From: "Julia Evans via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail•com>
To: git@vger•kernel.org
Cc: "D. Ben Knoble" <ben.knoble@gmail•com>,
Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>, Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
Subject: [PATCH v3 1/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro
Date: Wed, 03 Sep 2025 16:49:57 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <1975384dd04c376fcdf74c9f4217b81aec64e8cf.1756918202.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <pull.1962.v3.git.1756918202.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
- Reduce use of jargon ("index", "pathspec", "tree") by using an
example, and by mirroring the "switch" and "restore" language from the
first line of the man page.
- Reference and clarify the ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION section, as well
as fixing a small error (in "`git checkout abc`, `abc` is a commit,
not a `_<tree-ish>_`)
Signed-off-by: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
---
Documentation/git-checkout.adoc | 30 ++++++++++++++++++------------
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 12 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc b/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc
index 40e02cfd65..218d3dd13d 100644
--- a/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc
+++ b/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc
@@ -20,10 +20,12 @@ git checkout (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Updates files in the working tree to match the version in the index
-or the specified tree. If no pathspec was given, `git checkout` will
-also update `HEAD` to set the specified branch as the current
-branch.
+`git checkout` has two main modes: it can
+**switch branches**, for example with `git checkout <branch>`, and
+**restore files from a different version**, 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
@@ -511,14 +513,18 @@ $ 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
--------
--
gitgitgadget
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-09-03 16:50 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 68+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2025-08-25 19:08 [PATCH 0/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-25 19:08 ` [PATCH 1/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-26 18:46 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-26 18:51 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-26 20:56 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-28 14:00 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-28 22:34 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-28 23:44 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-29 13:39 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-29 21:00 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-03 23:48 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-25 19:08 ` [PATCH 2/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify `git checkout <branch>` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-26 21:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-28 12:11 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-28 15:45 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-28 18:24 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-25 19:08 ` [PATCH 3/5] doc: git-checkout: don't use "reset" Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-25 19:08 ` [PATCH 4/5] doc: git-checkout: deduplicate --detach explanation Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-25 19:08 ` [PATCH 5/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify restoring files section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-26 22:43 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-28 13:26 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-28 19:08 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-28 19:59 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-28 20:38 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-29 13:48 ` D. Ben Knoble
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 0/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 1/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 15:58 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-02 17:14 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 2/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify `git checkout <branch>` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 16:03 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-02 17:16 ` Julia Evans
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 3/5] doc: git-checkout: don't use "reset" Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 16:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-01 14:28 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-02 16:10 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 4/5] doc: git-checkout: deduplicate --detach explanation Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-08-29 11:45 ` [PATCH v2 5/5] doc: git-checkout: clarify restoring files section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:49 ` [PATCH v3 0/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify DESCRIPTION section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:49 ` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget [this message]
2025-09-03 16:49 ` [PATCH v3 2/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify `git checkout <branch>` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:49 ` [PATCH v3 3/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify `-b` and `-B` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:50 ` [PATCH v3 4/6] doc: git-checkout: deduplicate --detach explanation Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:50 ` [PATCH v3 5/6] doc: git-checkout: split up restoring files section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 16:50 ` [PATCH v3 6/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-03 21:29 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-03 21:09 ` [PATCH v3 0/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify DESCRIPTION section Junio C Hamano
2025-09-03 21:28 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 0/7] " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 1/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro sentence Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 2/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 3/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify `git checkout <branch>` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 4/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify `-b` and `-B` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-29 18:07 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2025-10-02 18:37 ` [PATCH] doc: git-checkout: fix placeholder markup kristofferhaugsbakk
2025-10-16 22:11 ` [PATCH resend] " kristofferhaugsbakk
2025-10-17 13:56 ` Julia Evans
2025-10-17 15:50 ` [PATCH v2] " kristofferhaugsbakk
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 5/7] doc: git-checkout: deduplicate --detach explanation Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 6/7] doc: git-checkout: split up restoring files section Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-10 19:14 ` [PATCH v4 7/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify " Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
2025-09-11 13:01 ` [PATCH v4 0/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify DESCRIPTION section Ben Knoble
2025-09-12 14:05 ` Julia Evans
2025-09-12 14:26 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2025-09-15 23:22 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-16 6:41 ` Kristoffer Haugsbakk
2025-09-12 16:23 ` Junio C Hamano
2025-09-17 18:38 ` Junio C Hamano
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