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}.