| blob | 09e4d5436e5cd5d1baa49b41840887f9ccce781e |
1 '\" t
2 .\" Title: git-cat-file
3 .\" Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
4 .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets vsnapshot <http://docbook.sf.net/>
5 .\" Date: 05/20/2022
6 .\" Manual: Git Manual
7 .\" Source: Git 2.36.1.153.gf9b95943b6
8 .\" Language: English
9 .\"
10 .TH "GIT\-CAT\-FILE" "1" "05/20/2022" "Git 2\&.36\&.1\&.153\&.gf9b959" "Git Manual"
11 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
12 .\" * Define some portability stuff
13 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
14 .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
16 .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
17 .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
18 .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
19 .el .ds Aq '
20 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
21 .\" * set default formatting
22 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
23 .\" disable hyphenation
24 .nh
25 .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
26 .ad l
27 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
28 .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
29 .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
30 .SH "NAME"
31 git-cat-file \- Provide content or type and size information for repository objects
32 .SH "SYNOPSIS"
33 .sp
34 .nf
35 \fIgit cat\-file\fR <type> <object>
36 \fIgit cat\-file\fR (\-e | \-p) <object>
37 \fIgit cat\-file\fR (\-t | \-s) [\-\-allow\-unknown\-type] <object>
38 \fIgit cat\-file\fR (\-\-batch | \-\-batch\-check | \-\-batch\-command) [\-\-batch\-all\-objects]
39 [\-\-buffer] [\-\-follow\-symlinks] [\-\-unordered]
40 [\-\-textconv | \-\-filters]
41 \fIgit cat\-file\fR (\-\-textconv | \-\-filters)
42 [<rev>:<path|tree\-ish> | \-\-path=<path|tree\-ish> <rev>]
43 .fi
44 .sp
45 .SH "DESCRIPTION"
46 .sp
47 In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in the repository\&. The type is required unless \fB\-t\fR or \fB\-p\fR is used to find the object type, or \fB\-s\fR is used to find the object size, or \fB\-\-textconv\fR or \fB\-\-filters\fR is used (which imply type "blob")\&.
48 .sp
49 In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is provided on stdin, and the SHA\-1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout\&. The output format can be overridden using the optional \fB<format>\fR argument\&. If either \fB\-\-textconv\fR or \fB\-\-filters\fR was specified, the input is expected to list the object names followed by the path name, separated by a single whitespace, so that the appropriate drivers can be determined\&.
50 .SH "OPTIONS"
51 .PP
52 <object>
53 .RS 4
54 The name of the object to show\&. For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in
55 \fBgitrevisions\fR(7)\&.
56 .RE
57 .PP
58 \-t
59 .RS 4
60 Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
61 \fB<object>\fR\&.
62 .RE
63 .PP
64 \-s
65 .RS 4
66 Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
67 \fB<object>\fR\&.
68 .RE
69 .PP
70 \-e
71 .RS 4
72 Exit with zero status if
73 \fB<object>\fR
74 exists and is a valid object\&. If
75 \fB<object>\fR
76 is of an invalid format exit with non\-zero and emits an error on stderr\&.
77 .RE
78 .PP
79 \-p
80 .RS 4
81 Pretty\-print the contents of
82 \fB<object>\fR
83 based on its type\&.
84 .RE
85 .PP
86 <type>
87 .RS 4
88 Typically this matches the real type of
89 \fB<object>\fR
90 but asking for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
91 \fB<object>\fR
92 is also permitted\&. An example is to ask for a "tree" with
93 \fB<object>\fR
94 being a commit object that contains it, or to ask for a "blob" with
95 \fB<object>\fR
96 being a tag object that points at it\&.
97 .RE
98 .PP
99 \-\-textconv
100 .RS 4
101 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter\&. In this case,
102 \fB<object>\fR
103 has to be of the form
104 \fB<tree\-ish>:<path>\fR, or
105 \fB:<path>\fR
106 in order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at
107 \fB<path>\fR\&.
108 .RE
109 .PP
110 \-\-filters
111 .RS 4
112 Show the content as converted by the filters configured in the current working tree for the given
113 \fB<path>\fR
114 (i\&.e\&. smudge filters, end\-of\-line conversion, etc)\&. In this case,
115 \fB<object>\fR
116 has to be of the form
117 \fB<tree\-ish>:<path>\fR, or
118 \fB:<path>\fR\&.
119 .RE
120 .PP
121 \-\-path=<path>
122 .RS 4
123 For use with
124 \fB\-\-textconv\fR
125 or
126 \fB\-\-filters\fR, to allow specifying an object name and a path separately, e\&.g\&. when it is difficult to figure out the revision from which the blob came\&.
127 .RE
128 .PP
129 \-\-batch, \-\-batch=<format>
130 .RS 4
131 Print object information and contents for each object provided on stdin\&. May not be combined with any other options or arguments except
132 \fB\-\-textconv\fR
133 or
134 \fB\-\-filters\fR, in which case the input lines also need to specify the path, separated by whitespace\&. See the section
135 \fBBATCH OUTPUT\fR
136 below for details\&.
137 .RE
138 .PP
139 \-\-batch\-check, \-\-batch\-check=<format>
140 .RS 4
141 Print object information for each object provided on stdin\&. May not be combined with any other options or arguments except
142 \fB\-\-textconv\fR
143 or
144 \fB\-\-filters\fR, in which case the input lines also need to specify the path, separated by whitespace\&. See the section
145 \fBBATCH OUTPUT\fR
146 below for details\&.
147 .RE
148 .PP
149 \-\-batch\-command, \-\-batch\-command=<format>
150 .RS 4
151 Enter a command mode that reads commands and arguments from stdin\&. May only be combined with
152 \fB\-\-buffer\fR,
153 \fB\-\-textconv\fR
154 or
155 \fB\-\-filters\fR\&. In the case of
156 \fB\-\-textconv\fR
157 or
158 \fB\-\-filters\fR, the input lines also need to specify the path, separated by whitespace\&. See the section
159 \fBBATCH OUTPUT\fR
160 below for details\&.
161 .sp
162 \fB\-\-batch\-command\fR
163 recognizes the following commands:
164 .PP
165 contents <object>
166 .RS 4
167 Print object contents for object reference
168 \fB<object>\fR\&. This corresponds to the output of
169 \fB\-\-batch\fR\&.
170 .RE
171 .PP
172 info <object>
173 .RS 4
174 Print object info for object reference
175 \fB<object>\fR\&. This corresponds to the output of
176 \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR\&.
177 .RE
178 .PP
179 flush
180 .RS 4
181 Used with
182 \fB\-\-buffer\fR
183 to execute all preceding commands that were issued since the beginning or since the last flush was issued\&. When
184 \fB\-\-buffer\fR
185 is used, no output will come until a
186 \fBflush\fR
187 is issued\&. When
188 \fB\-\-buffer\fR
189 is not used, commands are flushed each time without issuing
190 \fBflush\fR\&.
191 .RE
192 .RE
193 .PP
194 \-\-batch\-all\-objects
195 .RS 4
196 Instead of reading a list of objects on stdin, perform the requested batch operation on all objects in the repository and any alternate object stores (not just reachable objects)\&. Requires
197 \fB\-\-batch\fR
198 or
199 \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR
200 be specified\&. By default, the objects are visited in order sorted by their hashes; see also
201 \fB\-\-unordered\fR
202 below\&. Objects are presented as\-is, without respecting the "replace" mechanism of
203 \fBgit-replace\fR(1)\&.
204 .RE
205 .PP
206 \-\-buffer
207 .RS 4
208 Normally batch output is flushed after each object is output, so that a process can interactively read and write from
209 \fBcat\-file\fR\&. With this option, the output uses normal stdio buffering; this is much more efficient when invoking
210 \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR
211 or
212 \fB\-\-batch\-command\fR
213 on a large number of objects\&.
214 .RE
215 .PP
216 \-\-unordered
217 .RS 4
218 When
219 \fB\-\-batch\-all\-objects\fR
220 is in use, visit objects in an order which may be more efficient for accessing the object contents than hash order\&. The exact details of the order are unspecified, but if you do not require a specific order, this should generally result in faster output, especially with
221 \fB\-\-batch\fR\&. Note that
222 \fBcat\-file\fR
223 will still show each object only once, even if it is stored multiple times in the repository\&.
224 .RE
225 .PP
226 \-\-allow\-unknown\-type
227 .RS 4
228 Allow
229 \fB\-s\fR
230 or
231 \fB\-t\fR
232 to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type\&.
233 .RE
234 .PP
235 \-\-follow\-symlinks
236 .RS 4
237 With
238 \fB\-\-batch\fR
239 or
240 \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR, follow symlinks inside the repository when requesting objects with extended SHA\-1 expressions of the form tree\-ish:path\-in\-tree\&. Instead of providing output about the link itself, provide output about the linked\-to object\&. If a symlink points outside the tree\-ish (e\&.g\&. a link to
241 \fB/foo\fR
242 or a root\-level link to
243 \fB\&.\&./foo\fR), the portion of the link which is outside the tree will be printed\&.
244 .sp
245 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the index is specified (e\&.g\&.
246 \fB:link\fR
247 instead of
248 \fBHEAD:link\fR) rather than one in the tree\&.
249 .sp
250 This option cannot (currently) be used unless
251 \fB\-\-batch\fR
252 or
253 \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR
254 is used\&.
255 .sp
256 For example, consider a git repository containing:
257 .sp
258 .if n \{\
259 .RS 4
260 .\}
261 .nf
262 f: a file containing "hello\en"
263 link: a symlink to f
264 dir/link: a symlink to \&.\&./f
265 plink: a symlink to \&.\&./f
266 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
267 .fi
268 .if n \{\
269 .RE
270 .\}
271 .sp
272 For a regular file
273 \fBf\fR,
274 \fBecho HEAD:f | git cat\-file \-\-batch\fR
275 would print
276 .sp
277 .if n \{\
278 .RS 4
279 .\}
280 .nf
281 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
282 .fi
283 .if n \{\
284 .RE
285 .\}
286 .sp
287 And
288 \fBecho HEAD:link | git cat\-file \-\-batch \-\-follow\-symlinks\fR
289 would print the same thing, as would
290 \fBHEAD:dir/link\fR, as they both point at
291 \fBHEAD:f\fR\&.
292 .sp
293 Without
294 \fB\-\-follow\-symlinks\fR, these would print data about the symlink itself\&. In the case of
295 \fBHEAD:link\fR, you would see
296 .sp
297 .if n \{\
298 .RS 4
299 .\}
300 .nf
301 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
302 .fi
303 .if n \{\
304 .RE
305 .\}
306 .sp
307 Both
308 \fBplink\fR
309 and
310 \fBalink\fR
311 point outside the tree, so they would respectively print:
312 .sp
313 .if n \{\
314 .RS 4
315 .\}
316 .nf
317 symlink 4
318 \&.\&./f
319 .fi
320 .if n \{\
321 .RE
322 .\}
323 .sp
324 .if n \{\
325 .RS 4
326 .\}
327 .nf
328 symlink 11
329 /etc/passwd
330 .fi
331 .if n \{\
332 .RE
333 .\}
334 .RE
335 .SH "OUTPUT"
336 .sp
337 If \fB\-t\fR is specified, one of the \fB<type>\fR\&.
338 .sp
339 If \fB\-s\fR is specified, the size of the \fB<object>\fR in bytes\&.
340 .sp
341 If \fB\-e\fR is specified, no output, unless the \fB<object>\fR is malformed\&.
342 .sp
343 If \fB\-p\fR is specified, the contents of \fB<object>\fR are pretty\-printed\&.
344 .sp
345 If \fB<type>\fR is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the \fB<object>\fR will be returned\&.
346 .SH "BATCH OUTPUT"
347 .sp
348 If \fB\-\-batch\fR or \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR is given, \fBcat\-file\fR will read objects from stdin, one per line, and print information about them\&. By default, the whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to \fBgit-rev-parse\fR(1)\&.
349 .sp
350 When \fB\-\-batch\-command\fR is given, \fBcat\-file\fR will read commands from stdin, one per line, and print information based on the command given\&. With \fB\-\-batch\-command\fR, the \fBinfo\fR command followed by an object will print information about the object the same way \fB\-\-batch\-check\fR would, and the \fBcontents\fR command followed by an object prints contents in the same way \fB\-\-batch\fR would\&.
351 .sp
352 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom \fB<format>\fR\&. The \fB<format>\fR is copied literally to stdout for each object, with placeholders of the form \fB%(atom)\fR expanded, followed by a newline\&. The available atoms are:
353 .PP
354 \fBobjectname\fR
355 .RS 4
356 The full hex representation of the object name\&.
357 .RE
358 .PP
359 \fBobjecttype\fR
360 .RS 4
361 The type of the object (the same as
362 \fBcat\-file \-t\fR
363 reports)\&.
364 .RE
365 .PP
366 \fBobjectsize\fR
367 .RS 4
368 The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as
369 \fBcat\-file \-s\fR
370 reports)\&.
371 .RE
372 .PP
373 \fBobjectsize:disk\fR
374 .RS 4
375 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk\&. See the note about on\-disk sizes in the
376 \fBCAVEATS\fR
377 section below\&.
378 .RE
379 .PP
380 \fBdeltabase\fR
381 .RS 4
382 If the object is stored as a delta on\-disk, this expands to the full hex representation of the delta base object name\&. Otherwise, expands to the null OID (all zeroes)\&. See
383 \fBCAVEATS\fR
384 below\&.
385 .RE
386 .PP
387 \fBrest\fR
388 .RS 4
389 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split at the first whitespace boundary\&. All characters before that whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters after that first run of whitespace (i\&.e\&., the "rest" of the line) are output in place of the
390 \fB%(rest)\fR
391 atom\&.
392 .RE
393 .sp
394 If no format is specified, the default format is \fB%(objectname) %(objecttype) %(objectsize)\fR\&.
395 .sp
396 If \fB\-\-batch\fR is specified, or if \fB\-\-batch\-command\fR is used with the \fBcontents\fR command, the object information is followed by the object contents (consisting of \fB%(objectsize)\fR bytes), followed by a newline\&.
397 .sp
398 For example, \fB\-\-batch\fR without a custom format would produce:
399 .sp
400 .if n \{\
401 .RS 4
402 .\}
403 .nf
404 <oid> SP <type> SP <size> LF
405 <contents> LF
406 .fi
407 .if n \{\
408 .RE
409 .\}
410 .sp
411 .sp
412 Whereas \fB\-\-batch\-check=\(aq%(objectname) %(objecttype)\(aq\fR would produce:
413 .sp
414 .if n \{\
415 .RS 4
416 .\}
417 .nf
418 <oid> SP <type> LF
419 .fi
420 .if n \{\
421 .RE
422 .\}
423 .sp
424 .sp
425 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in the repository, then \fBcat\-file\fR will ignore any custom format and print:
426 .sp
427 .if n \{\
428 .RS 4
429 .\}
430 .nf
431 <object> SP missing LF
432 .fi
433 .if n \{\
434 .RE
435 .\}
436 .sp
437 .sp
438 If a name is specified that might refer to more than one object (an ambiguous short sha), then \fBcat\-file\fR will ignore any custom format and print:
439 .sp
440 .if n \{\
441 .RS 4
442 .\}
443 .nf
444 <object> SP ambiguous LF
445 .fi
446 .if n \{\
447 .RE
448 .\}
449 .sp
450 .sp
451 If \fB\-\-follow\-symlinks\fR is used, and a symlink in the repository points outside the repository, then \fBcat\-file\fR will ignore any custom format and print:
452 .sp
453 .if n \{\
454 .RS 4
455 .\}
456 .nf
457 symlink SP <size> LF
458 <symlink> LF
459 .fi
460 .if n \{\
461 .RE
462 .\}
463 .sp
464 .sp
465 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a \fB/\fR), or relative to the tree root\&. For instance, if dir/link points to \fB\&.\&./\&.\&./foo\fR, then \fB<symlink>\fR will be \fB\&.\&./foo\fR\&. \fB<size>\fR is the size of the symlink in bytes\&.
466 .sp
467 If \fB\-\-follow\-symlinks\fR is used, the following error messages will be displayed:
468 .sp
469 .if n \{\
470 .RS 4
471 .\}
472 .nf
473 <object> SP missing LF
474 .fi
475 .if n \{\
476 .RE
477 .\}
478 .sp
479 .sp
480 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist\&.
481 .sp
482 .if n \{\
483 .RS 4
484 .\}
485 .nf
486 dangling SP <size> LF
487 <object> LF
488 .fi
489 .if n \{\
490 .RE
491 .\}
492 .sp
493 .sp
494 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that it (transitive\-of) points to does not\&.
495 .sp
496 .if n \{\
497 .RS 4
498 .\}
499 .nf
500 loop SP <size> LF
501 <object> LF
502 .fi
503 .if n \{\
504 .RE
505 .\}
506 .sp
507 .sp
508 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that require more than 40 link resolutions to resolve)\&.
509 .sp
510 .if n \{\
511 .RS 4
512 .\}
513 .nf
514 notdir SP <size> LF
515 <object> LF
516 .fi
517 .if n \{\
518 .RE
519 .\}
520 .sp
521 .sp
522 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a directory name\&.
523 .SH "CAVEATS"
524 .sp
525 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are responsible for disk usage\&. The size of a packed non\-delta object may be much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary and is subject to change during a repack\&.
526 .sp
527 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object database; in this case, it is undefined which copy\(cqs size or delta base will be reported\&.
528 .SH "GIT"
529 .sp
530 Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite