co

Retrieve (check out) a previously checked-in revision and place it in the corresponding working file (or print to standard output if -p is specified). If you intend to edit the working file and check it in again, specify -l to lock the file. co accepts the standard options -q , -V , -V n , -T , -x , and -z .

Options

-d date

Retrieve latest revision whose check-in timestamp is on or before date .

-f [R ]

Force the working file to be overwritten.

-I [R ]

Interactive mode; prompt user even when standard input is not a terminal.

-j R2 : R3 [, ...]

This works like rcsmerge . R2 and R3 specify two revisions whose changes are merged into a third file: either the corresponding working file or a third revision (any R specified by other co options). Multiple comma-separated pairs may be provided; the output of the first join becomes the input of the next. See the co manpage for more details.

-k c

Expand keyword symbols according to flag c . c can be:

b	Like -ko , but uses binary I/O. This is most useful on non-Unix systems.
kv	Expand symbols to keyword and value (the default). Insert the locker's name only during a ci -l or co -l .
kvl	Like kv , but always insert the locker's name.
k	Expand symbols to keywords only (no values). This is useful for ignoring trivial differences during file comparison.
o	Expand symbols to keyword and value present in previous revision. This is useful for binary files that don't allow substring changes.
v	Expand symbols to values only (no keywords). This prevents further keyword substitution and is not recommended.

-l [R ]

Same as -r , but also lock the retrieved revision.

-M [R ]

Set the working file's modification time to that of the retrieved version. Use of -M can confuse make and should be used with care.

-p [R ]

Send retrieved revision to standard output instead of to a working file. Useful for output redirection or filtering.

-r [R ]

Retrieve the latest revision or, if R is given, retrieve the latest revision that is equal to or lower than R . If R is $ , retrieve the version specified by the keywords in the working file.

-s state

Retrieve the latest revision having the given state .

-u [R ]

Same as -r , but also unlock the retrieved revision if you locked it previously.

-w [user ]

Retrieve the latest revision that was checked in either by the invoking user or by the specified user .

Examples

Sort the latest stored version of file :

co -p 

file
 | sort

Check out (and lock) all uppercase filenames for editing:

co -l [A-Z]*

Note that filename expansion fails unless a working copy resides in the current directory. Therefore, this example works only if the files were previously checked in via ci -u . Finally, here are some different ways to extract the working files for a set of RCS files (in the current directory):

co -r3 *,v

                Latest revisions of release 3

co -r3 -wjim *,v

          Same, but only if checked in by jim

co -d'May 5, 2 pm LT' *,v

 Latest revisions that were

                                                  modified on or before the date

co -rPrototype *,v

        Latest revisions named Prototype