git-check-ref-format.html - external/gitster/git-htmldocs - Git at Google

 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
  "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
 <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
 <head>
 <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
 <meta name="generator" content="AsciiDoc 8.4.5" />
 <title>git-check-ref-format(1)</title>
 <style type="text/css">
 /* Debug borders */
 p, li, dt, dd, div, pre, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
 /*
  border: 1px solid red;
 */
 }

 body {
  margin: 1em 5% 1em 5%;
 }

 a {
  color: blue;
  text-decoration: underline;
 }
 a:visited {
  color: fuchsia;
 }

 em {
  font-style: italic;
  color: navy;
 }

 strong {
  font-weight: bold;
  color: #083194;
 }

 tt {
  color: navy;
 }

 h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
  color: #527bbd;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  margin-top: 1.2em;
  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
  line-height: 1.3;
 }

 h1, h2, h3 {
  border-bottom: 2px solid silver;
 }
 h2 {
  padding-top: 0.5em;
 }
 h3 {
  float: left;
 }
 h3 + * {
  clear: left;
 }

 div.sectionbody {
  font-family: serif;
  margin-left: 0;
 }

 hr {
  border: 1px solid silver;
 }

 p {
  margin-top: 0.5em;
  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
 }

 ul, ol, li > p {
  margin-top: 0;
 }

 pre {
  padding: 0;
  margin: 0;
 }

 span#author {
  color: #527bbd;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-weight: bold;
  font-size: 1.1em;
 }
 span#email {
 }
 span#revnumber, span#revdate, span#revremark {
  font-family: sans-serif;
 }

 div#footer {
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-size: small;
  border-top: 2px solid silver;
  padding-top: 0.5em;
  margin-top: 4.0em;
 }
 div#footer-text {
  float: left;
  padding-bottom: 0.5em;
 }
 div#footer-badges {
  float: right;
  padding-bottom: 0.5em;
 }

 div#preamble {
  margin-top: 1.5em;
  margin-bottom: 1.5em;
 }
 div.tableblock, div.imageblock, div.exampleblock, div.verseblock,
 div.quoteblock, div.literalblock, div.listingblock, div.sidebarblock,
 div.admonitionblock {
  margin-top: 1.5em;
  margin-bottom: 1.5em;
 }
 div.admonitionblock {
  margin-top: 2.5em;
  margin-bottom: 2.5em;
 }

 div.content { /* Block element content. */
  padding: 0;
 }

 /* Block element titles. */
 div.title, caption.title {
  color: #527bbd;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-align: left;
  margin-top: 1.0em;
  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
 }
 div.title + * {
  margin-top: 0;
 }

 td div.title:first-child {
  margin-top: 0.0em;
 }
 div.content div.title:first-child {
  margin-top: 0.0em;
 }
 div.content + div.title {
  margin-top: 0.0em;
 }

 div.sidebarblock > div.content {
  background: #ffffee;
  border: 1px solid silver;
  padding: 0.5em;
 }

 div.listingblock > div.content {
  border: 1px solid silver;
  background: #f4f4f4;
  padding: 0.5em;
 }

 div.quoteblock {
  padding-left: 2.0em;
  margin-right: 10%;
 }
 div.quoteblock > div.attribution {
  padding-top: 0.5em;
  text-align: right;
 }

 div.verseblock {
  padding-left: 2.0em;
  margin-right: 10%;
 }
 div.verseblock > div.content {
  white-space: pre;
 }
 div.verseblock > div.attribution {
  padding-top: 0.75em;
  text-align: left;
 }
 /* DEPRECATED: Pre version 8.2.7 verse style literal block. */
 div.verseblock + div.attribution {
  text-align: left;
 }

 div.admonitionblock .icon {
  vertical-align: top;
  font-size: 1.1em;
  font-weight: bold;
  text-decoration: underline;
  color: #527bbd;
  padding-right: 0.5em;
 }
 div.admonitionblock td.content {
  padding-left: 0.5em;
  border-left: 2px solid silver;
 }

 div.exampleblock > div.content {
  border-left: 2px solid silver;
  padding: 0.5em;
 }

 div.imageblock div.content { padding-left: 0; }
 span.image img { border-style: none; }
 a.image:visited { color: white; }

 dl {
  margin-top: 0.8em;
  margin-bottom: 0.8em;
 }
 dt {
  margin-top: 0.5em;
  margin-bottom: 0;
  font-style: normal;
  color: navy;
 }
 dd > *:first-child {
  margin-top: 0.1em;
 }

 ul, ol {
  list-style-position: outside;
 }
 ol.arabic {
  list-style-type: decimal;
 }
 ol.loweralpha {
  list-style-type: lower-alpha;
 }
 ol.upperalpha {
  list-style-type: upper-alpha;
 }
 ol.lowerroman {
  list-style-type: lower-roman;
 }
 ol.upperroman {
  list-style-type: upper-roman;
 }

 div.compact ul, div.compact ol,
 div.compact p, div.compact p,
 div.compact div, div.compact div {
  margin-top: 0.1em;
  margin-bottom: 0.1em;
 }

 div.tableblock > table {
  border: 3px solid #527bbd;
 }
 thead {
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-weight: bold;
 }
 tfoot {
  font-weight: bold;
 }
 td > div.verse {
  white-space: pre;
 }
 p.table {
  margin-top: 0;
 }
 /* Because the table frame attribute is overriden by CSS in most browsers. */
 div.tableblock > table[frame="void"] {
  border-style: none;
 }
 div.tableblock > table[frame="hsides"] {
  border-left-style: none;
  border-right-style: none;
 }
 div.tableblock > table[frame="vsides"] {
  border-top-style: none;
  border-bottom-style: none;
 }


 div.hdlist {
  margin-top: 0.8em;
  margin-bottom: 0.8em;
 }
 div.hdlist tr {
  padding-bottom: 15px;
 }
 dt.hdlist1.strong, td.hdlist1.strong {
  font-weight: bold;
 }
 td.hdlist1 {
  vertical-align: top;
  font-style: normal;
  padding-right: 0.8em;
  color: navy;
 }
 td.hdlist2 {
  vertical-align: top;
 }
 div.hdlist.compact tr {
  margin: 0;
  padding-bottom: 0;
 }

 .comment {
  background: yellow;
 }

 @media print {
  div#footer-badges { display: none; }
 }

 div#toctitle {
  color: #527bbd;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-size: 1.1em;
  font-weight: bold;
  margin-top: 1.0em;
  margin-bottom: 0.1em;
 }

 div.toclevel1, div.toclevel2, div.toclevel3, div.toclevel4 {
  margin-top: 0;
  margin-bottom: 0;
 }
 div.toclevel2 {
  margin-left: 2em;
  font-size: 0.9em;
 }
 div.toclevel3 {
  margin-left: 4em;
  font-size: 0.9em;
 }
 div.toclevel4 {
  margin-left: 6em;
  font-size: 0.9em;
 }
 /* Overrides for manpage documents */
 h1 {
  padding-top: 0.5em;
  padding-bottom: 0.5em;
  border-top: 2px solid silver;
  border-bottom: 2px solid silver;
 }
 h2 {
  border-style: none;
 }
 div.sectionbody {
  margin-left: 5%;
 }

 @media print {
  div#toc { display: none; }
 }

 /* Workarounds for IE6's broken and incomplete CSS2. */

 div.sidebar-content {
  background: #ffffee;
  border: 1px solid silver;
  padding: 0.5em;
 }
 div.sidebar-title, div.image-title {
  color: #527bbd;
  font-family: sans-serif;
  font-weight: bold;
  margin-top: 0.0em;
  margin-bottom: 0.5em;
 }

 div.listingblock div.content {
  border: 1px solid silver;
  background: #f4f4f4;
  padding: 0.5em;
 }

 div.quoteblock-attribution {
  padding-top: 0.5em;
  text-align: right;
 }

 div.verseblock-content {
  white-space: pre;
 }
 div.verseblock-attribution {
  padding-top: 0.75em;
  text-align: left;
 }

 div.exampleblock-content {
  border-left: 2px solid silver;
  padding-left: 0.5em;
 }

 /* IE6 sets dynamically generated links as visited. */
 div#toc a:visited { color: blue; }
 </style>
 </head>
 <body>
 <div id="header">
 <h1>
 git-check-ref-format(1) Manual Page
 </h1>
 <h2>NAME</h2>
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <p>git-check-ref-format -
  Ensures that a reference name is well formed
 </p>
 </div>
 </div>
 <h2 id="_synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2>
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <div class="verseblock">
 <div class="verseblock-content"><em>git check-ref-format</em> &lt;refname&gt;
 <em>git check-ref-format</em> --print &lt;refname&gt;
 <em>git check-ref-format</em> --branch &lt;branchname-shorthand&gt;</div>
 <div class="verseblock-attribution">
 </div></div>
 </div>
 <h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <div class="paragraph"><p>Checks if a given <em>refname</em> is acceptable, and exits with a non-zero
 status if it is not.</p></div>
 <div class="paragraph"><p>A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags. A
 branch head is stored under the <tt>$GIT_DIR/refs/heads</tt> directory, and
 a tag is stored under the <tt>$GIT_DIR/refs/tags</tt> directory (or, if refs
 are packed by <tt>git gc</tt>, as entries in the <tt>$GIT_DIR/packed-refs</tt> file).
 git imposes the following rules on how references are named:</p></div>
 <div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
 <li>
 <p>
 They can include slash <tt>/</tt> for hierarchical (directory)
  grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a
  dot <tt>.</tt>.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They must contain at least one <tt>/</tt>. This enforces the presence of a
  category like <tt>heads/</tt>, <tt>tags/</tt> etc. but the actual names are not
  restricted.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot have two consecutive dots <tt>..</tt> anywhere.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes whose
  values are lower than \040, or \177 <tt>DEL</tt>), space, tilde <tt>~</tt>,
  caret <tt>&#94;</tt>, colon <tt>:</tt>, question-mark <tt>?</tt>, asterisk <tt>*</tt>,
  or open bracket <tt>[</tt> anywhere.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot end with a slash <tt>/</tt> nor a dot <tt>.</tt>.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot end with the sequence <tt>.lock</tt>.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot contain a sequence <tt>@{</tt>.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 They cannot contain a <tt>\</tt>.
 </p>
 </li>
 </ol></div>
 <div class="paragraph"><p>These rules make it easy for shell script based tools to parse
 reference names, pathname expansion by the shell when a reference name is used
 unquoted (by mistake), and also avoids ambiguities in certain
 reference name expressions (see <a href="gitrevisions.html">gitrevisions(7)</a>):</p></div>
 <div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
 <li>
 <p>
 A double-dot <tt>..</tt> is often used as in <tt>ref1..ref2</tt>, and in some
  contexts this notation means <tt>&#94;ref1 ref2</tt> (i.e. not in
  <tt>ref1</tt> and in <tt>ref2</tt>).
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 A tilde <tt>~</tt> and caret <tt>&#94;</tt> are used to introduce the postfix
  <em>nth parent</em> and <em>peel onion</em> operation.
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 A colon <tt>:</tt> is used as in <tt>srcref:dstref</tt> to mean "use srcref&#8217;s
  value and store it in dstref" in fetch and push operations.
  It may also be used to select a specific object such as with
  <em>git cat-file</em>: "git cat-file blob v1.3.3:refs.c".
 </p>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 at-open-brace <tt>@{</tt> is used as a notation to access a reflog entry.
 </p>
 </li>
 </ol></div>
 <div class="paragraph"><p>With the <tt>--print</tt> option, if <em>refname</em> is acceptable, it prints the
 canonicalized name of a hypothetical reference with that name. That is,
 it prints <em>refname</em> with any extra <tt>/</tt> characters removed.</p></div>
 <div class="paragraph"><p>With the <tt>--branch</tt> option, it expands the &#8220;previous branch syntax&#8221;
 <tt>@{-n}</tt>. For example, <tt>@{-1}</tt> is a way to refer the last branch you
 were on. This option should be used by porcelains to accept this
 syntax anywhere a branch name is expected, so they can act as if you
 typed the branch name.</p></div>
 </div>
 <h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <div class="ulist"><ul>
 <li>
 <p>
 Print the name of the previous branch:
 </p>
 <div class="listingblock">
 <div class="content">
 <pre><tt>$ git check-ref-format --branch @{-1}</tt></pre>
 </div></div>
 </li>
 <li>
 <p>
 Determine the reference name to use for a new branch:
 </p>
 <div class="listingblock">
 <div class="content">
 <pre><tt>$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --print "refs/heads/$newbranch") ||
 die "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name."</tt></pre>
 </div></div>
 </li>
 </ul></div>
 </div>
 <h2 id="_git">GIT</h2>
 <div class="sectionbody">
 <div class="paragraph"><p>Part of the <a href="git.html">git(1)</a> suite</p></div>
 </div>
 <div id="footer">
 <div id="footer-text">
 Last updated 2010-11-06 00:41:57 UTC
 </div>
 </div>
 </body>
 </html>
	<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
	"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
	<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
	<head>
	<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
	<meta name="generator" content="AsciiDoc 8.4.5" />
	<title>git-check-ref-format(1)</title>
	<style type="text/css">
	/* Debug borders */
	p, li, dt, dd, div, pre, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
	/*
	border: 1px solid red;
	*/
	}

	body {
	margin: 1em 5% 1em 5%;
	}

	a {
	color: blue;
	text-decoration: underline;
	}
	a:visited {
	color: fuchsia;
	}

	em {
	font-style: italic;
	color: navy;
	}

	strong {
	font-weight: bold;
	color: #083194;
	}

	tt {
	color: navy;
	}

	h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {
	color: #527bbd;
	font-family: sans-serif;
	margin-top: 1.2em;
	margin-bottom: 0.5em;
	line-height: 1.3;
	}

	h1, h2, h3 {
	border-bottom: 2px solid silver;
	}
	h2 {
	padding-top: 0.5em;
	}
	h3 {
	float: left;
	}
	h3 + * {
	clear: left;
	}

	div.sectionbody {
	font-family: serif;
	margin-left: 0;
	}

	hr {
	border: 1px solid silver;
	}

	p {
	margin-top: 0.5em;
	margin-bottom: 0.5em;
	}

	ul, ol, li > p {
	margin-top: 0;
	}

	pre {
	padding: 0;
	margin: 0;
	}

	span#author {
	color: #527bbd;
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-weight: bold;
	font-size: 1.1em;
	}
	span#email {
	}
	span#revnumber, span#revdate, span#revremark {
	font-family: sans-serif;
	}

	div#footer {
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-size: small;
	border-top: 2px solid silver;
	padding-top: 0.5em;
	margin-top: 4.0em;
	}
	div#footer-text {
	float: left;
	padding-bottom: 0.5em;
	}
	div#footer-badges {
	float: right;
	padding-bottom: 0.5em;
	}

	div#preamble {
	margin-top: 1.5em;
	margin-bottom: 1.5em;
	}
	div.tableblock, div.imageblock, div.exampleblock, div.verseblock,
	div.quoteblock, div.literalblock, div.listingblock, div.sidebarblock,
	div.admonitionblock {
	margin-top: 1.5em;
	margin-bottom: 1.5em;
	}
	div.admonitionblock {
	margin-top: 2.5em;
	margin-bottom: 2.5em;
	}

	div.content { /* Block element content. */
	padding: 0;
	}

	/* Block element titles. */
	div.title, caption.title {
	color: #527bbd;
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-weight: bold;
	text-align: left;
	margin-top: 1.0em;
	margin-bottom: 0.5em;
	}
	div.title + * {
	margin-top: 0;
	}

	td div.title:first-child {
	margin-top: 0.0em;
	}
	div.content div.title:first-child {
	margin-top: 0.0em;
	}
	div.content + div.title {
	margin-top: 0.0em;
	}

	div.sidebarblock > div.content {
	background: #ffffee;
	border: 1px solid silver;
	padding: 0.5em;
	}

	div.listingblock > div.content {
	border: 1px solid silver;
	background: #f4f4f4;
	padding: 0.5em;
	}

	div.quoteblock {
	padding-left: 2.0em;
	margin-right: 10%;
	}
	div.quoteblock > div.attribution {
	padding-top: 0.5em;
	text-align: right;
	}

	div.verseblock {
	padding-left: 2.0em;
	margin-right: 10%;
	}
	div.verseblock > div.content {
	white-space: pre;
	}
	div.verseblock > div.attribution {
	padding-top: 0.75em;
	text-align: left;
	}
	/* DEPRECATED: Pre version 8.2.7 verse style literal block. */
	div.verseblock + div.attribution {
	text-align: left;
	}

	div.admonitionblock .icon {
	vertical-align: top;
	font-size: 1.1em;
	font-weight: bold;
	text-decoration: underline;
	color: #527bbd;
	padding-right: 0.5em;
	}
	div.admonitionblock td.content {
	padding-left: 0.5em;
	border-left: 2px solid silver;
	}

	div.exampleblock > div.content {
	border-left: 2px solid silver;
	padding: 0.5em;
	}

	div.imageblock div.content { padding-left: 0; }
	span.image img { border-style: none; }
	a.image:visited { color: white; }

	dl {
	margin-top: 0.8em;
	margin-bottom: 0.8em;
	}
	dt {
	margin-top: 0.5em;
	margin-bottom: 0;
	font-style: normal;
	color: navy;
	}
	dd > *:first-child {
	margin-top: 0.1em;
	}

	ul, ol {
	list-style-position: outside;
	}
	ol.arabic {
	list-style-type: decimal;
	}
	ol.loweralpha {
	list-style-type: lower-alpha;
	}
	ol.upperalpha {
	list-style-type: upper-alpha;
	}
	ol.lowerroman {
	list-style-type: lower-roman;
	}
	ol.upperroman {
	list-style-type: upper-roman;
	}

	div.compact ul, div.compact ol,
	div.compact p, div.compact p,
	div.compact div, div.compact div {
	margin-top: 0.1em;
	margin-bottom: 0.1em;
	}

	div.tableblock > table {
	border: 3px solid #527bbd;
	}
	thead {
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-weight: bold;
	}
	tfoot {
	font-weight: bold;
	}
	td > div.verse {
	white-space: pre;
	}
	p.table {
	margin-top: 0;
	}
	/* Because the table frame attribute is overriden by CSS in most browsers. */
	div.tableblock > table[frame="void"] {
	border-style: none;
	}
	div.tableblock > table[frame="hsides"] {
	border-left-style: none;
	border-right-style: none;
	}
	div.tableblock > table[frame="vsides"] {
	border-top-style: none;
	border-bottom-style: none;
	}


	div.hdlist {
	margin-top: 0.8em;
	margin-bottom: 0.8em;
	}
	div.hdlist tr {
	padding-bottom: 15px;
	}
	dt.hdlist1.strong, td.hdlist1.strong {
	font-weight: bold;
	}
	td.hdlist1 {
	vertical-align: top;
	font-style: normal;
	padding-right: 0.8em;
	color: navy;
	}
	td.hdlist2 {
	vertical-align: top;
	}
	div.hdlist.compact tr {
	margin: 0;
	padding-bottom: 0;
	}

	.comment {
	background: yellow;
	}

	@media print {
	div#footer-badges { display: none; }
	}

	div#toctitle {
	color: #527bbd;
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-size: 1.1em;
	font-weight: bold;
	margin-top: 1.0em;
	margin-bottom: 0.1em;
	}

	div.toclevel1, div.toclevel2, div.toclevel3, div.toclevel4 {
	margin-top: 0;
	margin-bottom: 0;
	}
	div.toclevel2 {
	margin-left: 2em;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	}
	div.toclevel3 {
	margin-left: 4em;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	}
	div.toclevel4 {
	margin-left: 6em;
	font-size: 0.9em;
	}
	/* Overrides for manpage documents */
	h1 {
	padding-top: 0.5em;
	padding-bottom: 0.5em;
	border-top: 2px solid silver;
	border-bottom: 2px solid silver;
	}
	h2 {
	border-style: none;
	}
	div.sectionbody {
	margin-left: 5%;
	}

	@media print {
	div#toc { display: none; }
	}

	/* Workarounds for IE6's broken and incomplete CSS2. */

	div.sidebar-content {
	background: #ffffee;
	border: 1px solid silver;
	padding: 0.5em;
	}
	div.sidebar-title, div.image-title {
	color: #527bbd;
	font-family: sans-serif;
	font-weight: bold;
	margin-top: 0.0em;
	margin-bottom: 0.5em;
	}

	div.listingblock div.content {
	border: 1px solid silver;
	background: #f4f4f4;
	padding: 0.5em;
	}

	div.quoteblock-attribution {
	padding-top: 0.5em;
	text-align: right;
	}

	div.verseblock-content {
	white-space: pre;
	}
	div.verseblock-attribution {
	padding-top: 0.75em;
	text-align: left;
	}

	div.exampleblock-content {
	border-left: 2px solid silver;
	padding-left: 0.5em;
	}

	/* IE6 sets dynamically generated links as visited. */
	div#toc a:visited { color: blue; }
	</style>
	</head>
	<body>
	<div id="header">
	<h1>
	git-check-ref-format(1) Manual Page
	</h1>
	<h2>NAME</h2>
	<div class="sectionbody">
	<p>git-check-ref-format -
	Ensures that a reference name is well formed
	</p>
	</div>
	</div>
	<h2 id="_synopsis">SYNOPSIS</h2>
	<div class="sectionbody">
	<div class="verseblock">
	<div class="verseblock-content"><em>git check-ref-format</em> <refname>
	<em>git check-ref-format</em> --print <refname>
	<em>git check-ref-format</em> --branch <branchname-shorthand></div>
	<div class="verseblock-attribution">
	</div></div>
	</div>
	<h2 id="_description">DESCRIPTION</h2>
	<div class="sectionbody">
	<div class="paragraph"><p>Checks if a given <em>refname</em> is acceptable, and exits with a non-zero
	status if it is not.</p></div>
	<div class="paragraph"><p>A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags. A
	branch head is stored under the <tt>$GIT_DIR/refs/heads</tt> directory, and
	a tag is stored under the <tt>$GIT_DIR/refs/tags</tt> directory (or, if refs
	are packed by <tt>git gc</tt>, as entries in the <tt>$GIT_DIR/packed-refs</tt> file).
	git imposes the following rules on how references are named:</p></div>
	<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
	<li>
	<p>
	They can include slash <tt>/</tt> for hierarchical (directory)
	grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a
	dot <tt>.</tt>.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They must contain at least one <tt>/</tt>. This enforces the presence of a
	category like <tt>heads/</tt>, <tt>tags/</tt> etc. but the actual names are not
	restricted.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot have two consecutive dots <tt>..</tt> anywhere.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes whose
	values are lower than \040, or \177 <tt>DEL</tt>), space, tilde <tt>~</tt>,
	caret <tt>^</tt>, colon <tt>:</tt>, question-mark <tt>?</tt>, asterisk <tt>*</tt>,
	or open bracket <tt>[</tt> anywhere.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot end with a slash <tt>/</tt> nor a dot <tt>.</tt>.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot end with the sequence <tt>.lock</tt>.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot contain a sequence <tt>@{</tt>.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	They cannot contain a <tt>\</tt>.
	</p>
	</li>
	</ol></div>
	<div class="paragraph"><p>These rules make it easy for shell script based tools to parse
	reference names, pathname expansion by the shell when a reference name is used
	unquoted (by mistake), and also avoids ambiguities in certain
	reference name expressions (see <a href="gitrevisions.html">gitrevisions(7)</a>):</p></div>
	<div class="olist arabic"><ol class="arabic">
	<li>
	<p>
	A double-dot <tt>..</tt> is often used as in <tt>ref1..ref2</tt>, and in some
	contexts this notation means <tt>^ref1 ref2</tt> (i.e. not in
	<tt>ref1</tt> and in <tt>ref2</tt>).
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	A tilde <tt>~</tt> and caret <tt>^</tt> are used to introduce the postfix
	<em>nth parent</em> and <em>peel onion</em> operation.
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	A colon <tt>:</tt> is used as in <tt>srcref:dstref</tt> to mean "use srcref’s
	value and store it in dstref" in fetch and push operations.
	It may also be used to select a specific object such as with
	<em>git cat-file</em>: "git cat-file blob v1.3.3:refs.c".
	</p>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	at-open-brace <tt>@{</tt> is used as a notation to access a reflog entry.
	</p>
	</li>
	</ol></div>
	<div class="paragraph"><p>With the <tt>--print</tt> option, if <em>refname</em> is acceptable, it prints the
	canonicalized name of a hypothetical reference with that name. That is,
	it prints <em>refname</em> with any extra <tt>/</tt> characters removed.</p></div>
	<div class="paragraph"><p>With the <tt>--branch</tt> option, it expands the “previous branch syntax”
	<tt>@{-n}</tt>. For example, <tt>@{-1}</tt> is a way to refer the last branch you
	were on. This option should be used by porcelains to accept this
	syntax anywhere a branch name is expected, so they can act as if you
	typed the branch name.</p></div>
	</div>
	<h2 id="_examples">EXAMPLES</h2>
	<div class="sectionbody">
	<div class="ulist"><ul>
	<li>
	<p>
	Print the name of the previous branch:
	</p>
	<div class="listingblock">
	<div class="content">
	<pre><tt>$ git check-ref-format --branch @{-1}</tt></pre>
	</div></div>
	</li>
	<li>
	<p>
	Determine the reference name to use for a new branch:
	</p>
	<div class="listingblock">
	<div class="content">
	<pre><tt>$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --print "refs/heads/$newbranch") \|\|
	die "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name."</tt></pre>
	</div></div>
	</li>
	</ul></div>
	</div>
	<h2 id="_git">GIT</h2>
	<div class="sectionbody">
	<div class="paragraph"><p>Part of the <a href="git.html">git(1)</a> suite</p></div>
	</div>
	<div id="footer">
	<div id="footer-text">
	Last updated 2010-11-06 00:41:57 UTC
	</div>
	</div>
	</body>
	</html>