table of contents
other versions
- jessie 1:2.1.4-2.1+deb8u6
- jessie-backports 1:2.11.0-3~bpo8+1
- stretch 1:2.11.0-3+deb9u4
- testing 1:2.20.1-2
- stretch-backports 1:2.20.1-1~bpo9+1
- unstable 1:2.20.1-2
- experimental 1:2.21.0+next.20190320-1
GIT-CAT-FILE(1) | Git Manual | GIT-CAT-FILE(1) |
NAME¶
git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for repository objectsSYNOPSIS¶
git cat-file (-t [--allow-unknown-type]| -s [--allow-unknown-type]| -e | -p | <type> | --textconv | --filters ) [--path=<path>] <object> git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check) [ --textconv | --filters ] [--follow-symlinks]
DESCRIPTION¶
In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in the repository. The type is required unless -t or -p is used to find the object type, or -s is used to find the object size, or --textconv or --filters is used (which imply type "blob"). 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 <format> argument. If either --textconv or --filters was specified, the input is expected to list the object names followed by the path name, separated by a single white space, so that the appropriate drivers can be determined.OPTIONS¶
<object>The name of the object to show. For a more complete list
of ways to spell object names, see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS"
section in gitrevisions(7).
-t
Instead of the content, show the object type identified
by <object>.
-s
Instead of the content, show the object size identified
by <object>.
-e
Suppress all output; instead exit with zero status if
<object> exists and is a valid object.
-p
Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its
type.
<type>
Typically this matches the real type of <object>
but asking for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
<object> is also permitted. An example is to ask for a "tree"
with <object> being a commit object that contains it, or to ask for a
"blob" with <object> being a tag object that points at
it.
--textconv
Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In
this case, <object> has to be of the form <tree-ish>:<path>,
or :<path> in order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the
index at <path>.
--filters
Show the content as converted by the filters configured
in the current working tree for the given <path> (i.e. smudge filters,
end-of-line conversion, etc). In this case, <object> has to be of the
form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path>.
--path=<path>
For use with --textconv or --filters, 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.
--batch, --batch=<format>
Print object information and contents for each object
provided on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments
except --textconv or --filters, in which case the input lines
also need to specify the path, separated by white space. See the section
BATCH OUTPUT below for details.
--batch-check, --batch-check=<format>
Print object information for each object provided on
stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments except
--textconv or --filters, in which case the input lines also need
to specify the path, separated by white space. See the section BATCH
OUTPUT below for details.
--batch-all-objects
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 --batch
or --batch-check be specified. Note that the objects are visited in
order sorted by their hashes.
--buffer
Normally batch output is flushed after each object is
output, so that a process can interactively read and write from
cat-file. With this option, the output uses normal stdio buffering;
this is much more efficient when invoking --batch-check on a large
number of objects.
--allow-unknown-type
Allow -s or -t to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown
type.
--follow-symlinks
With --batch or --batch-check, 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 /foo or a root-level link to ../foo), the portion of
the link which is outside the tree will be printed.
This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the index is
specified (e.g. :link instead of HEAD:link) rather than one in
the tree.
This option cannot (currently) be used unless --batch or
--batch-check is used.
For example, consider a git repository containing:
For a regular file f, echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch would
print
And echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks would print
the same thing, as would HEAD:dir/link, as they both point at
HEAD:f.
Without --follow-symlinks, these would print data about the symlink
itself. In the case of HEAD:link, you would see
Both plink and alink point outside the tree, so they would
respectively print:
f: a file containing "hello\n" link: a symlink to f dir/link: a symlink to ../f plink: a symlink to ../f alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
symlink 4 ../f
symlink 11 /etc/passwd
OUTPUT¶
If -t is specified, one of the <type>. If -s is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes. If -e is specified, no output. If -p is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed. If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object> will be returned.BATCH OUTPUT¶
If --batch or --batch-check is given, cat-file 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 git-rev-parse(1). You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom <format>. The <format> is copied literally to stdout for each object, with placeholders of the form %(atom) expanded, followed by a newline. The available atoms are: objectnameThe 40-hex object name of the object.
objecttype
The type of of the object (the same as cat-file -t
reports).
objectsize
The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as
cat-file -s reports).
objectsize:disk
The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See
the note about on-disk sizes in the CAVEATS section below.
deltabase
If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands
to the 40-hex sha1 of the delta base object. Otherwise, expands to the null
sha1 (40 zeroes). See CAVEATS below.
rest
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 %(rest) atom.
If no format is specified, the default format is %(objectname) %(objecttype)
%(objectsize).
If --batch is specified, the object information is followed by the object
contents (consisting of %(objectsize) bytes), followed by a newline.
For example, --batch without a custom format would produce:
<sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF <contents> LF
<sha1> SP <type> LF
<object> SP missing LF
symlink SP <size> LF <symlink> LF
<object> SP missing LF
dangling SP <size> LF <object> LF
loop SP <size> LF <object> LF
notdir SP <size> LF <object> LF
CAVEATS¶
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. Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object database; in this case, it is undefined which copy’s size or delta base will be reported.GIT¶
Part of the git(1) suite05/15/2017 | Git 2.11.0 |