checkout.txt: document a common case that ignores ambiguation rules

Normally we err on the safe side: if something can be seen as both an
SHA1 and a pathspec, we stop and scream. In checkout, there is one
exception added in 859fdab (git-checkout: improve error messages, detect
ambiguities. - 2008-07-23), to allow the common case "git checkout
branch". Let's document this exception.

Signed-off-by: Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy <pclouds@gmail.com>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
This commit is contained in:
Nguyễn Thái Ngọc Duy 2016-09-07 18:19:40 +07:00 committed by Junio C Hamano
parent 7f82b24e30
commit 19e5656345

View file

@ -419,6 +419,18 @@ $ git reflog -2 HEAD # or
$ git log -g -2 HEAD
------------
ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION
-----------------------
When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. "git
checkout abc"), and when the argument is both a valid `<tree-ish>`
(e.g. a branch "abc" exists) and a valid `<pathspec>` (e.g. a file
or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask
you to disambiguate. Because checking out a branch is so common an
operation, however, "git checkout abc" takes "abc" as a `<tree-ish>`
in such a situation. Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want
to checkout these paths out of the index.
EXAMPLES
--------