How do I check out a single file?

Subversion does not support checkout of a single file, it only -supports checkout of directory structures.

Subversion does not officially support checkout of a single file, it +only supports checkout of directory structures. However, if you are +using Subversion 1.5, you can take advantage of sparse checkouts.

However, you can use 'svn export' to export a single file. This will -retrieve the file's contents, it just won't create a versioned working -copy.

Let's say you want to checkout file build.xml from the directory +http://svn/repos/foo/trunk in your Subversion repository:

Use the --depth=empty parameter to make an empty work + directory for your file.
+
+ $ svn co --depth=empty http://svn/repos/foo/trunk foo-build +
Now go into your work directory and do an svn update + to fetch the file
+
+ $ cd foo-build + $ svn update build.xml +

+ +

If you are using an earlier version of Subversion, you can use svn cat +to export a single file. This will retrieve the file's contents, it just won't +create a versioned working copy.