Re: Extracting a file

From: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Date: Jul 23, 2021, 16:50 UTC
Message-ID: <xmqq5yx1oty6.fsf@gitster.g>
In-Reply-To: <YPppNYOO26xAq2fn@coredump.intra.peff.net>

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 27 quoted lines

> On Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 11:46:01AM +0200, Angelo Borsotti wrote:
>
>> Actually, I did not want to make git behave like a read-only filesystem,
>> but only to be able to get what is stored in it using some easy to remember
>> command.
>> 
>> I guess that:
>> 
>>     git mv A B &&
>>     git checkout HEAD -- A
>> 
>> renames file A in the work, current, directory to B, and then recovers
>> A from the
>> repository. This changes the file on which I am working. After having
>> read the old
>> A, and understood what changes I make that are not correct, I should delete A,
>> and rename B back to A.
>> If something gets wrong with this, I risk to damage my original A.
>> This is why it is
>> better not to change it, and instead get a copy of the old one with
>> another name,
>> which is what
>> 
>> git show HASH:file/path/name.ext > some_new_name.ext
>
> You might also like "git checkout -p HASH -- A", which will let you pick
> individual hunks from HASH:A and apply them to your working tree.

There is

    git cat-file --textconv --filters HASH:A >my-temporary-file-to-inspect

which would not touch the index or any tracked working tree file, other than the target of redirection.