diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | Documentation/git-add.txt | 32 |
1 files changed, 29 insertions, 3 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/git-add.txt b/Documentation/git-add.txt index 73378b2bef..40deb03c5d 100644 --- a/Documentation/git-add.txt +++ b/Documentation/git-add.txt @@ -92,9 +92,35 @@ See ``Interactive mode'' for details. edit it. After the editor was closed, adjust the hunk headers and apply the patch to the index. + -*NOTE*: Obviously, if you change anything else than the first character -on lines beginning with a space or a minus, the patch will no longer -apply. +The intent of this option is to pick and choose lines of the patch to +apply, or even to modify the contents of lines to be staged. There are +three line types in a patch: addition lines (beginning with a plus), +removal lines (beginning with a minus), and context lines (beginning +with a space). In general, it should be safe to: ++ +-- +* remove addition lines (don't stage the line) +* modify the content of any addition lines (stage modified contents) +* add new addition lines (stage the new line) +* convert context lines to removal lines (stage removal of line) +* convert removal lines to context lines (don't stage removal) +-- ++ +Similarly, your patch will likely not apply if you: ++ +-- +* add context or removal lines +* delete removal or context lines +* modify the contents of context or removal lines +-- ++ +NOTE: In the first list above, the results given for each action are +with respect to that patch line only. Conceptual changes like +modification of a line in the original file are actually represented by +removal of the old line followed by addition of the new line. Deleting +only the addition line of this pair but leaving the removal line would +therefore convert the modification into a deletion. In other words, use +this feature with caution, as it is easy to stage unintended changes. -u:: --update:: |