1GIT-CAT-FILE(1) Git Manual GIT-CAT-FILE(1)
2
6 git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for
7 repository objects
8
10 git cat-file <type> <object>
11 git cat-file (-e | -p) <object>
12 git cat-file (-t | -s) [--allow-unknown-type] <object>
13 git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check | --batch-command) [--batch-all-objects]
14 [--buffer] [--follow-symlinks] [--unordered]
15 [--textconv | --filters] [-z]
16 git cat-file (--textconv | --filters)
17 [<rev>:<path|tree-ish> | --path=<path|tree-ish> <rev>]
18
20 In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an
21 object in the repository. The type is required unless -t or -p is used
22 to find the object type, or -s is used to find the object size, or
23 --textconv or --filters is used (which imply type "blob").
24 In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is
26 provided on stdin, and the SHA-1, type, and size of each object is
27 printed on stdout. The output format can be overridden using the
28 optional <format> argument. If either --textconv or --filters was
29 specified, the input is expected to list the object names followed by
30 the path name, separated by a single whitespace, so that the
31 appropriate drivers can be determined.
32
34 <object>
35 The name of the object to show. For a more complete list of ways to
36 spell object names, see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in
37 gitrevisions(7).
38 -t
40 Instead of the content, show the object type identified by
41 <object>.
42 -s
44 Instead of the content, show the object size identified by
45 <object>.
46 -e
48 Exit with zero status if <object> exists and is a valid object. If
49 <object> is of an invalid format exit with non-zero and emits an
50 error on stderr.
51 -p
53 Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
54 <type>
56 Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking for a
57 type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given <object> is
58 also permitted. An example is to ask for a "tree" with <object>
59 being a commit object that contains it, or to ask for a "blob" with
60 <object> being a tag object that points at it.
61 --[no-]mailmap, --[no-]use-mailmap
63 Use mailmap file to map author, committer and tagger names and
64 email addresses to canonical real names and email addresses. See
65 git-shortlog(1).
66 --textconv
68 Show the content as transformed by a textconv filter. In this case,
69 <object> has to be of the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path> in
70 order to apply the filter to the content recorded in the index at
71 <path>.
72 --filters
74 Show the content as converted by the filters configured in the
75 current working tree for the given <path> (i.e. smudge filters,
76 end-of-line conversion, etc). In this case, <object> has to be of
77 the form <tree-ish>:<path>, or :<path>.
78 --path=<path>
80 For use with --textconv or --filters, to allow specifying an object
81 name and a path separately, e.g. when it is difficult to figure out
82 the revision from which the blob came.
83 --batch, --batch=<format>
85 Print object information and contents for each object provided on
86 stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments
87 except --textconv or --filters, in which case the input lines also
88 need to specify the path, separated by whitespace. See the section
89 BATCH OUTPUT below for details.
90 --batch-check, --batch-check=<format>
92 Print object information for each object provided on stdin. May not
93 be combined with any other options or arguments except --textconv
94 or --filters, in which case the input lines also need to specify
95 the path, separated by whitespace. See the section BATCH OUTPUT
96 below for details.
97 --batch-command, --batch-command=<format>
99 Enter a command mode that reads commands and arguments from stdin.
100 May only be combined with --buffer, --textconv or --filters. In the
101 case of --textconv or --filters, the input lines also need to
102 specify the path, separated by whitespace. See the section BATCH
103 OUTPUT below for details.
104 --batch-command recognizes the following commands:
106 contents <object>
108 Print object contents for object reference <object>. This
109 corresponds to the output of --batch.
110 info <object>
112 Print object info for object reference <object>. This
113 corresponds to the output of --batch-check.
114 flush
116 Used with --buffer to execute all preceding commands that were
117 issued since the beginning or since the last flush was issued.
118 When --buffer is used, no output will come until a flush is
119 issued. When --buffer is not used, commands are flushed each
120 time without issuing flush.
121 --batch-all-objects
123 Instead of reading a list of objects on stdin, perform the
124 requested batch operation on all objects in the repository and any
125 alternate object stores (not just reachable objects). Requires
126 --batch or --batch-check be specified. By default, the objects are
127 visited in order sorted by their hashes; see also --unordered
128 below. Objects are presented as-is, without respecting the
129 "replace" mechanism of git-replace(1).
130 --buffer
132 Normally batch output is flushed after each object is output, so
133 that a process can interactively read and write from cat-file. With
134 this option, the output uses normal stdio buffering; this is much
135 more efficient when invoking --batch-check or --batch-command on a
136 large number of objects.
137 --unordered
139 When --batch-all-objects is in use, visit objects in an order which
140 may be more efficient for accessing the object contents than hash
141 order. The exact details of the order are unspecified, but if you
142 do not require a specific order, this should generally result in
143 faster output, especially with --batch. Note that cat-file will
144 still show each object only once, even if it is stored multiple
145 times in the repository.
146 --allow-unknown-type
148 Allow -s or -t to query broken/corrupt objects of unknown type.
149 --follow-symlinks
151 With --batch or --batch-check, follow symlinks inside the
152 repository when requesting objects with extended SHA-1 expressions
153 of the form tree-ish:path-in-tree. Instead of providing output
154 about the link itself, provide output about the linked-to object.
155 If a symlink points outside the tree-ish (e.g. a link to /foo or a
156 root-level link to ../foo), the portion of the link which is
157 outside the tree will be printed.
158 This option does not (currently) work correctly when an object in
160 the index is specified (e.g. :link instead of HEAD:link) rather
161 than one in the tree.
162 This option cannot (currently) be used unless --batch or
164 --batch-check is used.
165 For example, consider a git repository containing:
167 f: a file containing "hello\n"
169 link: a symlink to f
170 dir/link: a symlink to ../f
171 plink: a symlink to ../f
172 alink: a symlink to /etc/passwd
173 For a regular file f, echo HEAD:f | git cat-file --batch would
175 print
176 ce013625030ba8dba906f756967f9e9ca394464a blob 6
178 And echo HEAD:link | git cat-file --batch --follow-symlinks would
180 print the same thing, as would HEAD:dir/link, as they both point at
181 HEAD:f.
182 Without --follow-symlinks, these would print data about the symlink
184 itself. In the case of HEAD:link, you would see
185 4d1ae35ba2c8ec712fa2a379db44ad639ca277bd blob 1
187 Both plink and alink point outside the tree, so they would
189 respectively print:
190 symlink 4
192 ../f
193 symlink 11
195 /etc/passwd
196 -z
198 Only meaningful with --batch, --batch-check, or --batch-command;
199 input is NUL-delimited instead of newline-delimited.
200
202 If -t is specified, one of the <type>.
203 If -s is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
205 If -e is specified, no output, unless the <object> is malformed.
207 If -p is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
209 If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the
211 <object> will be returned.
212
214 If --batch or --batch-check is given, cat-file will read objects from
215 stdin, one per line, and print information about them. By default, the
216 whole line is considered as an object, as if it were fed to git-rev-
217 parse(1).
218 When --batch-command is given, cat-file will read commands from stdin,
220 one per line, and print information based on the command given. With
221 --batch-command, the info command followed by an object will print
222 information about the object the same way --batch-check would, and the
223 contents command followed by an object prints contents in the same way
224 --batch would.
225 You can specify the information shown for each object by using a custom
227 <format>. The <format> is copied literally to stdout for each object,
228 with placeholders of the form %(atom) expanded, followed by a newline.
229 The available atoms are:
230 objectname
232 The full hex representation of the object name.
233 objecttype
235 The type of the object (the same as cat-file -t reports).
236 objectsize
238 The size, in bytes, of the object (the same as cat-file -s
239 reports).
240 objectsize:disk
242 The size, in bytes, that the object takes up on disk. See the note
243 about on-disk sizes in the CAVEATS section below.
244 deltabase
246 If the object is stored as a delta on-disk, this expands to the
247 full hex representation of the delta base object name. Otherwise,
248 expands to the null OID (all zeroes). See CAVEATS below.
249 rest
251 If this atom is used in the output string, input lines are split at
252 the first whitespace boundary. All characters before that
253 whitespace are considered to be the object name; characters after
254 that first run of whitespace (i.e., the "rest" of the line) are
255 output in place of the %(rest) atom.
256 If no format is specified, the default format is %(objectname)
258 %(objecttype) %(objectsize).
259 If --batch is specified, or if --batch-command is used with the
261 contents command, the object information is followed by the object
262 contents (consisting of %(objectsize) bytes), followed by a newline.
263 For example, --batch without a custom format would produce:
265 <oid> SP <type> SP <size> LF
267 <contents> LF
268 Whereas --batch-check='%(objectname) %(objecttype)' would produce:
270 <oid> SP <type> LF
272 If a name is specified on stdin that cannot be resolved to an object in
274 the repository, then cat-file will ignore any custom format and print:
275 <object> SP missing LF
277 If a name is specified that might refer to more than one object (an
279 ambiguous short sha), then cat-file will ignore any custom format and
280 print:
281 <object> SP ambiguous LF
283 If --follow-symlinks is used, and a symlink in the repository points
285 outside the repository, then cat-file will ignore any custom format and
286 print:
287 symlink SP <size> LF
289 <symlink> LF
290 The symlink will either be absolute (beginning with a /), or relative
292 to the tree root. For instance, if dir/link points to ../../foo, then
293 <symlink> will be ../foo. <size> is the size of the symlink in bytes.
294 If --follow-symlinks is used, the following error messages will be
296 displayed:
297 <object> SP missing LF
299 is printed when the initial symlink requested does not exist.
301 dangling SP <size> LF
303 <object> LF
304 is printed when the initial symlink exists, but something that it
306 (transitive-of) points to does not.
307 loop SP <size> LF
309 <object> LF
310 is printed for symlink loops (or any symlinks that require more than 40
312 link resolutions to resolve).
313 notdir SP <size> LF
315 <object> LF
316 is printed when, during symlink resolution, a file is used as a
318 directory name.
319
321 Note that the sizes of objects on disk are reported accurately, but
322 care should be taken in drawing conclusions about which refs or objects
323 are responsible for disk usage. The size of a packed non-delta object
324 may be much larger than the size of objects which delta against it, but
325 the choice of which object is the base and which is the delta is
326 arbitrary and is subject to change during a repack.
327 Note also that multiple copies of an object may be present in the
329 object database; in this case, it is undefined which copy’s size or
330 delta base will be reported.
331
333 Part of the git(1) suite
334Git 2.39.1 2023-01-13 GIT-CAT-FILE(1)