| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | git-symbolic-ref(1) |
| 2 | =================== |
| 3 | |
| 4 | NAME |
| 5 | ---- |
| Junio C Hamano | 4eb2b9c | 2012-11-15 21:12:29 | [diff] [blame] | 6 | git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 7 | |
| 8 | SYNOPSIS |
| 9 | -------- |
| Junio C Hamano | 15567bc | 2011-07-23 00:51:59 | [diff] [blame] | 10 | [verse] |
| Junio C Hamano | 3dd9392 | 2012-03-05 07:49:11 | [diff] [blame] | 11 | 'git symbolic-ref' [-m <reason>] <name> <ref> |
| Junio C Hamano | 3393baa | 2022-10-21 20:48:21 | [diff] [blame] | 12 | 'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [--short] [--no-recurse] <name> |
| Junio C Hamano | 4eb2b9c | 2012-11-15 21:12:29 | [diff] [blame] | 13 | 'git symbolic-ref' --delete [-q] <name> |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 14 | |
| 15 | DESCRIPTION |
| 16 | ----------- |
| 17 | Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic |
| 18 | ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` |
| 19 | directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> |
| Junio C Hamano | 9f88386 | 2009-08-11 06:23:52 | [diff] [blame] | 20 | argument to see which branch your working tree is on. |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 21 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 9f88386 | 2009-08-11 06:23:52 | [diff] [blame] | 22 | Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 23 | point at the given branch <ref>. |
| 24 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 4eb2b9c | 2012-11-15 21:12:29 | [diff] [blame] | 25 | Given `--delete` and an additional argument, deletes the given |
| 26 | symbolic ref. |
| 27 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 735a4f7 | 2006-12-03 01:53:32 | [diff] [blame] | 28 | A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that |
| 29 | begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is |
| 30 | a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. |
| 31 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 97c11c5 | 2007-01-16 10:44:47 | [diff] [blame] | 32 | OPTIONS |
| 33 | ------- |
| 34 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 4eb2b9c | 2012-11-15 21:12:29 | [diff] [blame] | 35 | -d:: |
| 36 | --delete:: |
| 37 | Delete the symbolic ref <name>. |
| 38 | |
| Junio C Hamano | eb41599 | 2008-06-08 22:49:47 | [diff] [blame] | 39 | -q:: |
| 40 | --quiet:: |
| Junio C Hamano | 97c11c5 | 2007-01-16 10:44:47 | [diff] [blame] | 41 | Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a |
| 42 | symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with |
| 43 | non-zero status silently. |
| 44 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 3dd9392 | 2012-03-05 07:49:11 | [diff] [blame] | 45 | --short:: |
| 46 | When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the |
| 47 | value, e.g. from `refs/heads/master` to `master`. |
| 48 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 3393baa | 2022-10-21 20:48:21 | [diff] [blame] | 49 | --recurse:: |
| 50 | --no-recurse:: |
| 51 | When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, if |
| 52 | <name> refers to another symbolic ref, follow such a chain |
| 53 | of symbolic refs until the result no longer points at a |
| 54 | symbolic ref (`--recurse`, which is the default). |
| 55 | `--no-recurse` stops after dereferencing only a single level |
| 56 | of symbolic ref. |
| 57 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 16cf158 | 2007-02-05 07:21:48 | [diff] [blame] | 58 | -m:: |
| 59 | Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only |
| 60 | when creating or updating a symbolic ref. |
| 61 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 735a4f7 | 2006-12-03 01:53:32 | [diff] [blame] | 62 | NOTES |
| 63 | ----- |
| 64 | In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at |
| 65 | `refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, |
| 66 | we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 67 | to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
| Junio C Hamano | 515ab1d | 2011-12-09 23:41:20 | [diff] [blame] | 68 | But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now |
| 69 | deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by |
| 70 | default. |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 71 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 1aa40d2 | 2010-01-21 17:46:43 | [diff] [blame] | 72 | 'git symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the |
| Junio C Hamano | 97c11c5 | 2007-01-16 10:44:47 | [diff] [blame] | 73 | symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested |
| 74 | name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. |
| 75 | |
| Junio C Hamano | 1a4e841 | 2005-12-27 08:17:23 | [diff] [blame] | 76 | GIT |
| 77 | --- |
| Junio C Hamano | f7c042d | 2008-06-06 22:50:53 | [diff] [blame] | 78 | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |
