21 SVN commands every serious developer should know.

I am trying to post some parts of that session over here. Hope that it will be useful for that guys

who are working on Open Source.

1. Help:

Before reading on, here is the most important command you’ll ever need when using

Subversion: svn help. The Subversion command-line client is self-documenting—at any time,.

$svn help

Will display all available subcommands in svn. A quick svn help SUBCOMMAND will describe the

syntax, switches, and behavior of the subcommand:

$svn help checkout

2. checkout: Check out a working copy from a repository.

Syntax:

$svn checkout URL… [PATH]

ex: This copy contains the HEAD (latest revision) of the Subversion repository that you specify

on the command line.

$ svn checkout http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

Although the above example checks out the trunk directory, you can just as easily check out any

deep subdirectory of a repository by specifying the subdirectory in the checkout URL:

$svn checkout http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/tests/

To checkout a specific revision:

$svn checkout -r 8810 http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

If you have username and password in repository then

$svn checkout http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ –username <USER> –

password <PASSWORD>
3. update: Your Working Copy

$ svn update

If no revision given, bring working copy up-to-date with HEAD rev.

Else synchronize working copy to revision given by -r.

For each updated item a line will start with a character reporting the

action taken. These characters have the following meaning:

A Added

D Deleted

U Updated

C Conflict

G Merged

4. status: See an overview of your changes:

$ svn status

If you run svn status at the top of your working copy with no arguments, it will detect all file and

tree changes you’ve made.

Most common status codes that svn status can return:

‘ ‘ ## no modifications

A mydir/foo.h ## file is scheduled for addition, this is new file, not in the repos

C mydir/test/bar.c ## file has conflicts from an update

D mydir/fish.c ## file is scheduled for deletion

M bar.c ## the content in bar.c has local modifications

? foo.h ## item is not under version control

! bar.h ## item is missing (removed by non-svn command) or incomplete

5. diff: To see details of your local modifications:

$ svn diff

Output is displayed in unified diff format. That is, removed lines are prefaced with a – and added

lines are prefaced with a +

$ svn revert bar.c

Subversion reverts the file to its pre-modified state by overwriting it with the cached copy from

the .svn folder.

By mistake you removed a file from version control:

$ svn status bar.c

bar.c

$ svn delete bar.c

D bar.c ## D: status code for delete

$ svn revert bar.c

Reverted ‘bar.c’

$ svn status bar.c

bar.c

7. resolved: Resolving Conflicts: Conflicts come when there is some changes at the same line in

the working copy and copy from repository.

We can predict conflict in files without updating it, just by using status command with -u switch

$svn status -u

$ svn update

C bar.h

This means that the changes from the repository overlapped with your own.

Status code ‘C’ during the update means that the file is in a state of conflict.

For every conflicted file, Subversion places three extra unversioned files in your working copy

bar.h.mine ##This is your file as it existed in your working copy before you updated your

working ##copy; ie, without conflict markers

bar.h.rOld ##This is the file that was the BASE revision before you updated your working copy.

bar.h.rNew ##Latest revision in the repository.

$ cat bar.h

———————–

India

SriLanka

<<<<<<< .mine

USA

Canada

=======

UK

France

>>>>>>> .rN

Egypt

South Africa

———————–

The strings of ‘<<<’, ‘===’, and ‘>>>’ signs are conflict markers.

You want to ensure that those are removed from the file before your next commit.

The text between the first two sets of markers is composed of the changes you made in the

conflicting area:

<<<<<<< .mine

USA

Canada

=======

The text between the second and third sets of markers is the text from others commit:

=======

UK

France

>>>>>>> .rN

Now you have to resolve the conflicts by:

Merge the conflicted text by hand. Or remove your local changes by running:
$ svn revert bar.h // to throw away all of your local changes.

Once you’ve resolved the conflict, you need to let Subversion know by running svn resolved. This

removes the three temporary files and Subversion no longer considers the file to be in a state of

conflict.

$ svn resolved bar.h

8. commit: Send changes from your working copy to the repository.

Syntax:

$svn commit [PATH...]

A log message must be provided, but it can be empty. If it is not

given by a –message or –file option, an editor will be started.

ex:

$ svn commit -m “included header file.” bar.h

9. list: List directory entries in the repository.

Syntax:

$ svn list Target

List each TARGET file and the contents of each TARGET directory as

they exist in the repository. If TARGET is a working copy path, the

corresponding repository URL will be used.

The default TARGET is ‘.’, meaning the repository URL of the current

working directory.

svn list is most useful if you want to see what files a repository has without downloading a

working copy:

$ svn list http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/

10. add: Add files, directories, or symbolic links to your working copy and schedule them for

addition to the repository.

They will be uploaded and added to the repository on your next commit. If you add something

and change your mind before committing, you can unschedule the addition using svn revert.
Syntax:

$svn add PATH

ex:

To add a file to working copy:

$ svn add foo.txt

A foo.txt ## A: status code Added

When adding a directory, the default behavior of svn add is to recurse:

$ svn add MyDir

A MyDir

A MyDir/a

A MyDir/b

11. lock: Lock working copy paths or URLs in the repository, so that no other user can commit

changes to them.

Syntax:

svn lock TARGET…

ex:

Lock two files in your working copy:

$ svn lock config.php config.png

‘config.php’ locked by user ‘sanjay’.

‘config.png’ locked by user ‘sanjay’.

Lock a file in repository:

$ svn lock http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/config.php

‘config.php’ locked by user ‘sanjay’.

12. log: Display commit log messages.

Syntax:

svn log URL [PATH...]

The default target is the path of your current directory. If no arguments are supplied, svn log
shows the log messages for all files and directories inside of (and including) the current working

directory of your working copy.

ex:

You can see the log messages for all the paths that changed in your working copy by running svn

log from the top:

$svn log

All log messages for a particular file in your working copy:

$ svn log foo.h

Log for a particular revision(20):

$svn log -r 20 foo.h

Log for range of revisions(from 20 to 25)

$svn log -r 20:25 foo.h

13. unlock: Unlock working copy paths or URLs.

Syntax:

svn unlock TARGET…

ex:

Unlock two files in your working copy:

$ svn unlock config.php config.png

‘config.php’ unlocked.

‘config.png’ unlocked’.

Unlock a file in repository:

$ svn unlock http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/config.php

‘config.php’ unlocked

14. delete: — Delete an item from a working copy or the repository.

Syntax:
svn delete PATH…

svn delete URL…

ex:

Using svn to delete a file from your working copy only schedules it to be deleted. When you

commit, the file is deleted in the repository.

$ svn delete myfile

D myfile

$ svn commit -m “Deleted file ‘myfile’.”

Deleting myfile

Transmitting file data .

Committed revision 22.

Deleting a URL, however, is immediate, so you have to supply a log message:

$ svn delete -m “Deleting file ‘myfile’”

http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/config.php

Committed revision 25.

15. import: Commit an unversioned file or tree into the repository

Syntax:

svn import [PATH] URL

Recursively commit a copy of PATH to URL. If PATH is omitted “.” is assumed. Parent directories

are created in the repository as necessary.

ex:

This imports the local directory myproj into the root of your repository:

$ svn import -m “New import” myproj http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk

16. export: Export a clean directory tree.

Syntax:
svn export [-r REV] URL [PATH]

svn export [-r REV] PATH1 [PATH2]

The first form exports a clean directory tree from the repository specified by URL, at revision REV

if it is given, otherwise at HEAD, into PATH. If PATH is omitted, the last component of the URL is

used for the local directory name.

The second form exports a clean directory tree from the working copy specified by PATH1 into

PATH2. All local changes will be preserved, but files not under version control will not be copied.

ex:

Export directly from the repository:

$ svn export http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk myApp

17. cat: Output the contents of the specified files or URLs.

Syntax:

svn cat TARGET

ex:

If you want to view config.txt in your repository without checking it out:

$ svn cat http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/config.txt

18. mkdir: Create a new directory under version control.

Syntax:

svn mkdir PATH…

svn mkdir URL…

Create a directory with a name given by the final component of the PATH or URL. A directory

specified by a working copy PATH is scheduled for addition in the working copy. A directory

specified by a URL is created in the repository via an immediate commit.

ex:

Create a directory in your working copy:

A newdir

Create one in the repository (instant commit, so a log message is required):

$ svn mkdir -m “Making a new dir.” http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/newdir

19. move: Move a file or directory.

Syntax:

svn move SOURCE DEST

This command moves a file or directory in your working copy or in the repository.

This command is equivalent to an svn copy followed by svn delete.

ex:

Move a file in your working copy:

$ svn move foo.c bar.c

A bar.c ##added

D foo.c ##deleted

Move a file in the repository (an immediate commit, so it requires a commit message):

$ svn move -m “Move a file” http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/foo.c

http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/bar.c

20. blame: Show author and revision information in-line for the specified files or URLs.

Syntax:

svn blame TARGET[@REV]…

Show author and revision information in-line for the specified files or URLs. Each line of text is

annotated at the beginning with the author (username) and the revision number for the last

change to that line

$ svn blame http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/foo.c

21. copy: Copy a file or directory in a working copy or in the repository.

Syntax:

svn copy SOURCE DEST

Copy a file in a working copy or in the repository. SOURCE and DEST can each be either a

working copy path or URL.

ex:

Copy an item within your working copy (just schedules the copy—nothing goes into the

repository until you commit):

$ svn copy foo.txt bar.txt

A bar.txt

Copy an item in your working copy to a URL in the repository (an immediate commit, so you

must supply a commit message):

$ svn copy my.txt http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/my.txt -m “Remote copy.”

Copy an item from the repository to your working copy (just schedules the copy—nothing goes

into the repository until you commit):

(This is the recommended way to resurrect a dead file in your repository)

$ svn copy http://openappdotorg.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/my.txt

A my.txt ##A: added