GIT-CHECK-ATTR(1) Git Manual GIT-CHECK-ATTR(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

git-check-attr - Display gitattributes information

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
git check-attr [--source <tree-ish>] [-a | --all | <attr>...] [--] <pathname>...
git check-attr --stdin [-z] [--source <tree-ish>] [-a | --all | <attr>...]
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

For every pathname, this command will list if each attribute is *unspecified*, *set*, or *unset* as a gitattribute on that pathname.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

-a, --all

List all attributes that are associated with the specified paths. If this option is used, then *unspecified* attributes will not be included in the output.

--cached

Consider **.gitattributes** in the index only, ignoring the working tree.

--stdin

Read pathnames from the standard input, one per line, instead of from the command line.

-z

The output format is modified to be machine-parsable. If **--stdin** is also given, input paths are separated with a NUL character instead of a linefeed character.

--source=&lt;tree-ish&gt;

Check attributes against the specified tree-ish. It is common to specify the source tree by naming a commit, branch, or tag associated with it.

--

Interpret all preceding arguments as attributes and all following arguments as path names.

If none of **--stdin**, **--all**, or **--** is used, the first argument will be treated as an attribute and the rest of the arguments as pathnames.

# [OUTPUT](#OUTPUT)

The output is of the form: &lt;path&gt; COLON SP &lt;attribute&gt; COLON SP &lt;info&gt; LF

unless **-z** is in effect, in which case NUL is used as delimiter: &lt;path&gt; NUL &lt;attribute&gt; NUL &lt;info&gt; NUL

&lt;path&gt; is the path of a file being queried, &lt;attribute&gt; is an attribute being queried, and &lt;info&gt; can be either:

*unspecified*

when the attribute is not defined for the path.

*unset*

when the attribute is defined as false.

*set*

when the attribute is defined as true.

&lt;value&gt;

when a value has been assigned to the attribute.

Buffering happens as documented under the **GIT\_FLUSH** option in [**git**(1)](/man/os/git/git.1). The caller is responsible for avoiding deadlocks caused by overfilling an input buffer or reading from an empty output buffer.

# [EXAMPLES](#EXAMPLES)

In the examples, the following *.gitattributes* file is used:

```
*.java diff=java -crlf myAttr
NoMyAttr.java !myAttr
README caveat=unspecified
```

• Listing a single attribute:

```
$ git check-attr diff org/example/MyClass.java
org/example/MyClass.java: diff: java
```

• Listing multiple attributes for a file:

```
$ git check-attr crlf diff myAttr -- org/example/MyClass.java
org/example/MyClass.java: crlf: unset
org/example/MyClass.java: diff: java
org/example/MyClass.java: myAttr: set
```

• Listing all attributes for a file:

```
$ git check-attr --all -- org/example/MyClass.java
org/example/MyClass.java: diff: java
org/example/MyClass.java: myAttr: set
```

• Listing an attribute for multiple files:

```
$ git check-attr myAttr -- org/example/MyClass.java org/example/NoMyAttr.java
org/example/MyClass.java: myAttr: set
org/example/NoMyAttr.java: myAttr: unspecified
```

• Not all values are equally unambiguous:

```
$ git check-attr caveat README
README: caveat: unspecified
```

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**gitattributes**(5)](/man/os/git/gitattributes.5).

# [GIT](#GIT)

Part of the [**git**(1)](/man/os/git/git.1) suite

2026-09-28 Git 2.56.0.1.gaef21129

---

Document: git-check-attr(1) from git 2.56.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/git/git.git