just noticed that in "man git-checkout", the SYNOPSIS contains the line: git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...] implying that <paths> is optional, but further down in the DESCRIPTION, one reads: git checkout [-p|--patch] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>... suggesting that <pathspec> is required. rday -- ======================================================================== Robert P. J. Day Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA http://crashcourse.ca Twitter: http://twitter.com/rpjday LinkedIn: http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday ========================================================================