6 git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for repository objects
12 'git cat-file' (-t [--allow-unknown-type]| -s [--allow-unknown-type]| -e | -p | <type> | --textconv | --filters ) [--path=<path>] <object>
13 'git cat-file' (--batch | --batch-check) [ --textconv | --filters ] [--follow-symlinks]
17 In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in
18 the repository. The type is required unless `-t` or `-p` is used to find the
19 object type, or `-s` is used to find the object size, or `--textconv` or
20 `--filters` is used (which imply type "blob").
22 In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is provided on
23 stdin, and the SHA-1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout. The
24 output format can be overridden using the optional `<format>` argument. If
25 either `--textconv` or `--filters` was specified, the input is expected to
26 list the object names followed by the path name, separated by a single white
27 space, so that the appropriate drivers can be determined.
32 The name of the object to show.
33 For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see
34 the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in linkgit:gitrevisions[7].
37 Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
41 Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
45 Suppress all output; instead exit with zero status if <object>
46 exists and is a valid object.
49 Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
52 Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking
53 for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
54 <object> is also permitted. An example is to ask for a
55 "tree" with <object> being a commit object that contains it,
56 or to ask for a "blob" with <object> being a tag object that
60 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
61 <object> has to be of the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path> in
62 order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at
66 Show the content as converted by the filters configured in
67 the current working tree for the given <path> (i.e. smudge filters,
68 end-of-line conversion, etc). In this case, <object> has to be of
69 the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path>.
72 For use with --textconv or --filters, to allow specifying an object
73 name and a path separately, e.g. when it is difficult to figure out
74 the revision from which the blob came.
78 Print object information and contents for each object provided
79 on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments
80 except `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines
81 also need to specify the path, separated by white space. See the
82 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
85 --batch-check=<format>::
86 Print object information for each object provided on stdin. May
87 not be combined with any other options or arguments except
88 `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines also
89 need to specify the path, separated by white space. See the
90 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
93 Instead of reading a list of objects on stdin, perform the
94 requested batch operation on all objects in the repository and
95 any alternate object stores (not just reachable objects).
96 Requires `--batch` or `--batch-check` be specified. Note that
97 the objects are visited in order sorted by their hashes.
100 Normally batch output is flushed after each object is output, so
101 that a process can interactively read and write from
102 `cat-file`. With this option, the output uses normal stdio
103 buffering; this is much more efficient when invoking
104 `--batch-check` on a large number of objects.
106 --allow-unknown-type::
107 Allow -s or -t to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type.
110 With --batch or --batch-check, follow symlinks inside the
111 repository when requesting objects with extended SHA-1
112 expressions of the form tree-ish:path-in-tree. Instead of
113 providing output about the link itself, provide output about
114 the linked-to object. If a symlink points outside the
115 tree-ish (e.g. a link to /foo or a root-level link to ../foo),
116 the portion of the link which is outside the tree will be
119 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the
120 index is specified (e.g. `:link` instead of `HEAD:link`) rather than
123 This option cannot (currently) be used unless `--batch` or
124 `--batch-check` is used.
126 For example, consider a git repository containing:
129 f: a file containing "hello\n"
131 dir/link: a symlink to ../f
132 plink: a symlink to ../f
133 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
136 For a regular file `f`, `echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch` would print
139 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
142 And `echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks` would
143 print the same thing, as would `HEAD:dir/link`, as they both point at
146 Without `--follow-symlinks`, these would print data about the symlink
147 itself. In the case of `HEAD:link`, you would see
150 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
153 Both `plink` and `alink` point outside the tree, so they would
167 If `-t` is specified, one of the <type>.
169 If `-s` is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
171 If `-e` is specified, no output.
173 If `-p` is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
175 If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object>
181 If `--batch` or `--batch-check` is given, `cat-file` will read objects
182 from stdin, one per line, and print information about them. By default,
183 the whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to
184 linkgit:git-rev-parse[1].
186 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom
187 `<format>`. The `<format>` is copied literally to stdout for each
188 object, with placeholders of the form `%(atom)` expanded, followed by a
189 newline. The available atoms are:
192 The 40-hex object name of the object.
195 The type of of the object (the same as `cat-file -t` reports).
198 The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as `cat-file -s`
202 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See the
203 note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
206 If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands to the
207 40-hex sha1 of the delta base object. Otherwise, expands to the
208 null sha1 (40 zeroes). See `CAVEATS` below.
211 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split
212 at the first whitespace boundary. All characters before that
213 whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters
214 after that first run of whitespace (i.e., the "rest" of the
215 line) are output in place of the `%(rest)` atom.
217 If no format is specified, the default format is `%(objectname)
218 %(objecttype) %(objectsize)`.
220 If `--batch` is specified, the object information is followed by the
221 object contents (consisting of `%(objectsize)` bytes), followed by a
224 For example, `--batch` without a custom format would produce:
227 <sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF
231 Whereas `--batch-check='%(objectname) %(objecttype)'` would produce:
237 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in
238 the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format and print:
241 <object> SP missing LF
244 If --follow-symlinks is used, and a symlink in the repository points
245 outside the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format
253 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a /), or relative
254 to the tree root. For instance, if dir/link points to ../../foo, then
255 <symlink> will be ../foo. <size> is the size of the symlink in bytes.
257 If --follow-symlinks is used, the following error messages will be
261 <object> SP missing LF
263 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist.
266 dangling SP <size> LF
269 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that
270 it (transitive-of) points to does not.
276 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that
277 require more than 40 link resolutions to resolve).
283 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a
289 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
290 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
291 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
292 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
293 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
294 and is subject to change during a repack.
296 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
297 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
302 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob