> 'git checkout <filename>' == 'replace <filename> with the version of <filename> in the index' (if the index is empty, then index == HEAD) Well, really: "git

> 'git checkout <filename>' == 'replace <filename> with the version of <filename> in the index' (if the index is empty, then index == HEAD) Well, really: "git checkout foo" means: 1) Switch the branch, if foo is a branch. 2) Destroy all local modifications, if foo is a file. These are two drastically different actions, and they're given the same name. The "rm" command has one name, and does one thing: remove files. It isn't also, sometimes, used to gain access to otherwise inaccessible files. I think, ultimately, the names are the worst part of git for me. There's checkout, which is ambiguous. I'm used to using "svn revert" in the past, but I have to use "git checkout" to do that ... at least for individual files. If I want to do them all, "git reset" is, usually, what I'm looking for in this case. The "git revert" command also exists, but does something different (apply past commits in reverse). Git has three different commands for the "put the files back the way they used to be" concept (at least, are there more I don't know about yet?). Then there's "the in between thing". From the man pages: If you're doing "git add" then it "updates the index using the current content found in the working tree" and "the content staged for the next commit". If you're doing "git reset" then you have to ask for "--mixed" or "--hard" in order to "resets the index". If you're doing "git diff" then you have to ask for "--cached" to get the "changes you staged for the next commit". Then there's "git ls-files" which talks about "the file listing in the directory cache index" and "--cached Show cached files" and "--stage Show staged contents object name". Wait, "--cached" and "--staged" are different options? So what is it? Is it "the index" or "the stage" or "the cache"? Do I have to pass "--hard" or "--cached" or "--index"? Whoops, I made that last one up! But wouldn't it be nice if it had one name, and that's always the name I used to refer to it? I know there's something between "files I edit on disk" and "files in the repository" but the documentation does anything but make it clear what that something is even called.