docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means
In the code we literally stick "refs/heads/" on the front and see if it resolves, so that is probably the best explanation. Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net> Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
Jeff King committed
Apr 13, 2009 at 07:21 UTC
0808723b5065cc2141c2715a2df78882c158d4ef
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Documentation/git-checkout.txt
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@@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
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"merge" style, shows the original contents).
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<branch>::
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- Branch to checkout (when no paths are given); may be any object
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- ID that resolves to a commit. Defaults to HEAD.
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-+
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-When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object),
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-your HEAD becomes 'detached'.
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+ Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
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+ when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
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+ branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
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+ commit, your HEAD becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
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+ any branch (see below for details).
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+
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As a special case, the `"@\{-N\}"` syntax for the N-th last branch
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checks out the branch (instead of detaching). You may also specify