git-cat-file(1) - Linux man page
Name
git-cat-file - Provide content or type and size information for repository objects
Synopsis
git cat-file (-t | -s | -e | -p | <type>) <object> git cat-file (--batch | --batch-check) < <list-of-objects>
Description
In its first form, the command provides the content or the type of an object in the repository. The type is required unless -t or -p is used to find the object type, or -s is used to find the object size.
In the second form, a list of objects (separated by linefeeds) is provided on stdin, and the SHA1, type, and size of each object is printed on stdout.
Options
<object>
- The name of the object to show. For a more complete list of ways to spell object names, see the "SPECIFYING REVISIONS" section in git-rev-parse(1).
- -t
- Instead of the content, show the object type identified by <object>.
- -s
- Instead of the content, show the object size identified by <object>.
- -e
- Suppress all output; instead exit with zero status if <object> exists and is a valid object.
- -p
- Pretty-print the contents of <object> based on its type.
- <type>
- Typically this matches the real type of <object> but asking for a type that can trivially be dereferenced from the given <object> is also permitted. An example is to ask for a "tree" with <object> being a commit object that contains it, or to ask for a "blob" with <object> being a tag object that points at it.
- --batch
- Print the SHA1, type, size, and contents of each object provided on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments.
- --batch-check
- Print the SHA1, type, and size of each object provided on stdin. May not be combined with any other options or arguments.
Output
If -t is specified, one of the <type>.
If -s is specified, the size of the <object> in bytes.
If -e is specified, no output.
If -p is specified, the contents of <object> are pretty-printed.
If <type> is specified, the raw (though uncompressed) contents of the <object> will be returned.
If --batch is specified, output of the following form is printed for each object specified on stdin:
-
<sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF <contents> LF
- If --batch-check is specified, output of the following form is printed for each object specified on stdin:
-
<sha1> SP <type> SP <size> LF
- For both --batch and --batch-check, output of the following form is printed for each object specified on stdin that does not exist in the repository:
-
<object> SP missing LF
Author
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org [1] >
Documentation
Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org [2] >.
Git
Part of the git(1) suite