Git Command-Line Options and Conventions

use <n> digits to display SHA-1s --------------------------------------------- + Note that some subcommand (e.g. `git grep`) may behave differently when there are things on the command line other than `-h`, but `git subcmd -h` without anything else on the command line is meant to consistently give the usage. --help-all:: Some Git commands take options that are only used for plumbing or that are deprecated, and such options are hidden from the default usage. This option gives the full list of options. Negating options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Options with long option names can be negated by prefixing `--no-`. For example, `git branch` has the option `--track` which is 'on' by default. You can use `--no-track` to override that behaviour. The same goes for `--color` and `--no-color`. Options trump configuration and environment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When there is a configuration variable or an environment variable that tweak the behaviour of an aspect of a Git command, and also a command line option that tweaks the same, the command line option overrides what the configuration and/or environment variable say. For example, the `user.name` configuration variable is used to specify the human-readable name used by the `git commit` command to record the author and the committer name in a newly created commit. The `GIT_AUTHOR_NAME` environment variable, if set, takes precedence when deciding what author name to record. The `--author=<author>` command line option of the `git commit` command, when given, takes precedence over these two sources of information. Aggregating short options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commands that support the enhanced option parser allow you to aggregate short options. This means that you can for example use `git rm -rf` or `git clean -fdx`. Abbreviating long options ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Commands that support the enhanced option parser accepts unique prefix of a long option as if it is fully spelled out, but use this with a caution. For example, `git commit --amen` behaves as if you typed `git commit --amend`, but that is true only until a later version of Git introduces another option that shares the same prefix, e.g. `git commit --amenity` option. Separating argument from the option ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can write the mandatory option parameter to an option as a separate word on the command line. That means that all the following uses work: ----------------------------

This section describes various aspects of Git's command-line interface, including using the --help-all option, negating options with --no-, how command-line options override configuration and environment variables, aggregating short options, abbreviating long options, and separating arguments from options.