Hg command to get the file content without switching branch - mercurial

Question

In HG, is there any command such that i can get the file content of the file from another branch without switching/checkout to the particular branch?

Answer 1

Similar to the other answer, you can use the cat command but in a slightly different way:
hg cat --rev=11204 path/to/file
This will pick the file from revision #11204 which can be any branch.
You may want to add the --output switch lets you use whatever filename and/or location you want:
hg cat --output=C:/new/path/to/file/filename#11204.ext --rev=11204 path/to/file

Answer 2

If you are using TortoiseHG, you can use the "save at revision" command to do this.
Steps:
Run Tortoise Workbench
Find the changeset in history which has the file revision you want (could be in any branch)
Say its changeset #abcd1234
Right click on the specific file in the file list for that changeset
Select "Save at revision..." and tell it where to put the file.
The file would typically be named filename#abcd1234.ext so that you don't mix it up with the current version.

Answer 3

Use the cat subcommand with the revision number of the commit you're looking for.
Here's an example. I create two branches with the contents of the file file indicating which branch it's on. Then I use cat to examine the contents on both branches
% hg init foo
% cd foo
% echo "default branch" > file
% hg add file
% hg ci -m 'default' file
% echo "default 2nd rev" > file
% hg ci -m 'default 2nd rev' file
% hg glog
# changeset: 1:305b2b5ccbd9
| tag: tip
| user: dj
| date: Mon Sep 17 14:11:20 2018 -0400
| summary: default 2nd rev
|
o changeset: 0:6d22c68d8abc
user: dj
date: Mon Sep 17 14:10:56 2018 -0400
summary: default
% hg co -r 0
1 files updated, 0 files merged, 0 files removed, 0 files unresolved
% echo "new branch" > file
% hg branch 'new branch'
marked working directory as branch new branch
(branches are permanent and global, did you want a bookmark?)
% hg ci -m 'new branch'
% hg glog
# changeset: 2:4c8d2181526c
| branch: new branch
| tag: tip
| parent: 0:6d22c68d8abc
| user: dj
| date: Mon Sep 17 14:12:30 2018 -0400
| summary: new branch
|
| o changeset: 1:305b2b5ccbd9
|/ user: dj
| date: Mon Sep 17 14:11:20 2018 -0400
| summary: default 2nd rev
|
o changeset: 0:6d22c68d8abc
user: dj
date: Mon Sep 17 14:10:56 2018 -0400
summary: default
% hg branches
new branch 2:4c8d2181526c
default 1:305b2b5ccbd9
% hg cat -r 2 file
new branch
% hg cat -r 1 file
default 2nd rev