config.adoc

CONFIGURATION FILE
------------------

The Git configuration file contains a number of variables that affect
the Git commands' behavior. The files `.git/config` and optionally
`config.worktree` (see the "CONFIGURATION FILE" section of
linkgit:git-worktree[1]) in each repository are used to store the
configuration for that repository, and `$HOME/.gitconfig` is used to
store a per-user configuration as fallback values for the `.git/config`
file. The file `/etc/gitconfig` can be used to store a system-wide
default configuration.

The configuration variables are used by both the Git plumbing
and the porcelain commands. The variables are divided into sections, wherein
the fully qualified variable name of the variable itself is the last
dot-separated segment and the section name is everything before the last
dot. The variable names are case-insensitive, allow only alphanumeric
characters and `-`, and must start with an alphabetic character.  Some
variables may appear multiple times; we say then that the variable is
multivalued.

Syntax
~~~~~~

The syntax is fairly flexible and permissive.  Whitespace characters,
which in this context are the space character (SP) and the horizontal
tabulation (HT), are mostly ignored.  The '#' and ';' characters begin
comments to the end of line.  Blank lines are ignored.

The file consists of sections and variables.  A section begins with
the name of the section in square brackets and continues until the next
section begins.  Section names are case-insensitive.  Only alphanumeric
characters, `-` and `.` are allowed in section names.  Each variable
must belong to some section, which means that there must be a section
header before the first setting of a variable.

Sections can be further divided into subsections.  To begin a subsection
put its name in double quotes, separated by space from the section name,
in the section header, like in the example below:

--------
	[section "subsection"]

--------

Subsection names are case sensitive and can contain any characters except
newline and the null byte. Doublequote `"` and backslash can be included
by escaping them as `\"` and `\\`, respectively. Backslashes preceding
other characters are dropped when reading; for example, `\t` is read as
`t` and `\0` is read as `0`. Section headers cannot span multiple lines.
Variables may belong directly to a section or to a given subsection. You
can have `[section]` if you have `[section "subsection"]`, but you don't
need to.

There is also a deprecated `[section.subsection]` syntax. With this
syntax, the subsection name is converted to lower-case and is also
compared case sensitively. These subsection names follow the same
restrictions as section names.

All the other lines (and the remainder of the line after the section
header) are recognized as setting variables, in the form
'name = value' (or just 'name', which is a short-hand to say that
the variable is the boolean "true").
The variable names are case-insensitive, allow only alphanumeric characters
and `-`, and must start with an alphabetic character.

Whitespace characters surrounding `name`, `=` and `value` are discarded.
Internal whitespace characters within 'value' are retained verbatim.
Comments starting with either `#` or `;` and extending to the end of line
are discarded.  A line that defines a value can be continued to the next
line by ending it with a backslash (`\`);  the backslash and the end-of-line
characters are discarded.

If `value` needs to contain leading or trailing whitespace characters,
it must be enclosed in double quotation marks (`"`).  Inside double quotation
marks, double quote (`"`) and backslash (`\`) characters must be escaped:
use `\"` for `"` and `\\` for `\`.

The following escape sequences (beside `\"` and `\\`) are recognized:
`\n` for newline character (NL), `\t` for horizontal tabulation (HT, TAB)
and `\b` for backspace (BS).  Other char escape sequences (including octal
escape sequences) are invalid.


Includes
~~~~~~~~

The `include` and `includeIf` sections allow you to include config
directives from another source. These sections behave identically to
each other with the exception that `includeIf` sections may be ignored
if their condition does not evaluate to true; see "Conditional includes"
below.

You can include a config file from another by setting the special
`include.path` (or `includeIf.*.path`) variable to the name of the file
to be included. The variable takes a pathname as its value, and is
subject to tilde expansion. These variables can be given multiple times.

The contents of the included file are inserted immediately, as if they
had been found at the location of the include directive. If the value of the
variable is a relative path, the path is considered to
be relative to the configuration file in which the include directive
was found.  See below for examples.

Conditional includes
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You can conditionally include a config file from another by setting an
`includeIf.<condition>.path` variable to the name of the file to be
included.

The condition starts with a keyword followed by a colon and some data
whose format and meaning depends on the keyword. Supported keywords
are:

`gitdir`::
	The data that follows the keyword `gitdir` and a colon is used as a glob
	pattern. If the location of the .git directory matches the
	pattern, the include condition is met.
+
The .git location may be auto-discovered, or come from `$GIT_DIR`
environment variable. If the repository is auto-discovered via a .git
file (e.g. from submodules, or a linked worktree), the .git location
would be the final location where the .git directory is, not where the
.git file is.
+
The pattern can contain standard globbing wildcards and two additional
ones, `**/` and `/**`, that can match multiple path components. Please
refer to linkgit:gitignore[5] for details. For convenience:

 * If the pattern starts with `~/`, `~` will be substituted with the
   content of the environment variable `HOME`.

 * If the pattern starts with `./`, it is replaced with the directory
   containing the current config file.

 * If the pattern does not start with either `~/`, `./` or `/`, `**/`
   will be automatically prepended. For example, the pattern `foo/bar`
   becomes `**/foo/bar` and would match `/any/path/to/foo/bar`.

 * If the pattern ends with `/`, `**` will be automatically added. For
   example, the pattern `foo/` becomes `foo/**`. In other words, it
   matches "foo" and everything inside, recursively.

`gitdir/i`::
	This is the same as `gitdir` except that matching is done
	case-insensitively (e.g. on case-insensitive file systems)

`worktree`::
	The data that follows the keyword `worktree` and a colon is used as a
	glob pattern. If the working directory of the current worktree matches
	the pattern, the include condition is met.
+
The worktree location is the path where files are checked out (as returned
by `git rev-parse --show-toplevel`). This is different from `gitdir`, which
matches the `.git` directory path. In a linked worktree, the worktree path
is the directory where that worktree's files are located, not the main
repository's `.git` directory.
+
The pattern uses the same glob syntax as `gitdir` (including `~/`, `./`,
`**/`, and trailing-`/` prefix matching). This condition will never match
in a bare repository (which has no worktree).
+
Unlike `gitdir`, the `worktree` condition currently matches only the
realpath-resolved worktree location. If the working tree was entered via a
symbolic link, a pattern that uses the symbolic-link spelling may not match;
use the real path instead.
+
This is useful when you want to apply configuration based on where the
working tree is located on the filesystem. For example, a contributor who
works on the same project both personally and as an employee can use
different `user.name` and `user.email` values depending on which directory
the worktree is checked out under:
+
----
[includeIf "worktree:/home/user/work/"]
    path = ~/.config/git/work.inc
[includeIf "worktree:/home/user/personal/"]
    path = ~/.config/git/personal.inc
----
+
While `extensions.worktreeConfig` (see linkgit:git-worktree[1]) also supports
per-worktree configuration, it stores the config inside each repository's
`.git/config.worktree` file and requires running `git config --worktree`
inside each worktree individually. In contrast, `includeIf "worktree:..."`
can be set once in a global or system-level configuration file (e.g.
`~/.config/git/config`) and applies to all repositories at once based on
their worktree location.

`worktree/i`::
	This is the same as `worktree` except that matching is done
	case-insensitively (e.g. on case-insensitive file systems)

`onbranch`::
	The data that follows the keyword `onbranch` and a colon is taken to be a
	pattern with standard globbing wildcards and two additional
	ones, `**/` and `/**`, that can match multiple path components.
	If we are in a worktree where the name of the branch that is
	currently checked out matches the pattern, the include condition
	is met.
+
If the pattern ends with `/`, `**` will be automatically added. For
example, the pattern `foo/` becomes `foo/**`. In other words, it matches
all branches that begin with `foo/`. This is useful if your branches are
organized hierarchically and you would like to apply a configuration to
all the branches in that hierarchy.

`hasconfig:remote.*.url`::
	The data that follows this keyword and a colon is taken to
	be a pattern with standard globbing wildcards and two
	additional ones, `**/` and `/**`, that can match multiple
	components. The first time this keyword is seen, the rest of
	the config files will be scanned for remote URLs (without
	applying any values). If there exists at least one remote URL
	that matches this pattern, the include condition is met.
+
Files included by this option (directly or indirectly) are not allowed
to contain remote URLs.
+
Note that unlike other includeIf conditions, resolving this condition
relies on information that is not yet known at the point of reading the
condition. A typical use case is this option being present as a
system-level or global-level config, and the remote URL being in a
local-level config; hence the need to scan ahead when resolving this
condition. In order to avoid the chicken-and-egg problem in which
potentially-included files can affect whether such files are potentially
included, Git breaks the cycle by prohibiting these files from affecting
the resolution of these conditions (thus, prohibiting them from
declaring remote URLs).
+
As for the naming of this keyword, it is for forwards compatibility with
a naming scheme that supports more variable-based include conditions,
but currently Git only supports the exact keyword described above.

A few more notes on matching via `gitdir` and `gitdir/i`:

 * Symlinks in `$GIT_DIR` are not resolved before matching.

 * Both the symlink & realpath versions of paths will be matched
   outside of `$GIT_DIR`. E.g. if ~/git is a symlink to
   /mnt/storage/git, both `gitdir:~/git` and `gitdir:/mnt/storage/git`
   will match.
+
This was not the case in the initial release of this feature in
v2.13.0, which only matched the realpath version. Configuration that
wants to be compatible with the initial release of this feature needs
to either specify only the realpath version, or both versions.

 * Note that "../" is not special and will match literally, which is
   unlikely what you want.

Example
~~~~~~~

----
# Core variables
[core]
	; Don't trust file modes
	filemode = false

# Our diff algorithm
[diff]
	external = /usr/local/bin/diff-wrapper
	renames = true

[branch "devel"]
	remote = origin
	merge = refs/heads/devel

# Proxy settings
[core]
	gitProxy="ssh" for "kernel.org"
	gitProxy=default-proxy ; for the rest

[include]
	path = /path/to/foo.inc ; include by absolute path
	path = foo.inc ; find "foo.inc" relative to the current file
	path = ~/foo.inc ; find "foo.inc" in your `$HOME` directory

; include if $GIT_DIR is /path/to/foo/.git
[includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/foo/.git"]
	path = /path/to/foo.inc

; include for all repositories inside /path/to/group
[includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/group/"]
	path = /path/to/foo.inc

; include for all repositories inside $HOME/to/group
[includeIf "gitdir:~/to/group/"]
	path = /path/to/foo.inc

; include if the worktree is at /path/to/project-build
[includeIf "worktree:/path/to/project-build"]
	path = build-config.inc

; include for all worktrees inside /path/to/group
[includeIf "worktree:/path/to/group/"]
	path = group-config.inc

; relative paths are always relative to the including
; file (if the condition is true); their location is not
; affected by the condition
[includeIf "gitdir:/path/to/group/"]
	path = foo.inc

; include only if we are in a worktree where foo-branch is
; currently checked out
[includeIf "onbranch:foo-branch"]
	path = foo.inc

; include only if a remote with the given URL exists (note
; that such a URL may be provided later in a file or in a
; file read after this file is read, as seen in this example)
[includeIf "hasconfig:remote.*.url:https://example.com/**"]
	path = foo.inc
[remote "origin"]
	url = https://example.com/git
----

Values
~~~~~~

Values of many variables are treated as a simple string, but there
are variables that take values of specific types and there are rules
as to how to spell them.

boolean::

       When a variable is said to take a boolean value, many
       synonyms are accepted for 'true' and 'false'; these are all
       case-insensitive.
+
--
	true;; Boolean true literals are `yes`, `on`, `true`,
		and `1`.  Also, a variable defined without `= <value>`
		is taken as true.

	false;; Boolean false literals are `no`, `off`, `false`,
		`0` and the empty string.
--
+
When converting a value to its canonical form using the `--type=bool` type
specifier, 'git config' will ensure that the output is "true" or
"false" (spelled in lowercase).

integer::
       The value for many variables that specify various sizes can
       be suffixed with `k`, `M`,... to mean "scale the number by
       1024", "by 1024x1024", etc.

color::
       The value for a variable that takes a color is a list of
       colors (at most two, one for foreground and one for background)
       and attributes (as many as you want), separated by spaces.
+
The basic colors accepted are `normal`, `black`, `red`, `green`,
`yellow`, `blue`, `magenta`, `cyan`, `white` and `default`.  The first
color given is the foreground; the second is the background.  All the
basic colors except `normal` and `default` have a bright variant that can
be specified by prefixing the color with `bright`, like `brightred`.
+
The color `normal` makes no change to the color. It is the same as an
empty string, but can be used as the foreground color when specifying a
background color alone (for example, "normal red").
+
The color `default` explicitly resets the color to the terminal default,
for example to specify a cleared background. Although it varies between
terminals, this is usually not the same as setting to "white black".
+
Colors may also be given as numbers between 0 and 255; these use ANSI
256-color mode (but note that not all terminals may support this).  If
your terminal supports it, you may also specify 24-bit RGB values as
hex, like `#ff0ab3`, or 12-bit RGB values like `#f1b`, which is
equivalent to the 24-bit color `#ff11bb`.
+
The accepted attributes are `bold`, `dim`, `ul`, `blink`, `reverse`,
`italic`, and `strike` (for crossed-out or "strikethrough" letters).
The position of any attributes with respect to the colors
(before, after, or in between), doesn't matter. Specific attributes may
be turned off by prefixing them with `no` or `no-` (e.g., `noreverse`,
`no-ul`, etc).
+
The pseudo-attribute `reset` resets all colors and attributes before
applying the specified coloring. For example, `reset green` will result
in a green foreground and default background without any active
attributes.
+
An empty color string produces no color effect at all. This can be used
to avoid coloring specific elements without disabling color entirely.
+
For git's pre-defined color slots, the attributes are meant to be reset
at the beginning of each item in the colored output. So setting
`color.decorate.branch` to `black` will paint that branch name in a
plain `black`, even if the previous thing on the same output line (e.g.
opening parenthesis before the list of branch names in `log --decorate`
output) is set to be painted with `bold` or some other attribute.
However, custom log formats may do more complicated and layered
coloring, and the negated forms may be useful there.

pathname::
	A variable that takes a pathname value can be given a
	string that begins with "`~/`" or "`~user/`", and the usual
	tilde expansion happens to such a string: `~/`
	is expanded to the value of `$HOME`, and `~user/` to the
	specified user's home directory.
+
If a path starts with `%(prefix)/`, the remainder is interpreted as a
path relative to Git's "runtime prefix", i.e. relative to the location
where Git itself was installed. For example, `%(prefix)/bin/` refers to
the directory in which the Git executable itself lives. If Git was
compiled without runtime prefix support, the compiled-in prefix will be
substituted instead. In the unlikely event that a literal path needs to
be specified that should _not_ be expanded, it needs to be prefixed by
`./`, like so: `./%(prefix)/bin`.
+
If prefixed with `:(optional)`, the configuration variable is treated
as if it does not exist, if the named path does not exist.

Variables
~~~~~~~~~

Note that this list is non-comprehensive and not necessarily complete.
For command-specific variables, you will find a more detailed description
in the appropriate manual page.

Other git-related tools may and do use their own variables.  When
inventing new variables for use in your own tool, make sure their
names do not conflict with those that are used by Git itself and
other popular tools, and describe them in your documentation.

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