Git pull single file- Is it possible to pull just one file in Git?

4.9K Asked by ChloeBurgess in Python , Asked on Jul 14, 2021

I am working on a Git branch that has some broken tests, and I would like to pull (merge changes, not just overwrite) these tests from another branch where they are already fixed.

I know I can do

git pull origin that_other_branch

but this will attempt to merge lots of other files, for that I am not yet ready.

Is it possible to pull and merge only the specified file (and not everything) from that another branch?

Answered by Carl Paige

You can simply perform fetch which will download all the changes done from your remote repository to your local repository and then check out to that git pull one file in the following way:

git fetch

git checkout -m  

git add 

git commit

Regarding the git checkout command: - a branch name, i.e. origin/master does not include the repository name (that you can get from clicking copy path button on a file page on GitHub), i.e. README.md

Your Answer

Answer (1)

Ranjana

Yes, it is possible to pull just one file from a remote Git repository into your local repository. However, Git doesn't provide a built-in command specifically for pulling a single file. Instead, you can achieve this by using a combination of commands.

Here's one way to do it:

Fetch the Latest Changes: First, fetch the latest changes from the remote repository. This updates your local repository with information about the changes on the remote without applying them to your working directory.

git fetch origin

Checkout the File: Once you've fetched the changes, you can use the git checkout command to retrieve the specific file from the remote repository

git checkout origin/master -- path/to/your/file

Replace origin/master with the branch name from which you want to pull the file (e.g., origin/main or origin/develop). Also, replace path/to/your/file with the path to the file you want to pull.

This sequence of commands fetches the latest changes from the remote repository and then checks out the specified file from the fetched changes. After running these commands, the specified file will be updated in your local working directory with the contents from the remote repository.

Keep in mind that pulling just one file might not always be the best practice, especially if the file depends on other changes in the repository. In such cases, it's often better to pull all changes and then selectively merge or checkout the specific file as needed.

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