How to sparsely checkout only one single file from a git repository

Question

How do I checkout just one file from a git repo

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Here is the complete solution for pulling and pushing only a particular file inside git repository   First you need to clone git repository with a special hint    no checkout  git clone --no-checkout  lt git url gt    The next step is to get rid of unstaged files in the index with the command   git reset   Now you are allowed to start pulling files you want to change with the command   git checkout origin master  lt path to file gt    Now the repository folder contains files that you may start editing right away  After editing you need to execute plain and familar sequence of commands   git add  lt path to file gt  git commit -m  lt message text gt  git push

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In git you do not  checkout  files before you update them - it seems like this is what you are after   Many systems like clearcase  csv and so on require you to  checkout  a file before you can make changes to it  Git does not require this  You clone a repository and then make changes in your local copy of repository   Once you updated files you can do   git status   To see what files have been modified  You add the ones you want to commit to index first with  index is like a list to be checked in    git add     or  git add blah c   Then do git status will show you which files were modified and which are in index ready to be commited or checked in   To commit files to your copy of repository do   git commit -a -m  commit message here    See git website for links to manuals and guides

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Working in GIT 1 7 2 2  For example you have a remote some remote with branches branch1  branch32  so to checkout a specific file you call this commands   git checkout remote branch path to file   as an example it will be something like this  git checkout some remote branch32 conf en myscript conf git checkout some remote branch1 conf fr load wav   This checkout command will copy the whole file structure conf en and conf fr into the current directory where you call these commands  of course I assume you ran   git init at some point before

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git checkout branch or version -- path file  example  git checkout HEAD -- main c

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Now we can  As this is the first result on google  I thought I d update this to the latest standing  With the advent of git 1 7 9 5  we have the git archive command which will allow you to retrieve a single file from a remote host   git archive --remote git   git foo com project git HEAD path in repo filename   tar -x   See answer in full here https   stackoverflow com a 5324532 290784

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I am adding this answer as an alternative to doing a formal checkout or some similar local operation   Assuming that you have access to the web interface of your Git provider  you might be able to directly view any file at a given desired commit   For example  on GitHub you may use something like   https   github com hubotio hubot blob ed25584f src adapter coffee   Here ed25584f is the first 8 characters from the SHA-1 hash of the commit of interest  followed by the path to the source file   Similary  on Bitbucket we can try   https   bitbucket org cofarrell stash-browse-code-plugin src 06befe08   In this case  we place the commit hash at the end of the source URL

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Minimal Guide  git checkout --  lt filename gt     Ref  https   git-scm com docs git-checkout  Dup  Undo working copy modifications of one file in Git

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Originally  I mentioned in 2012 git archive  see Jared Forsyth s answer and Robert Knight s answer   since git1 7 9 5  March 2012   Paul Brannan s answer   git archive --format tar --remote origin HEAD path to directory -- filename   tar -O -xf -   But  in 2013  that was no longer possible for remote https   github com URLs  See the old page  Can I archive a repository    The current  2018  page  About archiving content and data on GitHub  recommends using third-party services like GHTorrent or GH Archive     So you can also deal with local copies clone   You could alternatively do the following if you have a local copy of the bare repository as mentioned in this answer   git --no-pager --git-dir  path to bar repo git show branch path to file  gt file     Or you must clone first the repo  meaning you get the full history    - in the  git repo   - in the working tree    But then you can do a sparse checkout  if you are using Git1 7       enable the sparse checkout option  git config core sparsecheckout true  adding what you want to see in the  git info sparse-checkout file re-reading the working tree to only display what you need     To re-read the working tree     git read-tree -m -u HEAD   That way  you end up with a working tree including precisely what you want  even if it is only one file     Richard Gomes points  in the comments  to  How do I clone  fetch or sparse checkout a single directory or a list of directories from git repository       A bash function which avoids downloading the history  which retrieves a single branch and which retrieves a list of files or directories you need

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If you only need to download the file  no need to check out with Git   GitHub Mate is much easier to do so  it s a Chrome extension  enables you click the file icon to download it  also open source

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Say the file name is 123 txt  this works for me   git checkout --theirs  123 txt   If the file is inside a directory A  make sure to specify it correctly   git checkout --theirs   A 123 txt

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git clone --filter from Git 2 19  This option will actually skip fetching most unneeded objects from the server   git clone --depth 1 --no-checkout --filter blob none      file     pwd  server repo  local repo cd local repo git checkout master -- mydir myfile   The server should be configured with   git config --local uploadpack allowfilter 1 git config --local uploadpack allowanysha1inwant 1   There is no server support as of v2 19 0  but it can already be locally tested   TODO  --filter blob none skips all blobs  but still fetches all tree objects  But on a normal repo  this should be tiny compared to the files themselves  so this is already good enough  Asked at  https   www spinics net lists git msg342006 html Devs replied a --filter tree 0 is in the works to do that   Remember that --depth 1 already implies --single-branch  see also  How do I clone a single branch in Git   file     path  is required to overcome git clone protocol shenanigans  How to shallow clone a local git repository with a relative path   The format of --filter is documented on man git-rev-list    An extension was made to the Git remote protocol to support this feature   Docs on Git tree    https   github com git git blob v2 19 0 Documentation technical partial-clone txt https   github com git git blob v2 19 0 Documentation rev-list-options txt L720 https   github com git git blob v2 19 0 t t5616-partial-clone sh   Test it out     usr bin env bash set -eu  list-objects       git rev-list --all --objects   echo  master commit SHA    git log -1 --format   H      echo  mybranch commit SHA    git log -1 --format   H      git ls-tree master   git ls-tree mybranch   grep mybranch   git ls-tree master    grep root      Reproducibility  export GIT COMMITTER NAME  a  export GIT COMMITTER EMAIL  a  export GIT AUTHOR NAME  a  export GIT AUTHOR EMAIL  a  export GIT COMMITTER DATE  2000-01-01T00 00 00 0000  export GIT AUTHOR DATE  2000-01-01T00 00 00 0000   rm -rf server repo local repo mkdir server repo cd server repo    Create repo  git init --quiet git config --local uploadpack allowfilter 1 git config --local uploadpack allowanysha1inwant 1    First commit    Directories present in all branches  mkdir d1 d2 printf  d1 a   gt    d1 a printf  d1 b   gt    d1 b printf  d2 a   gt    d2 a printf  d2 b   gt    d2 b   Present only in root  mkdir  root  printf  root   gt    root root git add   git commit -m  root  --quiet    Second commit only on master  git rm --quiet -r   root mkdir  master  printf  master   gt    master master git add   git commit -m  master commit  --quiet    Second commit only on mybranch  git checkout -b mybranch --quiet master  git rm --quiet -r   root mkdir  mybranch  printf  mybranch   gt    mybranch mybranch git add   git commit -m  mybranch commit  --quiet  echo    List and identify all objects  list-objects echo    Restore master  git checkout --quiet master cd       Clone  Don t checkout for now  only  git  dir  git clone --depth 1 --quiet --no-checkout --filter blob none  file     pwd  server repo  local repo cd local repo    List missing objects from master  echo    Missing objects after --no-checkout  git rev-list --all --quiet --objects --missing print echo  echo    Git checkout fails without internet  mv    server repo    server repo off   git checkout master echo  echo    Git checkout fetches the missing file from internet  mv    server repo off    server repo git checkout master -- d1 a echo  echo    Missing objects after checking out d1 a  git rev-list --all --quiet --objects --missing print   GitHub upstream   Output in Git v2 19 0     List and identify all objects c6fcdfaf2b1462f809aecdad83a186eeec00f9c1 fc5e97944480982cfc180a6d6634699921ee63ec 7251a83be9a03161acde7b71a8fda9be19f47128 62d67bce3c672fe2b9065f372726a11e57bade7e b64bf435a3e54c5208a1b70b7bcb0fc627463a75 d1 308150e8fddde043f3dbbb8573abb6af1df96e63 d1 a f70a17f51b7b30fec48a32e4f19ac15e261fd1a4 d1 b 84de03c312dc741d0f2a66df7b2f168d823e122a d2 0975df9b39e23c15f63db194df7f45c76528bccb d2 a 41484c13520fcbb6e7243a26fdb1fc9405c08520 d2 b 7d5230379e4652f1b1da7ed1e78e0b8253e03ba3 master 8b25206ff90e9432f6f1a8600f87a7bd695a24af master master ef29f15c9a7c5417944cc09711b6a9ee51b01d89 19f7a4ca4a038aff89d803f017f76d2b66063043 mybranch 1b671b190e293aa091239b8b5e8c149411d00523 mybranch mybranch c3760bb1a0ece87cdbaf9a563c77a45e30a4e30e a0234da53ec608b54813b4271fbf00ba5318b99f root 93ca1422a8da0a9effc465eccbcb17e23015542d root root master commit SHA  fc5e97944480982cfc180a6d6634699921ee63ec mybranch commit SHA  fc5e97944480982cfc180a6d6634699921ee63ec 040000 tree b64bf435a3e54c5208a1b70b7bcb0fc627463a75    d1 040000 tree 84de03c312dc741d0f2a66df7b2f168d823e122a    d2 040000 tree 7d5230379e4652f1b1da7ed1e78e0b8253e03ba3    master 040000 tree 19f7a4ca4a038aff89d803f017f76d2b66063043    mybranch 040000 tree a0234da53ec608b54813b4271fbf00ba5318b99f    root    Missing objects after --no-checkout  f70a17f51b7b30fec48a32e4f19ac15e261fd1a4  8b25206ff90e9432f6f1a8600f87a7bd695a24af  41484c13520fcbb6e7243a26fdb1fc9405c08520  0975df9b39e23c15f63db194df7f45c76528bccb  308150e8fddde043f3dbbb8573abb6af1df96e63    Git checkout fails without internet fatal    home ciro bak git test-git-web-interface other-test-repos partial-clone tmp server repo  does not appear to be a git repository fatal  Could not read from remote repository   Please make sure you have the correct access rights and the repository exists     Git checkout fetches the missing directory from internet remote  Enumerating objects  1  done  remote  Counting objects  100   1 1   done  remote  Total 1  delta 0   reused 0  delta 0  Receiving objects  100   1 1   45 bytes   45 00 KiB s  done  remote  Enumerating objects  1  done  remote  Counting objects  100   1 1   done  remote  Total 1  delta 0   reused 0  delta 0  Receiving objects  100   1 1   45 bytes   45 00 KiB s  done     Missing objects after checking out d1  f70a17f51b7b30fec48a32e4f19ac15e261fd1a4  8b25206ff90e9432f6f1a8600f87a7bd695a24af  41484c13520fcbb6e7243a26fdb1fc9405c08520  0975df9b39e23c15f63db194df7f45c76528bccb   Conclusions  all blobs except d1 a are missing  E g  f70a17f51b7b30fec48a32e4f19ac15e261fd1a4  which is d1 b  is not there after checking out d1    Note that root root and mybranch mybranch are also missing  but --depth 1 hides that from the list of missing files  If you remove --depth 1  then they show on the list of missing files

User · Answer

Very simple   git checkout from-branch-name -- path to the file you want   This will not checkout the from-branch-name branch  You will stay on whatever branch you are on  and only that single file will be checked out from the specified branch   Here s the relevant part of the manpage for git-checkout  git checkout  -p --patch    lt tree-ish gt    --   lt pathspec gt            When  lt paths gt  or --patch are given  git checkout does not switch        branches  It updates the named paths in the working tree from the        index file or from a named  lt tree-ish gt   most often a commit   In        this case  the -b and --track options are meaningless and giving        either of them results in an error  The  lt tree-ish gt  argument can be        used to specify a specific tree-ish  i e  commit  tag or tree  to        update the index for the given paths before updating the working        tree    Hat tip to Ariejan de Vroom who taught me this from this blog post

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I don   t see what worked for me listed out here so I will include it should anybody be in my situation   My situation  I have a remote repository of maybe 10 000 files and I need to build an RPM file for my Linux system   The build of the RPM includes a git clone of everything   All I need is one file to start the RPM build   I can clone the entire source tree which does what I need but it takes an extra two minutes to download all those files when all I need is one   I tried to use the git archive option discussed and I got    fatal  Operation not supported by protocol      It seems I have to get some sort of archive option enabled on the server and my server is maintained by bureaucratic thugs that seem to enjoy making it difficult to get things done   What I finally did was I went into the web interface for bitbucket and viewed the one file I needed   I did a right click on the link to download a raw copy of the file and selected    copy shortcut    from the resulting popup   I could not just download the raw file because I needed to automate things and I don   t have a browser interface on my Linux server   For the sake of discussion  that resulted in the URL   https   ourArchive ourCompany com projects ThisProject repos data raw foo bar spec at refs 2Fheads 2FTheBranchOfInterest   I could not directly download this file from the bitbucket repository because I needed to sign in first   After a little digging  I found this worked  On Linux   echo  myUser myPass123   base64 bXlVc2VyOm15UGFzczEyMwo   curl -H  Authorization  Basic bXlVc2VyOm15UGFzczEyMwo    https   ourArchive ourCompany com projects ThisProject repos data raw foo bar spec at refs 2Fheads 2FTheBranchOfInterest   gt  bar spec   This combination allowed me to download the one file I needed to build everything else

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Normally it s not possible to download just one file from git without downloading the whole repository as suggested in the first answer  It s because Git doesn t store files as you think  as CVS SVN do   but it generates them based on the entire history of the project   But there are some workarounds for specific cases  Examples below with placeholders for user  project  branch  filename   GitHub  wget https   raw githubusercontent com user project branch filename   GitLab  wget https   gitlab com user project raw branch filename   GitWeb  If you re using Git on the Server - GitWeb  then you may try in example  change it into the right path    wget  http   example com gitweb  p example a blob plain f README txt hb HEAD    GitWeb at drupalcode org  Example   wget  http   drupalcode org project ads git blob plain refs heads master  README md    googlesource com  There is an undocumented feature that allows you to download base64-encoded versions of raw files   curl  https   chromium googlesource com chromium src net   master http transport security state static json format TEXT    base64 --decode     In other cases check if your Git repository is using any web interfaces   If it s not using any web interface  you may consider to push your code to external services such as GitHub  Bitbucket  etc  and use it as a mirror   If you don t have wget installed  try curl -O  url  alternatively

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If you need a specific file from a specific branch from a remote Git repository the command is   git archive --remote git   git example com project git refs heads mybranch path to myfile  tar xf -   The rest can be derived from  VonC s answer   If you need a specific file from the master branch it is   git archive --remote git   git example com project git HEAD path to myfile  tar xf -   If you need a specific file from a tag it is   git archive --remote git   git example com project git mytag path to myfile  tar xf -

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If you have edited a local version of a file and wish to revert to the original version maintained on the central server  this can be easily achieved using Git Extensions    Initially the file will be marked for commit  since it has been modified Select  double click  the file in the file tree menu The revision tree for the single file is listed  Select the top HEAD of the tree and right click save as Save the file to overwrite the modified local version of the file The file now has the correct version and will no longer be marked for commit    Easy

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First clone the repo with the -n option  which suppresses the default checkout of all files  and the --depth 1 option  which means it only gets the most recent revision of each file  git clone -n git   path to the repo git --depth 1   Then check out just the file you want like so   cd the repo git checkout HEAD name of file

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If you already have a copy of the git repo  you can always checkout a version of a file using a git log to find out the hash-id  for example 3cdc61015724f9965575ba954c8cd4232c8b42e4  and then you simply type   git checkout hash-id path-to-file   Here is an actual example   git checkout 3cdc61015724f9965575ba954c8cd4232c8b42e4  var www css page css

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Two variants on what s already been given   git archive --format tar --remote git   git foo com project git HEAD path to directory filename   tar -O -xf -   and   git archive --format zip --remote git   git foo com project git HEAD path to directory filename   funzip   These write the file to standard output

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You can do it by  git archive --format tar --remote origin HEAD   tar xf - git archive --format tar --remote origin HEAD  lt file gt    tar xf -

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It sounds like you re trying to carry over an idea from centralized version control  which git by nature is not - it s distributed  If you want to work with a git repository  you clone it  You then have all of the contents of the work tree  and all of the history  well  at least everything leading up to the tip of the current branch   not just a single file or a snapshot from a single commit    git clone  path to repo  git clone git   url of repo  git clone http   url of repo

[git] How to sparsely checkout only one single file from a git repository?

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