git-symbolic-ref.1 (3830B)
- '\" t
- .\" Title: git-symbolic-ref
- .\" Author: [FIXME: author] [see http://www.docbook.org/tdg5/en/html/author]
- .\" Generator: DocBook XSL Stylesheets v1.79.2 <http://docbook.sf.net/>
- .\" Date: 2025-03-14
- .\" Manual: Git Manual
- .\" Source: Git 2.49.0
- .\" Language: English
- .\"
- .TH "GIT\-SYMBOLIC\-REF" "1" "2025-03-14" "Git 2\&.49\&.0" "Git Manual"
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .\" * Define some portability stuff
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- .\" http://bugs.debian.org/507673
- .\" http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/groff/2009-02/msg00013.html
- .\" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- .ie \n(.g .ds Aq \(aq
- .el .ds Aq '
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .\" * set default formatting
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .\" disable hyphenation
- .nh
- .\" disable justification (adjust text to left margin only)
- .ad l
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .\" * MAIN CONTENT STARTS HERE *
- .\" -----------------------------------------------------------------
- .SH "NAME"
- git-symbolic-ref \- Read, modify and delete symbolic refs
- .SH "SYNOPSIS"
- .sp
- .nf
- \fIgit symbolic\-ref\fR [\-m <reason>] <name> <ref>
- \fIgit symbolic\-ref\fR [\-q] [\-\-short] [\-\-no\-recurse] <name>
- \fIgit symbolic\-ref\fR \-\-delete [\-q] <name>
- .fi
- .SH "DESCRIPTION"
- .sp
- Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the \&.\fBgit/\fR directory\&. Typically you would give \fBHEAD\fR as the <name> argument to see which branch your working tree is on\&.
- .sp
- Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to point at the given branch <ref>\&.
- .sp
- Given \fB\-\-delete\fR and an additional argument, deletes the given symbolic ref\&.
- .sp
- A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that begins with \fBref:\fR \fBrefs/\fR\&. For example, your \&.\fBgit/HEAD\fR is a regular file whose content is \fBref:\fR \fBrefs/heads/master\fR\&.
- .SH "OPTIONS"
- .PP
- \-d, \-\-delete
- .RS 4
- Delete the symbolic ref <name>\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-q, \-\-quiet
- .RS 4
- Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with non\-zero status silently\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-short
- .RS 4
- When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the value, e\&.g\&. from
- \fBrefs/heads/master\fR
- to
- \fBmaster\fR\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-\-recurse, \-\-no\-recurse
- .RS 4
- When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, if <name> refers to another symbolic ref, follow such a chain of symbolic refs until the result no longer points at a symbolic ref (\fB\-\-recurse\fR, which is the default)\&.
- \fB\-\-no\-recurse\fR
- stops after dereferencing only a single level of symbolic ref\&.
- .RE
- .PP
- \-m
- .RS 4
- Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>\&. This is valid only when creating or updating a symbolic ref\&.
- .RE
- .SH "NOTES"
- .sp
- In the past, \&.\fBgit/HEAD\fR was a symbolic link pointing at \fBrefs/heads/master\fR\&. When we wanted to switch to another branch, we did \fBln\fR \fB\-sf\fR \fBrefs/heads/newbranch\fR \fB\&.git/HEAD\fR, and when we wanted to find out which branch we are on, we did \fBreadlink\fR \fB\&.git/HEAD\fR\&. But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by default\&.
- .sp
- \fIgit symbolic\-ref\fR will exit with status 0 if the contents of the symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs\&.
- .SH "SEE ALSO"
- .sp
- \fBgit-update-ref\fR(1)
- .SH "GIT"
- .sp
- Part of the \fBgit\fR(1) suite