Pull one file from your Git repository¶

Table of Contents¶

Recover a singular file from a previous commit

Recover a singular file from a previous commit¶

The `git restore` Method (the "Modern Approach")¶

Using git restore is now the preferred way to recover files from a previous commit.
You can use git restore to restore a specific file from a particular commit

Get the hash of the commit where the version of the file you want is located.
```
git log --oneline
```
Restore the file from a specific commit.
```
git restore --source={commit_hash} -- {file_path}  
```
- {commit_hash} is the hash of the commit you want to restore from.
- {file_path} is the relative path to the file you want to restore.

Stage and commit the file.

git add {file_path} && git commit -m "fix: Restore {file_path} from {commit_hash}"

Done.

The fetch method¶

Get the hash of the commit from where you want to pull your file.
```
git branch -v
```
Call fetch
```
git fetch
```

Checkout the file you want from the commit

git checkout -m {revision} {the_file_path}

{revision} is the hash of the commit
{the_file_path} is the path to the file you want. Does not include repo name.
Add and commit the file
```
git add the_file_path
git commit
```
Done.

The `git checkout` Method¶

git checkout is "deprecated", but still works.

Getting a File from a Previous Commit¶

If you want to check out a file from a specific commit:

git checkout {commit_hash} -- {file_path}

Getting a File from the Current Branch's History¶

To get a file's version from the current branch in your local repo (e.g., main):

git checkout main -- {file_path}

* Replace main with the name of the branch (if it's different).

Getting a File from a Remote Branch¶

If you want a file from a remote branch in a remote repo (e.g., origin/main):

git checkout origin/main -- {file_path}

* Replace main with the name of the branch (if it's different).

Pulling with `git archive`¶

This method is a bit more verbose, but it doesn't overwrite the local version of the file you're trying to pull.
* git archive: * You can use the git archive command to extract a specific file from the remote repository without pulling the whole repository.
* git archive can also be used to create a zip/tar archive of specific files or directories.

git archive --remote=ssh://git@{repo_url} {branch_name} {file_path} | tar -xO > {local_file_path}

* This command fetches the file at {file_path} from {branch_name} on the remote repository at {repo_url} and saves it as {local_file_path}.

Other Relevant Git Commands¶

git stash: Temporarily saves changes that you want to set aside.
- This can be used to restore a file without losing your local changes.
```
git stash push -m "Saving current work"
```
git reflog: Use when you want to see all actions taken in the repo, even those not visible in git log.
- Great for finding older commit hashes.
```
git reflog
```
git reset: Resets the current HEAD to a specific commit or state.
- This can be dangerous, but is powerful for undoing changes.
```
git reset --hard {commit_hash}
```
- --hard discards the changes of the commit specified by {commit_hash}.
- --soft will keep the changes of the commit specified by {commit_hash}.
  - This leaves the changes as uncommitted changes.