GIT-REPLACE(1)                    Git Manual                    GIT-REPLACE(1)



NAME
       git-replace - Create, list, delete refs to replace objects

SYNOPSIS
       git replace [-f] <object> <replacement>
       git replace [-f] --edit <object>
       git replace [-f] --graft <commit> [<parent>...]
       git replace -d <object>...
       git replace [--format=<format>] [-l [<pattern>]]


DESCRIPTION
       Adds a replace reference in refs/replace/ namespace.

       The name of the replace reference is the SHA-1 of the object that is
       replaced. The content of the replace reference is the SHA-1 of the
       replacement object.

       The replaced object and the replacement object must be of the same
       type. This restriction can be bypassed using -f.

       Unless -f is given, the replace reference must not yet exist.

       There is no other restriction on the replaced and replacement objects.
       Merge commits can be replaced by non-merge commits and vice versa.

       Replacement references will be used by default by all Git commands
       except those doing reachability traversal (prune, pack transfer and
       fsck).

       It is possible to disable use of replacement references for any command
       using the --no-replace-objects option just after git.

       For example if commit foo has been replaced by commit bar:

           $ git --no-replace-objects cat-file commit foo


       shows information about commit foo, while:

           $ git cat-file commit foo


       shows information about commit bar.

       The GIT_NO_REPLACE_OBJECTS environment variable can be set to achieve
       the same effect as the --no-replace-objects option.

OPTIONS
       -f, --force
           If an existing replace ref for the same object exists, it will be
           overwritten (instead of failing).

       -d, --delete
           Delete existing replace refs for the given objects.

       --edit <object>
           Edit an object's content interactively. The existing content for
           <object> is pretty-printed into a temporary file, an editor is
           launched on the file, and the result is parsed to create a new
           object of the same type as <object>. A replacement ref is then
           created to replace <object> with the newly created object. See git-
           var(1) for details about how the editor will be chosen.

       --raw
           When editing, provide the raw object contents rather than
           pretty-printed ones. Currently this only affects trees, which will
           be shown in their binary form. This is harder to work with, but can
           help when repairing a tree that is so corrupted it cannot be
           pretty-printed. Note that you may need to configure your editor to
           cleanly read and write binary data.

       --graft <commit> [<parent>...]
           Create a graft commit. A new commit is created with the same
           content as <commit> except that its parents will be [<parent>...]
           instead of <commit>'s parents. A replacement ref is then created to
           replace <commit> with the newly created commit. See
           contrib/convert-grafts-to-replace-refs.sh for an example script
           based on this option that can convert grafts to replace refs.

       -l <pattern>, --list <pattern>
           List replace refs for objects that match the given pattern (or all
           if no pattern is given). Typing "git replace" without arguments,
           also lists all replace refs.

       --format=<format>
           When listing, use the specified <format>, which can be one of
           short, medium and long. When omitted, the format defaults to short.

FORMATS
       The following format are available:

       o   short: <replaced sha1>

       o   medium: <replaced sha1> -> <replacement sha1>

       o   long: <replaced sha1> (<replaced type>) -> <replacement sha1>
           (<replacement type>)

CREATING REPLACEMENT OBJECTS
       git-filter-branch(1), git-hash-object(1) and git-rebase(1), among other
       git commands, can be used to create replacement objects from existing
       objects. The --edit option can also be used with git replace to create
       a replacement object by editing an existing object.

       If you want to replace many blobs, trees or commits that are part of a
       string of commits, you may just want to create a replacement string of
       commits and then only replace the commit at the tip of the target
       string of commits with the commit at the tip of the replacement string
       of commits.

BUGS
       Comparing blobs or trees that have been replaced with those that
       replace them will not work properly. And using git reset --hard to go
       back to a replaced commit will move the branch to the replacement
       commit instead of the replaced commit.

       There may be other problems when using git rev-list related to pending
       objects.

SEE ALSO
       git-hash-object(1) git-filter-branch(1) git-rebase(1) git-tag(1) git-
       branch(1) git-commit(1) git-var(1) git(1)

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite



Git 2.1.4                         03/19/2016                    GIT-REPLACE(1)
