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 v4 1/7] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro sentence
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2025 19:14:23 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <4b52ffd4970d8a33065cc8dcd915623acf716b5a.1757531669.git.gitgitgadget@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <pull.1962.v4.git.1757531669.gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
From: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
From user feedback: in the first paragraph, 5 users reported not
understanding the terms "pathspec" and 1 user reported not understanding
the term "HEAD". Of the users who said they didn't know what "pathspec"
means, 3 said they couldn't understand what the paragraph was trying to
communicate as a result.
One user also commented that "If no pathspec was given..." makes
`git checkout <branch>` sounds like a special edge case, instead of
being one of the most common ways to use this core Git command.
It looks like the goal of this paragraph is to communicate that `git
checkout` has two different modes: one where you switch branches and one
where you just update your working directory files/index. So say that
directly, and use more familiar language (including examples) to say it.
Signed-off-by: Julia Evans <julia@jvns•ca>
---
Documentation/git-checkout.adoc | 10 ++++++----
1 file changed, 6 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc b/Documentation/git-checkout.adoc
index 40e02cfd65..9733c73450 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:
+
+1. **Switch branches**, with `git checkout <branch>`
+2. **Restore a different version of a file**, for example with
+ `git checkout <commit> <filename>` or `git checkout <filename>`
`git checkout [<branch>]`::
To prepare for working on _<branch>_, switch to it by updating
--
gitgitgadget
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2025-09-10 19:14 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 ` [PATCH v3 1/6] doc: git-checkout: clarify intro Julia Evans via GitGitGadget
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 ` Julia Evans via GitGitGadget [this message]
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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