Get command (Team Foundation Version Control)
TFS 2017 | TFS 2015 | TFS 2013
Visual Studio 2019 | Visual Studio 2017 | Visual Studio 2015 | Visual Studio 2013
Gets (downloads) either the latest version or a specified version of one or more files or folders from Team Foundation Server to the workspace. Although the Get command provides a different user interface than Visual Studio (see Download (get) files from the Server), the process is fundamentally the same.
Prerequisites
Syntax
tf get [itemspec] [/version:versionspec] [/all] [/overwrite] [/force] [/remap]
[/recursive] [/preview] [/noautoresolve] [/noprompt]
[/login:username,[password]]
Parameters
Parameter
Description
/all
If you use a local workspace (recommended), then it's unlikely you will have to use this option.
You can use this option to restore an item that you have accidentally deleted from a server workspace.
Your Team Foundation Server maintains an internal record of all the items the workspace contains, including the version of each. By default, when you get files, if the internal record on the server indicates the workspace already has the version you are getting, then it does not retrieve the item. This option gets the items regardless of the data contained in this internal record.
/force
Combines /all and /overwrite.
itemspec
Specifies the scope of the items to get. You can specify more than one itemspec argument. If no itemspec is provided, the system recursively gets all items in the current workspace.
For syntax, see Use Team Foundation version control commands.
/login:username,[password]
Specifies the user account to run the command. See Use Team Foundation version control commands.
/noautoresolve
By default, the system automatically attempts to AutoResolve All (see Resolve Team Foundation Version Control conflicts). Specify this option to disable this default behavior.
/noprompt
Suppresses the display of windows and dialog boxes and redirects output data to the command prompt. See Use Team Foundation version control commands.
/overwrite
If you use a local workspace (recommended), then it is unlikely you will have to use this option.
By default, the system does not retrieve an item if it is writable (that is, if its read-only attribute is cleared) on the client machine. This option overrides the default behavior and overwrites a writable item, unless the item is checked out.
/preview
Displays what would occur, without actually performing the Get operation.
/recursive
Recursively gets items in the specified directory and any subdirectories. If you do not specify an itemspec, then this option is implied.
/remap
/version:versionspec
Specifies the maximum version, or the minimum and the maximum versions, to display in the history data. The default is /version:T (the latest version).
For syntax, see Use Team Foundation version control commands.
Examples
In all the following examples, assume that $/SiteApp/Main/ is mapped to c:\\code\\SiteApp\\Main\\ in the workspace.
Get the latest version of all items in a workspace
c:\code\SiteApp\Main\SolutionA>tf get
Gets the latest versions of all items in the workspace. For example, the above command would recursively get all files in $/SiteApp/Main/ including all its child folders.
Recursively get the latest version of items of a certain type in a folder
c:\code\SiteApp\Main\SolutionA\Project1>tf get *.cs /recursive
Gets the latest version of all C# (.cs) files in c:\\code\\SiteApp\\Main\\SolutionA\\Project1.
Get the latest version of a file
c:\code\SiteApp\Main\SolutionA\Project1>tf get program.cs
Gets the latest version of program.cs in Project1.
Get a specific version of a file
c:\code\SiteApp\Main\SolutionA\Project1>tf get program.cs;8
Gets version 8 of program.cs in Project1.
Get the latest version of two files
c:\code\SiteApp\Main\SolutionA\Project1>tf get file1.cs file2.cs
Gets the latest version of file1.cs and file2.cs in Project1.
Synchronize a workspace to match a version of the team's codebase
c:\code\SiteApp\Main>tf get /v:15
Synchronizes the workspace to match the codebase as it existed when changeset 15 was created:
The name and content of every item in the workspace is changed to match the state it was in on the server.
Items that were deleted after that changeset are restored to the workspace.
Items that were added after that changeset are deleted from the workspace.
Synchronize a workspace to match a labeled version of the team's codebase
c:\code\SiteApp\Main>tf get /v:LLastKnownGood
Synchronizes the workspace to match the items in the codebase that are labeled LastKnownGood:
The name and content of every labeled item in the workspace is changed to match the state it was in on the server.
Labeled items that were deleted are restored to the workspace.
Items that are not labeled on the server are deleted from the workspace.
Work in Visual Studio
- Download (get) files from the Server Use Visual Studio to get files and folders.
Tips
If you are beginning a new task, it's probably a good idea for you to run tf get(you can do so from any directory in your workspace) to download the latest files from the server before you check out files and begin your work.- As needed, this command creates folders on disk to contain the child items that the command is downloading.
- You can view information about the history of an item using the History command and the Changeset Command.
- If you are concerned about what changes might occur to the files in the workspace, you can use the /preview option to see the changes that would occur without actually implementing them.
- Conflicts could block your get. A typical cause of conflicts is trying to get an item on which you have pending changes. You can use the Resolve Command to resolve these conflicts.