1GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1) Git Manual GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1)
2
6 git-update-index - Register file contents in the working tree to the
7 index
8
10 git update-index
11 [--add] [--remove | --force-remove] [--replace]
12 [--refresh] [-q] [--unmerged] [--ignore-missing]
13 [--cacheinfo <mode> <object> <file>]\*
14 [--chmod=(+|-)x]
15 [--assume-unchanged | --no-assume-unchanged]
16 [--skip-worktree | --no-skip-worktree]
17 [--ignore-submodules]
18 [--really-refresh] [--unresolve] [--again | -g]
19 [--info-only] [--index-info]
20 [-z] [--stdin]
21 [--verbose]
22 [--] [<file>]\*
23
26 Modifies the index or directory cache. Each file mentioned is updated
27 into the index and any unmerged or needs updating state is cleared.
28 See also git-add(1) for a more user-friendly way to do some of the most
30 common operations on the index.
31 The way git update-index handles files it is told about can be modified
33 using the various options:
34
36 --add
37 If a specified file isn’t in the index already then it’s added.
38 Default behaviour is to ignore new files.
39 --remove
41 If a specified file is in the index but is missing then it’s
42 removed. Default behavior is to ignore removed file.
43 --refresh
45 Looks at the current index and checks to see if merges or updates
46 are needed by checking stat() information.
47 -q
49 Quiet. If --refresh finds that the index needs an update, the
50 default behavior is to error out. This option makes git
51 update-index continue anyway.
52 --ignore-submodules
54 Do not try to update submodules. This option is only respected when
55 passed before --refresh.
56 --unmerged
58 If --refresh finds unmerged changes in the index, the default
59 behavior is to error out. This option makes git update-index
60 continue anyway.
61 --ignore-missing
63 Ignores missing files during a --refresh
64 --cacheinfo <mode> <object> <path>
66 Directly insert the specified info into the index.
67 --index-info
69 Read index information from stdin.
70 --chmod=(+|-)x
72 Set the execute permissions on the updated files.
73 --assume-unchanged, --no-assume-unchanged
75 When these flags are specified, the object names recorded for the
76 paths are not updated. Instead, these options set and unset the
77 "assume unchanged" bit for the paths. When the "assume unchanged"
78 bit is on, git stops checking the working tree files for possible
79 modifications, so you need to manually unset the bit to tell git
80 when you change the working tree file. This is sometimes helpful
81 when working with a big project on a filesystem that has very slow
82 lstat(2) system call (e.g. cifs).
83 This option can be also used as a coarse file-level mechanism to
85 ignore uncommitted changes in tracked files (akin to what
86 .gitignore does for untracked files). You should remember that an
87 explicit git add operation will still cause the file to be
88 refreshed from the working tree. Git will fail (gracefully) in case
89 it needs to modify this file in the index e.g. when merging in a
90 commit; thus, in case the assumed-untracked file is changed
91 upstream, you will need to handle the situation manually.
92 --really-refresh
94 Like --refresh, but checks stat information unconditionally,
95 without regard to the "assume unchanged" setting.
96 --skip-worktree, --no-skip-worktree
98 When one of these flags is specified, the object name recorded for
99 the paths are not updated. Instead, these options set and unset the
100 "skip-worktree" bit for the paths. See section "Skip-worktree bit"
101 below for more information.
102 -g, --again
104 Runs git update-index itself on the paths whose index entries are
105 different from those from the HEAD commit.
106 --unresolve
108 Restores the unmerged or needs updating state of a file during a
109 merge if it was cleared by accident.
110 --info-only
112 Do not create objects in the object database for all <file>
113 arguments that follow this flag; just insert their object IDs into
114 the index.
115 --force-remove
117 Remove the file from the index even when the working directory
118 still has such a file. (Implies --remove.)
119 --replace
121 By default, when a file path exists in the index, git update-index
122 refuses an attempt to add path/file. Similarly if a file path/file
123 exists, a file path cannot be added. With --replace flag, existing
124 entries that conflict with the entry being added are automatically
125 removed with warning messages.
126 --stdin
128 Instead of taking list of paths from the command line, read list of
129 paths from the standard input. Paths are separated by LF (i.e. one
130 path per line) by default.
131 --verbose
133 Report what is being added and removed from index.
134 -z
136 Only meaningful with --stdin; paths are separated with NUL
137 character instead of LF.
138 --
140 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
141 <file>
143 Files to act on. Note that files beginning with . are discarded.
144 This includes ./file and dir/./file. If you don’t want this, then
145 use cleaner names. The same applies to directories ending / and
146 paths with //
147
149 --refresh does not calculate a new sha1 file or bring the index
150 up-to-date for mode/content changes. But what it does do is to
151 "re-match" the stat information of a file with the index, so that you
152 can refresh the index for a file that hasn’t been changed but where the
153 stat entry is out of date.
154 For example, you’d want to do this after doing a git read-tree, to link
156 up the stat index details with the proper files.
157
159 --cacheinfo is used to register a file that is not in the current
160 working directory. This is useful for minimum-checkout merging.
161 To pretend you have a file with mode and sha1 at path, say:
163 $ git update-index --cacheinfo mode sha1 path
165 --info-only is used to register files without placing them in the
168 object database. This is useful for status-only repositories.
169 Both --cacheinfo and --info-only behave similarly: the index is updated
171 but the object database isn’t. --cacheinfo is useful when the object is
172 in the database but the file isn’t available locally. --info-only is
173 useful when the file is available, but you do not wish to update the
174 object database.
175
177 --index-info is a more powerful mechanism that lets you feed multiple
178 entry definitions from the standard input, and designed specifically
179 for scripts. It can take inputs of three formats:
180 1. mode SP sha1 TAB path
182 The first format is what "git-apply --index-info" reports, and used
184 to reconstruct a partial tree that is used for phony merge base
185 tree when falling back on 3-way merge.
186 2. mode SP type SP sha1 TAB path
188 The second format is to stuff git ls-tree output into the index
190 file.
191 3. mode SP sha1 SP stage TAB path
193 This format is to put higher order stages into the index file and
195 matches git ls-files --stage output.
196 To place a higher stage entry to the index, the path should first be
198 removed by feeding a mode=0 entry for the path, and then feeding
199 necessary input lines in the third format.
200 For example, starting with this index:
202 $ git ls-files -s
204 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 0 frotz
205 you can feed the following input to --index-info:
208 $ git update-index --index-info
210 0 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000 frotz
211 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
212 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
213 The first line of the input feeds 0 as the mode to remove the path; the
216 SHA1 does not matter as long as it is well formatted. Then the second
217 and third line feeds stage 1 and stage 2 entries for that path. After
218 the above, we would end up with this:
219 $ git ls-files -s
221 100644 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 1 frotz
222 100755 8a1218a1024a212bb3db30becd860315f9f3ac52 2 frotz
223
226 Many operations in git depend on your filesystem to have an efficient
227 lstat(2) implementation, so that st_mtime information for working tree
228 files can be cheaply checked to see if the file contents have changed
229 from the version recorded in the index file. Unfortunately, some
230 filesystems have inefficient lstat(2). If your filesystem is one of
231 them, you can set "assume unchanged" bit to paths you have not changed
232 to cause git not to do this check. Note that setting this bit on a path
233 does not mean git will check the contents of the file to see if it has
234 changed — it makes git to omit any checking and assume it has not
235 changed. When you make changes to working tree files, you have to
236 explicitly tell git about it by dropping "assume unchanged" bit, either
237 before or after you modify them.
238 In order to set "assume unchanged" bit, use --assume-unchanged option.
240 To unset, use --no-assume-unchanged.
241 The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. When this
243 is true, paths updated with git update-index paths... and paths updated
244 with other git commands that update both index and working tree (e.g.
245 git apply --index, git checkout-index -u, and git read-tree -u) are
246 automatically marked as "assume unchanged". Note that "assume
247 unchanged" bit is not set if git update-index --refresh finds the
248 working tree file matches the index (use git update-index
249 --really-refresh if you want to mark them as "assume unchanged").
250
252 To update and refresh only the files already checked out:
253 $ git checkout-index -n -f -a && git update-index --ignore-missing --refresh
255 On an inefficient filesystem with core.ignorestat set
258 $ git update-index --really-refresh [1m(1)
260 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c [1m(2)
261 $ git diff --name-only [1m(3)
262 $ edit foo.c
263 $ git diff --name-only [1m(4)
264 M foo.c
265 $ git update-index foo.c [1m(5)
266 $ git diff --name-only [1m(6)
267 $ edit foo.c
268 $ git diff --name-only [1m(7)
269 $ git update-index --no-assume-unchanged foo.c [1m(8)
270 $ git diff --name-only [1m(9)
271 M foo.c
272 1. forces lstat(2) to set "assume unchanged" bits for paths that
274 match index.
275 2. mark the path to be edited.
276 3. this does lstat(2) and finds index matches the path.
277 4. this does lstat(2) and finds index does not match the path.
278 5. registering the new version to index sets "assume unchanged"
279 bit.
280 6. and it is assumed unchanged.
281 7. even after you edit it.
282 8. you can tell about the change after the fact.
283 9. now it checks with lstat(2) and finds it has been changed.
284
286 Skip-worktree bit can be defined in one (long) sentence: When reading
287 an entry, if it is marked as skip-worktree, then Git pretends its
288 working directory version is up to date and read the index version
289 instead.
290 To elaborate, "reading" means checking for file existence, reading file
292 attributes or file content. The working directory version may be
293 present or absent. If present, its content may match against the index
294 version or not. Writing is not affected by this bit, content safety is
295 still first priority. Note that Git can update working directory file,
296 that is marked skip-worktree, if it is safe to do so (i.e. working
297 directory version matches index version)
298 Although this bit looks similar to assume-unchanged bit, its goal is
300 different from assume-unchanged bit’s. Skip-worktree also takes
301 precedence over assume-unchanged bit when both are set.
302
304 The command honors core.filemode configuration variable. If your
305 repository is on a filesystem whose executable bits are unreliable,
306 this should be set to false (see git-config(1)). This causes the
307 command to ignore differences in file modes recorded in the index and
308 the file mode on the filesystem if they differ only on executable bit.
309 On such an unfortunate filesystem, you may need to use git update-index
310 --chmod=.
311 Quite similarly, if core.symlinks configuration variable is set to
313 false (see git-config(1)), symbolic links are checked out as plain
314 files, and this command does not modify a recorded file mode from
315 symbolic link to regular file.
316 The command looks at core.ignorestat configuration variable. See Using
318 "assume unchanged" bit section above.
319 The command also looks at core.trustctime configuration variable. It
321 can be useful when the inode change time is regularly modified by
322 something outside Git (file system crawlers and backup systems use
323 ctime for marking files processed) (see git-config(1)).
324
326 git-config(1), git-add(1)
327
329 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org[1]>
330
332 Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list
333 <git@vger.kernel.org[2]>.
334
336 Part of the git(1) suite
337
339 1. torvalds@osdl.org
340 mailto:torvalds@osdl.org
341 2. git@vger.kernel.org
343 mailto:git@vger.kernel.org
344Git 1.7.1 08/16/2017 GIT-UPDATE-INDEX(1)