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Expand the "Getting Help" section to explain manpages versus "-h". #860

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Oct 15, 2017
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Expand the "Getting Help" section to explain manpages versus "-h". #860

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28 changes: 26 additions & 2 deletions book/01-introduction/sections/help.asc
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -1,12 +1,11 @@
[[_git_help]]
=== Getting Help

If you ever need help while using Git, there are three ways to get the manual page (manpage) help for any of the Git commands:
If you ever need help while using Git, there are two equivalent ways to get the comprehensive manual page (manpage) help for any of the Git commands:

[source,console]
----
$ git help <verb>
$ git <verb> --help
$ man git-<verb>
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Expand All @@ -20,3 +19,28 @@ $ git help config
These commands are nice because you can access them anywhere, even offline.
If the manpages and this book aren't enough and you need in-person help, you can try the `#git` or `#github` channel on the Freenode IRC server (irc.freenode.net).
These channels are regularly filled with hundreds of people who are all very knowledgeable about Git and are often willing to help.(((IRC)))

In addition, if you don't need the full-blown manpage help, but just need a quick refresher on the available options for a Git command, you can ask for the more concise ``help'' output with the `-h` or `--help` options, as in:

[source,console]
----
$ git add -h
usage: git add [<options>] [--] <pathspec>...

-n, --dry-run dry run
-v, --verbose be verbose

-i, --interactive interactive picking
-p, --patch select hunks interactively
-e, --edit edit current diff and apply
-f, --force allow adding otherwise ignored files
-u, --update update tracked files
-N, --intent-to-add record only the fact that the path will be added later
-A, --all add changes from all tracked and untracked files
--ignore-removal ignore paths removed in the working tree (same as --no-all)
--refresh don't add, only refresh the index
--ignore-errors just skip files which cannot be added because of errors
--ignore-missing check if - even missing - files are ignored in dry run
--chmod <(+/-)x> override the executable bit of the listed files
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