Is it possible to pull just one file in Git?

Question

I am working on a Git branch that has some broken tests, and I would like to pull (merge changes, not just overwrite) these tests from another branch where they are already

Answer 1

You can fetch and then check out only one file in this way:

git fetch
git checkout -m <revision> <yourfilepath>
git add <yourfilepath>
git commit

Regarding the git checkout command: <revision> - a branch name, i.e. origin/master <yourfilepath> does not include the repository name (that you can get from clicking copy path button on a file page on GitHub), i.e. README.md

Answer 2

@Mawardy's answer worked for me, but my changes were on the remote so I had to specify the origin

git checkout origin/master -- {filename}

Answer 3

git checkout master -- myplugin.js

master = branch name

myplugin.js = file name

Answer 4

Here is a slightly easier method I just came up with when researching this:

git fetch {remote}
git checkout FETCH_HEAD -- {file}

Answer 5

Yes, here is the process:

# Navigate to a directory and initiate a local repository
git init        

# Add remote repository to be tracked for changes:   
git remote add origin https://github.com/username/repository_name.git

# Track all changes made on above remote repository
# This will show files on remote repository not available on local repository
git fetch

# Add file present in staging area for checkout
git check origin/master -m /path/to/file
# NOTE: /path/to/file is a relative path from repository_name
git add /path/to/file

# Verify track of file(s) being committed to local repository
git status

# Commit to local repository
git commit -m "commit message"

# You may perform a final check of the staging area again with git status