Git use *filename to specify file

Question

In this question, the answer said that I can use *to point to files.

This works with git add, but when I try to use this with git checkout <commit> <file> I run into a problem.

The git add **/DSManger.java method mentioned in the second answer doesn't work with git checkout either.

leafpile (notification *+) Dev $ git add *NewTaskActivity.java  
(no problem)

leafpile (notification *+) Dev $ git checkout dbd1 *NewTaskActivity.java
error: pathspec '*NewTaskActivity.java' did not match any file(s) known to git.

Why?

That's because you're actually leveraging shell globbing here - Git isn't processing the `*` - it doesn't even see it. — Oliver Charlesworth, Mar 31 '16 at 08:54
@Oliver and **/NewTaskActivity doesn't work for the same reason? — leafpile, Mar 31 '16 at 08:56

CodeWizard · Accepted Answer · 2016-03-31T09:02:12.360

When you do a git add it's adding recursively the content you asked (can be regexp as you did).

But when you checkout you need to supply the full path

You need to pass the full path to the checkout

 # This is the syntax
 git checkout <commit> <file>

 # pass the full path to checkout
 git checkout <commit> /path/to/file/NewTaskActivity.java

 # checkout all files under the given folder:
 git checkout <commit id> -- path/to/folder/**

`Checking out file from different branch`

# when checking out from branch you need to add the -- before the file path
git checkout <branch> -- <path to file>

Git use *filename to specify file

1 Answers1

Checking out file from different branch

`Checking out file from different branch`