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+gitcli(7)
+=========
+
+NAME
+----
+gitcli - Git command-line interface and conventions
+
+SYNOPSIS
+--------
+gitcli
+
+
+DESCRIPTION
+-----------
+
+This manual describes the convention used throughout Git CLI.
+
+Many commands take revisions (most often "commits", but sometimes
+"tree-ish", depending on the context and command) and paths as their
+arguments.  Here are the rules:
+
+ * Revisions come first and then paths.
+   E.g. in `git diff v1.0 v2.0 arch/x86 include/asm-x86`,
+   `v1.0` and `v2.0` are revisions and `arch/x86` and `include/asm-x86`
+   are paths.
+
+ * When an argument can be misunderstood as either a revision or a path,
+   they can be disambiguated by placing `--` between them.
+   E.g. `git diff -- HEAD` is, "I have a file called HEAD in my work
+   tree.  Please show changes between the version I staged in the index
+   and what I have in the work tree for that file", not "show difference
+   between the HEAD commit and the work tree as a whole".  You can say
+   `git diff HEAD --` to ask for the latter.
+
+ * Without disambiguating `--`, Git makes a reasonable guess, but errors
+   out and asking you to disambiguate when ambiguous.  E.g. if you have a
+   file called HEAD in your work tree, `git diff HEAD` is ambiguous, and
+   you have to say either `git diff HEAD --` or `git diff -- HEAD` to
+   disambiguate.
++
+When writing a script that is expected to handle random user-input, it is
+a good practice to make it explicit which arguments are which by placing
+disambiguating `--` at appropriate places.
+
+ * Many commands allow wildcards in paths, but you need to protect
+   them from getting globbed by the shell.  These two mean different
+   things:
++
+--------------------------------
+$ git restore *.c
+$ git restore \*.c
+--------------------------------
++
+The former lets your shell expand the fileglob, and you are asking
+the dot-C files in your working tree to be overwritten with the version
+in the index.  The latter passes the `*.c` to Git, and you are asking
+the paths in the index that match the pattern to be checked out to your
+working tree.  After running `git add hello.c; rm hello.c`, you will _not_
+see `hello.c` in your working tree with the former, but with the latter
+you will.
+
+ * Just as the filesystem '.' (period) refers to the current directory,
+   using a '.' as a repository name in Git (a dot-repository) is a relative
+   path and means your current repository.
+
+Here are the rules regarding the "flags" that you should follow when you are
+scripting Git:
+
+ * it's preferred to use the non-dashed form of Git commands, which means that
+   you should prefer `git foo` to `git-foo`.
+
+ * splitting short options to separate words (prefer `git foo -a -b`
+   to `git foo -ab`, the latter may not even work).
+
+ * when a command-line option takes an argument, use the 'stuck' form.  In
+   other words, write `git foo -oArg` instead of `git foo -o Arg` for short
+   options, and `git foo --long-opt=Arg` instead of `git foo --long-opt Arg`
+   for long options.  An option that takes optional option-argument must be
+   written in the 'stuck' form.
+
+ * when you give a revision parameter to a command, make sure the parameter is
+   not ambiguous with a name of a file in the work tree.  E.g. do not write
+   `git log -1 HEAD` but write `git log -1 HEAD --`; the former will not work
+   if you happen to have a file called `HEAD` in the work tree.
+
+ * many commands allow a long option `--option` to be abbreviated
+   only to their unique prefix (e.g. if there is no other option
+   whose name begins with `opt`, you may be able to spell `--opt` to
+   invoke the `--option` flag), but you should fully spell them out
+   when writing your scripts; later versions of Git may introduce a
+   new option whose name shares the same prefix, e.g. `--optimize`,
+   to make a short prefix that used to be unique no longer unique.
+
+
+ENHANCED OPTION PARSER
+----------------------
+From the Git 1.5.4 series and further, many Git commands (not all of them at the
+time of the writing though) come with an enhanced option parser.
+
+Here is a list of the facilities provided by this option parser.
+
+
+Magic Options
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+Commands which have the enhanced option parser activated all understand a
+couple of magic command-line options:
+
+-h::
+	gives a pretty printed usage of the command.
++
+---------------------------------------------
+$ git describe -h
+usage: git describe [<options>] <commit-ish>*
+   or: git describe [<options>] --dirty
+
+    --contains            find the tag that comes after the commit
+    --debug               debug search strategy on stderr
+    --all                 use any ref
+    --tags                use any tag, even unannotated
+    --long                always use long format
+    --abbrev[=<n>]        use <n> digits to display SHA-1s
+---------------------------------------------
+
+--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`.
+
+
+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:
+
+----------------------------
+$ git foo --long-opt=Arg
+$ git foo --long-opt Arg
+$ git foo -oArg
+$ git foo -o Arg
+----------------------------
+
+However, this is *NOT* allowed for switches with an optional value, where the
+'stuck' form must be used:
+----------------------------
+$ git describe --abbrev HEAD     # correct
+$ git describe --abbrev=10 HEAD  # correct
+$ git describe --abbrev 10 HEAD  # NOT WHAT YOU MEANT
+----------------------------
+
+
+NOTES ON FREQUENTLY CONFUSED OPTIONS
+------------------------------------
+
+Many commands that can work on files in the working tree
+and/or in the index can take `--cached` and/or `--index`
+options.  Sometimes people incorrectly think that, because
+the index was originally called cache, these two are
+synonyms.  They are *not* -- these two options mean very
+different things.
+
+ * The `--cached` option is used to ask a command that
+   usually works on files in the working tree to *only* work
+   with the index.  For example, `git grep`, when used
+   without a commit to specify from which commit to look for
+   strings in, usually works on files in the working tree,
+   but with the `--cached` option, it looks for strings in
+   the index.
+
+ * The `--index` option is used to ask a command that
+   usually works on files in the working tree to *also*
+   affect the index.  For example, `git stash apply` usually
+   merges changes recorded in a stash entry to the working tree,
+   but with the `--index` option, it also merges changes to
+   the index as well.
+
+`git apply` command can be used with `--cached` and
+`--index` (but not at the same time).  Usually the command
+only affects the files in the working tree, but with
+`--index`, it patches both the files and their index
+entries, and with `--cached`, it modifies only the index
+entries.
+
+See also http://marc.info/?l=git&m=116563135620359 and
+http://marc.info/?l=git&m=119150393620273 for further
+information.
+
+Some other commands that also work on files in the working tree and/or
+in the index can take `--staged` and/or `--worktree`.
+
+* `--staged` is exactly like `--cached`, which is used to ask a
+  command to only work on the index, not the working tree.
+
+* `--worktree` is the opposite, to ask a command to work on the
+  working tree only, not the index.
+
+* The two options can be specified together to ask a command to work
+  on both the index and the working tree.
+
+GIT
+---
+Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite