect1">
1289 <h2 id="_detached_head">DETACHED HEAD</h2>
1290 <div class="sectionbody">
1291 <div class="paragraph"><p><code>HEAD</code> normally refers to a named branch (e.g. <code>master</code>). Meanwhile, each
1292 branch refers to a specific commit. Let&#8217;s look at a repo with three
1293 commits, one of them tagged, and with branch <code>master</code> checked out:</p></div>
1294 <div class="listingblock">
1295 <div class="content">
1296 <pre><code>           HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
1297             |
1298             v
1299 a---b---c  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'c')
1300     ^
1301     |
1302   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1303 </div></div>
1304 <div class="paragraph"><p>When a commit is created in this state, the branch is updated to refer to
1305 the new commit. Specifically, <em>git commit</em> creates a new commit <code>d</code>, whose
1306 parent is commit <code>c</code>, and then updates branch <code>master</code> to refer to new
1307 commit <code>d</code>. <code>HEAD</code> still refers to branch <code>master</code> and so indirectly now refers
1308 to commit <code>d</code>:</p></div>
1309 <div class="listingblock">
1310 <div class="content">
1311 <pre><code>$ edit; git add; git commit
1312
1313                HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
1314                 |
1315                 v
1316 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
1317     ^
1318     |
1319   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1320 </div></div>
1321 <div class="paragraph"><p>It is sometimes useful to be able to checkout a commit that is not at
1322 the tip of any named branch, or even to create a new commit that is not
1323 referenced by a named branch. Let&#8217;s look at what happens when we
1324 checkout commit <code>b</code> (here we show two ways this may be done):</p></div>
1325 <div class="listingblock">
1326 <div class="content">
1327 <pre><code>$ git checkout v2.0  # or
1328 $ git checkout master^^
1329
1330    HEAD (refers to commit 'b')
1331     |
1332     v
1333 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
1334     ^
1335     |
1336   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1337 </div></div>
1338 <div class="paragraph"><p>Notice that regardless of which checkout command we use, <code>HEAD</code> now refers
1339 directly to commit <code>b</code>. This is known as being in detached <code>HEAD</code> state.
1340 It means simply that <code>HEAD</code> refers to a specific commit, as opposed to
1341 referring to a named branch. Let&#8217;s see what happens when we create a commit:</p></div>
1342 <div class="listingblock">
1343 <div class="content">
1344 <pre><code>$ edit; git add; git commit
1345
1346      HEAD (refers to commit 'e')
1347       |
1348       v
1349       e
1350      /
1351 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
1352     ^
1353     |
1354   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1355 </div></div>
1356 <div class="paragraph"><p>There is now a new commit <code>e</code>, but it is referenced only by <code>HEAD</code>. We can
1357 of course add yet another commit in this state:</p></div>
1358 <div class="listingblock">
1359 <div class="content">
1360 <pre><code>$ edit; git add; git commit
1361
1362          HEAD (refers to commit 'f')
1363           |
1364           v
1365       e---f
1366      /
1367 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
1368     ^
1369     |
1370   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1371 </div></div>
1372 <div class="paragraph"><p>In fact, we can perform all the normal Git operations. But, let&#8217;s look
1373 at what happens when we then checkout <code>master</code>:</p></div>
1374 <div class="listingblock">
1375 <div class="content">
1376 <pre><code>$ git checkout master
1377
1378                HEAD (refers to branch 'master')
1379       e---f     |
1380      /          v
1381 a---b---c---d  branch 'master' (refers to commit 'd')
1382     ^
1383     |
1384   tag 'v2.0' (refers to commit 'b')</code></pre>
1385 </div></div>
1386 <div class="paragraph"><p>It is important to realize that at this point nothing refers to commit
1387 <code>f</code>. Eventually commit <code>f</code> (and by extension commit <code>e</code>) will be deleted
1388 by the routine Git garbage collection process, unless we create a reference
1389 before that happens. If we have not yet moved away from commit <code>f</code>,
1390 any of these will create a reference to it:</p></div>
1391 <div class="listingblock">
1392 <div class="content">
1393 <pre><code>$ git checkout -b foo  # or "git switch -c foo"  <b>&lt;1&gt;</b>
1394 $ git branch foo                                 <b>&lt;2&gt;</b>
1395 $ git tag foo                                    <b>&lt;3&gt;</b></code></pre>
1396 </div></div>
1397 <div class="colist arabic"><ol>
1398 <li>
1399 <p>
1400 creates a new branch <code>foo</code>, which refers to commit <code>f</code>, and then
1401     updates <code>HEAD</code> to refer to branch <code>foo</code>. In other words, we&#8217;ll no longer
1402     be in detached <code>HEAD</code> state after this command.
1403 </p>
1404 </li>
1405 <li>
1406 <p>
1407 similarly creates a new branch <code>foo</code>, which refers to commit <code>f</code>,
1408     but leaves <code>HEAD</code> detached.
1409 </p>
1410 </li>
1411 <li>
1412 <p>
1413 creates a new tag <code>foo</code>, which refers to commit <code>f</code>,
1414     leaving <code>HEAD</code> detached.
1415 </p>
1416 </li>
1417 </ol></div>
1418 <div class="paragraph"><p>If we have moved away from commit <code>f</code>, then we must first recover its object
1419 name (typically by using git reflog), and then we can create a reference to
1420 it. For example, to see the last two commits to which <code>HEAD</code> referred, we
1421 can use either of these commands:</p></div>
1422 <div class="listingblock">
1423 <div class="content">
1424 <pre><code>$ git reflog -2 HEAD # or
1425 $ git log -g -2 HEAD</code></pre>
1426 </div></div>
1427 </div>
1428 </div>
1429 <div class="sect1">
1430 <h2 id="_argument_disambiguation">ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION</h2>
1431 <div class="sectionbody">
1432 <div class="paragraph"><p>When there is only one argument given and it is not <code>--</code> (e.g. <code>git
1433 checkout abc</code>), and when the argument is both a valid <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code>
1434 (e.g. a branch <code>abc</code> exists) and a valid <code>&lt;pathspec&gt;</code> (e.g. a file
1435 or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask
1436 you to disambiguate.  Because checking out a branch is so common an
1437 operation, however, <code>git checkout abc</code> takes "abc" as a <code>&lt;tree-ish&gt;</code>
1438 in such a situation.  Use <code>git checkout -- &lt;pathspec&gt;</code> if you want
1439 to checkout these paths out of the index.</p></div>
1440 </div>
1441 </div>
1442 <div class="sect1">
1443 <h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
1444 <div class="sectionbody">
1445 <div class="sect2">
1446 <h3 id="_1_paths">1. Paths</h3>
1447 <div class="paragraph"><p>The following sequence checks out the <code>master</code> branch, reverts
1448 the <code>Makefile</code> to two revisions back, deletes <code>hello.c</code> by
1449 mistake, and gets it back from the index.</p></div>
1450 <div class="listingblock">
1451 <div class="content">
1452 <pre><code>$ git checkout master             <b>&lt;1&gt;</b>
1453 $ git checkout master~2 Makefile  <b>&lt;2&gt;</b>
1454 $ rm -f hello.c
1455 $ git checkout hello.c            <b>&lt;3&gt;</b></code></pre>
1456 </div></div>
1457 <div class="colist arabic"><ol>
1458 <li>
1459 <p>
1460 switch branch
1461 </p>
1462 </li>
1463 <li>
1464 <p>
1465 take a file out of another commit
1466 </p>
1467 </li>
1468 <li>
1469 <p>
1470 restore <code>hello.c</code> from the index
1471 </p>
1472 </li>
1473 </ol></div>
1474 <div class="paragraph"><p>If you want to check out <em>all</em> C source files out of the index,
1475 you can say</p></div>
1476 <div class="listingblock">
1477 <div class="content">
1478 <pre><code>$ git checkout -- '*.c'</code></pre>
1479 </div></div>
1480 <div class="paragraph"><p>Note the quotes around <code>*.c</code>.  The file <code>hello.c</code> will also be
1481 checked out, even though it is no longer in the working tree,
1482 because the file globbing is used to match entries in the index
1483 (not in the working tree by the shell).</p></div>
1484 <div class="paragraph"><p>If you have an unfortunate branch that is named <code>hello.c</code>, this
1485 step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch.
1486 You should instead write:</p></div>
1487 <div class="listingblock">
1488 <div class="content">
1489 <pre><code>$ git checkout -- hello.c</code></pre>
1490 </div></div>
1491 </div>
1492 <div class="sect2">
1493 <h3 id="_2_merge">2. Merge</h3>
1494 <div class="paragraph"><p>After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct
1495 branch would be done using:</p></div>
1496 <div class="listingblock">
1497 <div class="content">
1498 <pre><code>$ git checkout mytopic</code></pre>
1499 </div></div>
1500 <div class="paragraph"><p>However, your "wrong" branch and correct <code>mytopic</code> branch may
1501 differ in files that you have modified locally, in which case
1502 the above checkout would fail like this:</p></div>
1503 <div class="listingblock">
1504 <div class="content">
1505 <pre><code>$ git checkout mytopic
1506 error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.</code></pre>
1507 </div></div>
1508 <div class="paragraph"><p>You can give the <code>-m</code> flag to the command, which would try a
1509 three-way merge:</p></div>
1510 <div class="listingblock">
1511 <div class="content">
1512 <pre><code>$ git checkout -m mytopic
1513 Auto-merging frotz</code></pre>
1514 </div></div>
1515 <div class="paragraph"><p>After this three-way merge, the local modifications are <em>not</em>
1516 registered in your index file, so <code>git diff</code> would show you what
1517 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.</p></div>
1518 </div>
1519 <div class="sect2">
1520 <h3 id="_3_merge_conflict">3. Merge conflict</h3>
1521 <div class="paragraph"><p>When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with
1522 the <code>-m</code> option, you would see something like this:</p></div>
1523 <div class="listingblock">
1524 <div class="content">
1525 <pre><code>$ git checkout -m mytopic
1526 Auto-merging frotz
1527 ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz
1528 fatal: merge program failed</code></pre>
1529 </div></div>
1530 <div class="paragraph"><p>At this point, <code>git diff</code> shows the changes cleanly merged as in
1531 the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted
1532 files.  Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with
1533 <code>git add</code> as usual:</p></div>
1534 <div class="listingblock">
1535 <div class="content">
1536 <pre><code>$ edit frotz
1537 $ git add frotz</code></pre>
1538 </div></div>
1539 </div>
1540 </div>
1541 </div>
1542 <div class="sect1">
1543 <h2 id="_configuration">CONFIGURATION</h2>
1544 <div class="sectionbody">
1545 <div class="paragraph"><p>Everything below this line in this section is selectively included
1546 from the <a href="git-config.html">git-config(1)</a> documentation. The content is the same
1547 as what&#8217;s found there:</p></div>
1548 <div class="dlist"><dl>
1549 <dt class="hdlist1">
1550 checkout.defaultRemote
1551 </dt>
1552 <dd>
1553 <p>
1554         When you run <code>git checkout &lt;something&gt;</code>
1555         or <code>git switch &lt;something&gt;</code> and only have one
1556         remote, it may implicitly fall back on checking out and
1557         tracking e.g. <code>origin/&lt;something&gt;</code>. This stops working as soon
1558         as you have more than one remote with a <code>&lt;something&gt;</code>
1559         reference. This setting allows for setting the name of a
1560         preferred remote that should always win when it comes to
1561         disambiguation. The typical use-case is to set this to
1562         <code>origin</code>.
1563 </p>
1564 <div class="paragraph"><p>Currently this is used by <a href="git-switch.html">git-switch(1)</a> and
1565 <a href="git-checkout.html">git-checkout(1)</a> when <code>git checkout &lt;something&gt;</code>
1566 or <code>git switch &lt;something&gt;</code>
1567 will checkout the <code>&lt;something&gt;</code> branch on another remote,
1568 and by <a href="git-worktree.html">git-worktree(1)</a> when <code>git worktree add</code> refers to a
1569 remote branch. This setting might be used for other checkout-like
1570 commands or functionality in the future.</p></div>
1571 </dd>
1572 <dt class="hdlist1">
1573 checkout.guess
1574 </dt>
1575 <dd>
1576 <p>
1577         Provides the default value for the <code>--guess</code> or <code>--no-guess</code>
1578         option in <code>git checkout</code> and <code>git switch</code>. See
1579         <a href="git-switch.html">git-switch(1)</a> and <a href="git-checkout.html">git-checkout(1)</a>.
1580 </p>
1581 </dd>
1582 <dt class="hdlist1">
1583 checkout.workers
1584 </dt>
1585 <dd>
1586 <p>
1587         The number of parallel workers to use when updating the working tree.
1588         The default is one, i.e. sequential execution. If set to a value less
1589         than one, Git will use as many workers as the number of logical cores
1590         available. This setting and <code>checkout.thresholdForParallelism</code> affect
1591         all commands that perform checkout. E.g. checkout, clone, reset,
1592         sparse-checkout, etc.
1593 </p>
1594 <div class="paragraph"><p>Note: parallel checkout usually delivers better performance for repositories
1595 located on SSDs or over NFS. For repositories on spinning disks and/or machines
1596 with a small number of cores, the default sequential checkout often performs
1597 better. The size and compression level of a repository might also influence how
1598 well the parallel version performs.</p></div>
1599 </dd>
1600 <dt class="hdlist1">
1601 checkout.thresholdForParallelism
1602 </dt>
1603 <dd>
1604 <p>
1605         When running parallel checkout with a small number of files, the cost
1606         of subprocess spawning and inter-process communication might outweigh
1607         the parallelization gains. This setting allows to define the minimum
1608         number of files for which parallel checkout should be attempted. The
1609         default is 100.
1610 </p>
1611 </dd>
1612 </dl></div>
1613 </div>
1614 </div>
1615 <div class="sect1">
1616 <h2 id="_see_also">SEE ALSO</h2>
1617 <div class="sectionbody">
1618 <div class="paragraph"><p><a href="git-switch.html">git-switch(1)</a>,
1619 <a href="git-restore.html">git-restore(1)</a></p></div>
1620 </div>
1621 </div>
1622 <div class="sect1">
1623 <h2 id="_git">GIT</h2>
1624 <div class="sectionbody">
1625 <div class="paragraph"><p>Part of the <a href="git.html">git(1)</a> suite</p></div>
1626 </div>
1627 </div>
1628 </div>
1629 <div id="footnotes"><hr /></div>
1630 <div id="footer">
1631 <div id="footer-text">
1632 Last updated
1633  2023-04-27 16:21:11 PDT
1634 </div>
1635 </div>
1636 </body>
1637 </html>