CODEWITHSUNDEEP
gitversion-control
andrew
andrew

Reputation: 2077

Fatal: ambiguous argument '<branch_name>': both revision and filename

Here is what I did:

When I run git log branch_name --oneline, I get the following message:

fatal: ambiguous argument 'branch_name': both revision and filename
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'

What could be the problem?

Upvotes: 52

Views: 49099

Answers (4)

tkr
tkr

Reputation: 93

In case there is no branch with the same name as filename

$ git diff myfile.txt
fatal: ambiguous argument 'myfile.txt': both revision and filename
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'
$ git status -sb myfile.txt
## master...origin/master
 M myfile.txt
$ git branch -a
  test1
  test2
  test3
* master
  remotes/origin/test1
  remotes/origin/test2
  remotes/origin/test3
  remotes/origin/master
$ grep url .git/config
url = [email protected]:mystuff/myfiles.git
$ cd ..
$ mv myfiles myfiles-git-fubar
$ git clone [email protected]:mystuff/myfiles.git
$ cd myfiles
$ git diff myfile.txt
$ diff myfile.txt ../myfiles-git-fubar # and do what you need to do if any changes
$ rm -rf ../myfiles-git-fubar

All I can say is 'git'

Upvotes: 0

HoldOffHunger
HoldOffHunger

Reputation: 20946

Normally, I work with diff's with something like this:

git diff -r 2e706c4dd3 -r 838112ed50 > codereview.txt

...to make a nice codereview.txt file. Well, I accidentally ran this:

git diff -r 2e706c4dd3 -r 838112ed50 > 838112ed50

This makes the file 838112ed50 itself, which, then, makes the git diff command ambiguous, about whether I am trying to diff a file or a branch.

Upvotes: 1

narasimharaosp
narasimharaosp

Reputation: 533

If in case any one faced when trying the following and got above error, here is the fix

Problem:- 

#In master branch
git checkout -b feature-a

#changed to feature-a branch
vi a.txt
git commit -m "adding a file" a.txt
git push
git diff master

fatal: ambiguous argument 'master': both revision and filename
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:
'git <command> [<revision>...] -- [<file>...]'

Solution:-

git diff origin/master

Upvotes: 3

Andrew C
Andrew C

Reputation: 14903

It's telling you that you have a branch named 'branch_name' and also a file or a directory named 'branch_name'.

If you want the command to treat 'branch_name' as a branch use

git log --oneline branch_name --

if you want it to treat 'branch_name' as a file use 

git log --oneline -- branch_name

Upvotes: 71

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