docs/checkout: clarify what "non-branch" means

In the code we literally stick "refs/heads/" on the front
and see if it resolves, so that is probably the best
explanation.

Signed-off-by: Jeff King <peff@peff.net>
Signed-off-by: Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
This commit is contained in:
Jeff King 2009-04-13 07:21:04 -04:00 committed by Junio C Hamano
parent 76cfadfc17
commit 0808723b50

View File

@ -114,11 +114,11 @@ the conflicted merge in the specified paths.
"merge" style, shows the original contents).
<branch>::
Branch to checkout (when no paths are given); may be any object
ID that resolves to a commit. Defaults to HEAD.
+
When this parameter names a non-branch (but still a valid commit object),
your HEAD becomes 'detached'.
Branch to checkout; if it refers to a branch (i.e., a name that,
when prepended with "refs/heads/", is a valid ref), then that
branch is checked out. Otherwise, if it refers to a valid
commit, your HEAD becomes "detached" and you are no longer on
any branch (see below for details).
+
As a special case, the `"@\{-N\}"` syntax for the N-th last branch
checks out the branch (instead of detaching). You may also specify