how to checkout a single file from git

David Beutel

Can SourceTree checkout a single file from an old git commit? In the Log view, I right-clicked on the file/commit that I want, but nothing on the menu looks like checkout. Also, how can I see the tree view for the old commit, to checkout a file that wasn't changed?

The closest I've found is on the File Status view; the right-click menu has Reset to Commit..., but isn't there a more direct way? It doesn't seem like this would allow the checkout of a file that wasn't already checked out.

I just started trying SourceTree today. I've been using GitX on Mac.

stevestreeting

The easiest way to do this is to find the file somewhere in one of the views, either using 'Show All' on the File Status View, or somewhere in the log where it's been changed, then right-click and select 'Log Selected...'. This will give you a history of that single file, and you can right-click on any point in time for that file and select 'Reset File to this Commit'.

Because a Git commit only has entries for files that actually changed, you do have to find a commit that included that file to be able to get a context menu for it. Of course on the command line you can specify any commit after the file changed, but that's because you're specifying it by hand. But the single file log is better anyway, because you can see explicitly where that file changed and make sure you get the correct version.