Subversion - What are the differences between the SVN checkout and SVN update commands?

Question

I understand that the "SVN checkout" command will do the initial get of file(s) from the Subversion repository and bring them locally to your working directory/copy and that the "SVN update" command will get changes to file(s) from the repository if changes have been made by others.

It seems to me though that an "update" is just a special case of a "checkout", that is, when a checkout occurs, it's getting all files since none yet exist locally and hence ALL of the files have "changed", and that behind the scenes these commands are doing largely the same thing. I assume the commands exist separately just as a means of simplification?

Or, are there other differences between the commands, for example, does "SVN update" get files get new files (files that exist in the repository that you don't have in your working copy) or just updates to existing files?

Answer 1

As I see it, the big difference is that checkout creates a working copy, whereas update brings down changes to an existing working copy.