Git: How do I clone a subdirectory only of a Git repository?

Question

I have my Git repository which, at the root, has two sub directories:

/finisht
/static

When this was in SVN, /finisht was chec

Answer 1

I wrote a .gitconfig [alias] for performing a "sparse checkout". Check it out (no pun intended):

On Windows run in cmd.exe

git config --global alias.sparse-checkout "!f(){ [ $# -eq 2 ] && L=${1##*/} L=${L%.git} || L=$2; mkdir -p \"$L/.git/info\" && cd \"$L\" && git init --template= && git remote add origin \"$1\" && git config core.sparseCheckout 1; [ $# -eq 2 ] && echo \"$2\" >> .git/info/sparse-checkout || { shift 2; for i; do echo $i >> .git/info/sparse-checkout; done }; git pull --depth 1 origin master;};f"

Otherwise:

git config --global alias.sparse-checkout '!f(){ [ $# -eq 2 ] && L=${1##*/} L=${L%.git} || L=$2; mkdir -p "$L/.git/info" && cd "$L" && git init --template= && git remote add origin "$1" && git config core.sparseCheckout 1; [ $# -eq 2 ] && echo "$2" >> .git/info/sparse-checkout || { shift 2; for i; do echo $i >> .git/info/sparse-checkout; done }; git pull --depth 1 origin master;};f'

Usage:

# Makes a directory ForStackExchange with Plug checked out
git sparse-checkout https://github.com/YenForYang/ForStackExchange Plug

# To do more than 1 directory, you have to specify the local directory:
git sparse-checkout https://github.com/YenForYang/ForStackExchange ForStackExchange Plug Folder

The git config commands are 'minified' for convenience and storage, but here is the alias expanded:

# Note the --template= is for disabling templates.
# Feel free to remove it if you don't have issues with them (like I did)
# `mkdir` makes the .git/info directory ahead of time, as I've found it missing sometimes for some reason
f(){
    [ "$#" -eq 2 ] && L="${1##*/}" L=${L%.git} || L=$2;
    mkdir -p "$L/.git/info"
        && cd "$L"
        && git init --template=
        && git remote add origin "$1"
        && git config core.sparseCheckout 1;
    [ "$#" -eq 2 ]
        && echo "$2" >> .git/info/sparse-checkout
        || {
            shift 2;
            for i; do
                echo $i >> .git/info/sparse-checkout;
            done
        };
    git pull --depth 1 origin master;
};
f