Git checkout just a subdirectory
<p>Please note: I am <em>not</em> looking for git sparse checkout, nor is this question a duplicate of <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/600079/is-there-any-way-to-clone-a-git-repositorys-sub-directory-only">Is there any way to clone a git repository's sub-directory only?</a></p>

<p>In git, is it possible to clone or checkout just a subdirectory, into the current directory? In svn, you would do this by extending the URL. For example, instead of checking out <code>http://server/repo</code> you would checkout <code>http://server/repo/subdir</code></p>

<p>The difference between sparse checkout and checking out only a subdir, is that a sparse checkout still creates a local directory <code>subdir</code>. I don't want a subdirectory called <code>subdir</code>. I want the contents of <code>subdir</code> to be checked out into the top level of my working copy.</p>

<p>An example use case would be:</p>

<ul>
<li>I clone <a href="https://github.com/jquerytools/www.git" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/jquerytools/www.git</a></li>
<li>I don't like their <code>css</code> so I do a sparse checkout or use ignores to exclude their <code>css</code> from my checkout.</li>
<li>I want to use the <code>source/css</code> subdirectory from <a href="https://github.com/mozfr/www.git" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://github.com/mozfr/www.git</a> and it must appear in the local <code>css</code> directory</li>
</ul>