Git: How to pull a single file from a server repository in Git?

Question

I am working on a site with a server running Git. I am using Git for deployment (not GitHub). This was set up prior to my involvement using a hook method, and I referred to this

Answer 1

This scenario comes up when you -- or forces greater than you -- have mangled a file in your local repo and you just want to restore a fresh copy of the latest version of it from the repo. Simply deleting the file with /bin/rm (not git rm) or renaming/hiding it and then issuing a git pull will not work: git notices the file's absence and assumes you probably want it gone from the repo (git diff will show all lines deleted from the missing file).

git pull not restoring locally missing files has always frustrated me about git, perhaps since I have been influenced by other version control systems (e.g. svn update which I believe will restore files that have been locally hidden).

git reset --hard HEAD is an alternative way to restore the file of interest as it throws away any uncommitted changes you have. However, as noted here, git reset is is a potentially dangerous command if you have any other uncommitted changes that you care about.

The git fetch ... git checkout strategy noted above by @chrismillah is a nice surgical way to restore the file in question.