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 Exit with zero status if <object> exists and is a valid
46 object. If <object> is of an invalid format exit with non-zero and
47 emits an error on stderr.
50 Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
53 Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking
54 for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given
55 <object> is also permitted. An example is to ask for a
56 "tree" with <object> being a commit object that contains it,
57 or to ask for a "blob" with <object> being a tag object that
61 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
62 <object> has to be of the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path> in
63 order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at
67 Show the content as converted by the filters configured in
68 the current working tree for the given <path> (i.e. smudge filters,
69 end-of-line conversion, etc). In this case, <object> has to be of
70 the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path>.
73 For use with --textconv or --filters, to allow specifying an object
74 name and a path separately, e.g. when it is difficult to figure out
75 the revision from which the blob came.
79 Print object information and contents for each object provided
80 on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments
81 except `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines
82 also need to specify the path, separated by white space. See the
83 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
86 --batch-check=<format>::
87 Print object information for each object provided on stdin. May
88 not be combined with any other options or arguments except
89 `--textconv` or `--filters`, in which case the input lines also
90 need to specify the path, separated by white space. See the
91 section `BATCH OUTPUT` below for details.
94 Instead of reading a list of objects on stdin, perform the
95 requested batch operation on all objects in the repository and
96 any alternate object stores (not just reachable objects).
97 Requires `--batch` or `--batch-check` be specified. Note that
98 the objects are visited in order sorted by their hashes.
101 Normally batch output is flushed after each object is output, so
102 that a process can interactively read and write from
103 `cat-file`. With this option, the output uses normal stdio
104 buffering; this is much more efficient when invoking
105 `--batch-check` on a large number of objects.
107 --allow-unknown-type::
108 Allow -s or -t to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type.
111 With --batch or --batch-check, follow symlinks inside the
112 repository when requesting objects with extended SHA-1
113 expressions of the form tree-ish:path-in-tree. Instead of
114 providing output about the link itself, provide output about
115 the linked-to object. If a symlink points outside the
116 tree-ish (e.g. a link to /foo or a root-level link to ../foo),
117 the portion of the link which is outside the tree will be
120 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in the
121 index is specified (e.g. `:link` instead of `HEAD:link`) rather than
124 This option cannot (currently) be used unless `--batch` or
125 `--batch-check` is used.
127 For example, consider a git repository containing:
130 f: a file containing "hello\n"
132 dir/link: a symlink to ../f
133 plink: a symlink to ../f
134 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
137 For a regular file `f`, `echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch` would print
140 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
143 And `echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks` would
144 print the same thing, as would `HEAD:dir/link`, as they both point at
147 Without `--follow-symlinks`, these would print data about the symlink
148 itself. In the case of `HEAD:link`, you would see
151 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
154 Both `plink` and `alink` point outside the tree, so they would
168 If `-t` is specified, one of the <type>.
170 If `-s` is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
172 If `-e` is specified, no output, unless the <object> is malformed.
174 If `-p` is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
176 If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object>
182 If `--batch` or `--batch-check` is given, `cat-file` will read objects
183 from stdin, one per line, and print information about them. By default,
184 the whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to
185 linkgit:git-rev-parse[1].
187 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom
188 `<format>`. The `<format>` is copied literally to stdout for each
189 object, with placeholders of the form `%(atom)` expanded, followed by a
190 newline. The available atoms are the same as that of
191 linkgit:git-for-each-ref[1], but there are some additional ones:
194 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See the
195 note about on-disk sizes in the `CAVEATS` section below.
198 If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands to the
199 40-hex sha1 of the delta base object. Otherwise, expands to the
200 null sha1 (40 zeroes). See `CAVEATS` below.
203 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split
204 at the first whitespace boundary. All characters before that
205 whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters
206 after that first run of whitespace (i.e., the "rest" of the
207 line) are output in place of the `%(rest)` atom.
209 If no format is specified, the default format is `%(objectname)
210 %(objecttype) %(objectsize)`.
212 If `--batch` is specified, the object information is followed by the
213 object contents (consisting of `%(objectsize)` bytes), followed by a
216 For example, `--batch` without a custom format would produce:
219 <sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF
223 Whereas `--batch-check='%(objectname) %(objecttype)'` would produce:
229 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in
230 the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format and print:
233 <object> SP missing LF
236 If --follow-symlinks is used, and a symlink in the repository points
237 outside the repository, then `cat-file` will ignore any custom format
245 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a /), or relative
246 to the tree root. For instance, if dir/link points to ../../foo, then
247 <symlink> will be ../foo. <size> is the size of the symlink in bytes.
249 If --follow-symlinks is used, the following error messages will be
253 <object> SP missing LF
255 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist.
258 dangling SP <size> LF
261 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that
262 it (transitive-of) points to does not.
268 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that
269 require more than 40 link resolutions to resolve).
275 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a
281 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but care
282 should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects are
283 responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object may be
284 much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but the
285 choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is arbitrary
286 and is subject to change during a repack.
288 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the object
289 database; in this case, it is undefined which copy's size or delta base
294 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
projects / git / blob