6 git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for repository objects
12 'git cat-file' (-t [--allow-unknown-type]| -s [--allow-unknown-type]| -e | -p | <type> | --textconv ) <object>
13 'git cat-file' (--batch | --batch-check) [--follow-symlinks] < <list-of-objects>
17 In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in
18 the repository. The type is required unless '-t' or '-p' is used to find the
19 object type, or '-s' is used to find the object size, or '--textconv' is used
20 (which implies type "blob").
22 In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is provided on
23 stdin, and the SHA-1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout.
28 The name of the object to show.
29 For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
30 the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
33 Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
37 Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
41 Suppress all output; instead exit with zero status if <object>
42 exists and is a valid object.
45 Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
48 Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking
49 for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
50 <object> is also permitted. An example is to ask for a
51 "tree" with <object> being a commit object that contains it,
52 or to ask for a "blob" with <object> being a tag object that
56 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
57 <object> has be of the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path> in order
58 to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at <path>.
62 Print object information and contents for each object provided
63 on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments.
64 See the section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
67 --batch-check=<format>::
68 Print object information for each object provided on stdin. May
69 not be combined with any other options or arguments. See the
70 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
72 --allow-unknown-type::
73 Allow -s or -t to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type.
76 With --batch or --batch-check, follow symlinks inside the
77 repository when requesting objects with extended SHA-1
78 expressions of the form tree-ish:path-in-tree. Instead of
79 providing output about the link itself, provide output about
80 the linked-to object. If a symlink points outside the
81 tree-ish (e.g. a link to /foo or a root-level link to ../foo),
82 the portion of the link which is outside the tree will be
85 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the
86 index is specified (e.g. `:link` instead of `HEAD:link`) rather than
89 This option cannot (currently) be used unless `--batch` or
90 `--batch-check` is used.
92 For example, consider a git repository containing:
95 f: a file containing "hello\n"
97 dir/link: a symlink to ../f
98 plink: a symlink to ../f
99 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
102 For a regular file `f`, `echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch` would print
105 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
108 And `echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks` would
109 print the same thing, as would `HEAD:dir/link`, as they both point at
112 Without `--follow-symlinks`, these would print data about the symlink
113 itself. In the case of `HEAD:link`, you would see
116 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
119 Both `plink` and `alink` point outside the tree, so they would
133 If '-t' is specified, one of the <type>.
135 If '-s' is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
137 If '-e' is specified, no output.
139 If '-p' is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
141 If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object>
147 If `--batch` or `--batch-check` is given, `cat-file` will read objects
148 from stdin, one per line, and print information about them. By default,
149 the whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to
150 linkgit:git-rev-parse[1].
152 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom
153 `<format>`. The `<format>` is copied literally to stdout for each
154 object, with placeholders of the form `%(atom)` expanded, followed by a
155 newline. The available atoms are:
158 The 40-hex object name of the object.
161 The type of of the object (the same as `cat-file -t` reports).
164 The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as `cat-file -s`
168 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See the
169 note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
172 If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands to the
173 40-hex sha1 of the delta base object. Otherwise, expands to the
174 null sha1 (40 zeroes). See `CAVEATS` below.
177 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split
178 at the first whitespace boundary. All characters before that
179 whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters
180 after that first run of whitespace (i.e., the "rest" of the
181 line) are output in place of the `%(rest)` atom.
183 If no format is specified, the default format is `%(objectname)
184 %(objecttype) %(objectsize)`.
186 If `--batch` is specified, the object information is followed by the
187 object contents (consisting of `%(objectsize)` bytes), followed by a
190 For example, `--batch` without a custom format would produce:
193 <sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF
197 Whereas `--batch-check='%(objectname) %(objecttype)'` would produce:
203 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in
204 the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format and print:
207 <object> SP missing LF
210 If --follow-symlinks is used, and a symlink in the repository points
211 outside the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format
219 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a /), or relative
220 to the tree root. For instance, if dir/link points to ../../foo, then
221 <symlink> will be ../foo. <size> is the size of the symlink in bytes.
223 If --follow-symlinks is used, the following error messages will be
227 <object> SP missing LF
229 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist.
232 dangling SP <size> LF
235 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that
236 it (transitive-of) points to does not.
242 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that
243 require more than 40 link resolutions to resolve).
249 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a
255 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
256 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
257 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
258 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
259 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
260 and is subject to change during a repack.
262 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
263 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
268 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite