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| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-checkout.adoc | 22 |
1 files changed, 14 insertions, 8 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc b/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc index e0910bb59d..c4fa555f94 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc +++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc @@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ DESCRIPTION 2. **Restore a different version of a file**, for example with `git checkout <commit> <filename>` or `git checkout <filename>` +See ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION below for how Git decides which one to do. + `git checkout [<branch>]`:: To prepare for working on _<branch>_, switch to it by updating the index and the files in the working tree, and by pointing @@ -513,14 +515,18 @@ $ git log -g -2 HEAD ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION ----------------------- -When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. `git -checkout abc`), and when the argument is both a valid _<tree-ish>_ -(e.g. a branch `abc` exists) and a valid _<pathspec>_ (e.g. a file -or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask -you to disambiguate. Because checking out a branch is so common an -operation, however, `git checkout abc` takes "abc" as a _<tree-ish>_ -in such a situation. Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want -to checkout these paths out of the index. +When you run `git checkout <something>`, Git tries to guess whether +`<something>` is intended to be a branch, a commit, or a set of file(s), +and then either switches to that branch or commit, or restores the +specified files. + +If there's any ambiguity, Git will treat `<something>` as a branch or +commit, but you can use the double dash `--` to force Git to treat the +parameter as a list of files and/or directories, like this: + +---------- +git checkout -- file.txt +---------- EXAMPLES -------- |