Re: [git-for-windows] Git a single file from remote

Johannes Schindelin· Nov 17, 2015, 13:47 UTC · lore

Hi Chaz,

On Mon, 16 Nov 2015, Chaz wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> An origin git repository has been setup.  Added a remote repository 
> (remotegit).
> 
> "git remote -v show" displays both origin and remote links.
> 
> What is the best way to copy a single file from the remote repo to the 
> origin repo?

This is not specific to Windows, so it would be more appropriate to send this question to the Git mailing list (Cc:ed).

Git is not designed to download specific files, at least not by default.

Having said that, some remotes are configured to allow downloading archives and in such a case you might be able to specify something like `git archive --remote=<remote> HEAD:README`, but I am personally unaware of any remote that supports this.

Your best bet may be to fetch an individual ref with the `--shallow` option.

Ciao, Johannes