How do I copy a version of a single file from one git branch to another

Question

I ve got two branches that are fully merged together   However  after the merge is done  I realise that one file has been messed up by the merge  someone else did an auto-format  gah   and it would just be easier to change to the new version in the other branch  and then re-insert my one line change after bringing it over into my branch   So what s the easiest way in git to do this

User · Accepted Answer

Run this from the branch where you want the file to end up:

git checkout otherbranch myfile.txt

General formulas:

git checkout <commit_hash> <relative_path_to_file_or_dir>
git checkout <remote_name>/<branch_name> <file_or_dir>

Some notes (from comments):

Using the commit hash you can pull files from any commit
This works for files and directories
overwrites the file myfile.txt and mydir
Wildcards don't work, but relative paths do
Multiple paths can be specified

an alternative:

git show commit_id:path/to/file > path/to/file

User · Answer

1  Ensure you re in branch where you need a copy of the file  for eg  i want sub branch file in master so you need to checkout or should be in master git checkout master  2  Now checkout specific file alone you want from sub branch into master   git checkout sub branch file path my file ext   here sub branch means where you have that file followed by filename you need to copy

User · Answer

I ended up at this question on a similar search  In my case I was looking to extract a file from another branch into current working directory that was different from the file s original location  Answer  git show TREEISH path to file  gt  path to local file

User · Answer

Please note that in the accepted answer  the first option stages the entire file from the other branch  like git add     had been performed   and that the second option just results in copying the file  but doesn t stage the changes  as if you had just edited the file manually and had outstanding differences     Git copy file from another branch without staging it  Changes staged  e g  git add filename      git checkout directory somefile php feature-B    git status On branch feature-A Your branch is up-to-date with  origin feature-A   Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage           modified    directory somefile php   Changes outstanding  not staged or committed       git show feature-B directory somefile php  gt  directory somefile php    git status On branch feature-A Your branch is up-to-date with  origin feature-A   Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory           modified    directory somefile php  no changes added to commit  use  git add  and or  git commit -a

User · Answer

Following madlep s answer you can also just copy one directory from another branch with the directory blob   git checkout other-branch app      As to the op s question if you ve only changed one file in there this will work fine

User · Answer

I would use git restore  available since git 2 23  git restore --source otherbranch path to myfile txt  Why it is better than other options  git checkout otherbranch -- path to myfile txt - It copy file to working directory but also to staging area  similar effect as if you would copy this file manually and executed git add on it   git restore doesn t touch staging area  unless told it to by --staged option   git show otherbranch path to myfile txt  gt  path to myfile txt uses standard shell redirection  If you use Powershell then there might be problem with text enconding or you could get broken file if it s binary  With git restore changing files is done all by git executable  Another advantage is that you can restore whole folder with  git restore --source otherbranch path to or with git restore --overlay --source otherbranch path to if you want to avoid deleting files  For example if there is less files on otherbranch than in current working directory  and these files are tracked  without --overlay option git restore will delete them  But this is good default bahaviour  you most likely want the state of directory to be  quot the same like in otherbranch quot   not  quot the same like in otherbranch but with additional files from my current branch quot

User · Answer

What about using checkout command      git diff --stat   branch    git checkout --merge   branch    file    git diff --stat   branch

User · Answer

Following madlep s answer you can also just copy one directory from another branch with the directory blob   git checkout other-branch app      As to the op s question if you ve only changed one file in there this will work fine

User · Answer

I ended up at this question on a similar search  In my case I was looking to extract a file from another branch into current working directory that was different from the file s original location  Answer  git show TREEISH path to file  gt  path to local file

User · Answer

1  Ensure you re in branch where you need a copy of the file  for eg  i want sub branch file in master so you need to checkout or should be in master git checkout master  2  Now checkout specific file alone you want from sub branch into master   git checkout sub branch file path my file ext   here sub branch means where you have that file followed by filename you need to copy

User · Answer

I would use git restore  available since git 2 23  git restore --source otherbranch path to myfile txt  Why it is better than other options  git checkout otherbranch -- path to myfile txt - It copy file to working directory but also to staging area  similar effect as if you would copy this file manually and executed git add on it   git restore doesn t touch staging area  unless told it to by --staged option   git show otherbranch path to myfile txt  gt  path to myfile txt uses standard shell redirection  If you use Powershell then there might be problem with text enconding or you could get broken file if it s binary  With git restore changing files is done all by git executable  Another advantage is that you can restore whole folder with  git restore --source otherbranch path to or with git restore --overlay --source otherbranch path to if you want to avoid deleting files  For example if there is less files on otherbranch than in current working directory  and these files are tracked  without --overlay option git restore will delete them  But this is good default bahaviour  you most likely want the state of directory to be  quot the same like in otherbranch quot   not  quot the same like in otherbranch but with additional files from my current branch quot

User · Answer

Please note that in the accepted answer  the first option stages the entire file from the other branch  like git add     had been performed   and that the second option just results in copying the file  but doesn t stage the changes  as if you had just edited the file manually and had outstanding differences     Git copy file from another branch without staging it  Changes staged  e g  git add filename      git checkout directory somefile php feature-B    git status On branch feature-A Your branch is up-to-date with  origin feature-A   Changes to be committed     use  git reset HEAD  lt file gt      to unstage           modified    directory somefile php   Changes outstanding  not staged or committed       git show feature-B directory somefile php  gt  directory somefile php    git status On branch feature-A Your branch is up-to-date with  origin feature-A   Changes not staged for commit     use  git add  lt file gt      to update what will be committed     use  git checkout --  lt file gt      to discard changes in working directory           modified    directory somefile php  no changes added to commit  use  git add  and or  git commit -a

User · Answer

What about using checkout command      git diff --stat   branch    git checkout --merge   branch    file    git diff --stat   branch

[git] How do I copy a version of a single file from one git branch to another?

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