GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1) Git Manual GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
NAME
git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs
SYNOPSIS
git symbolic-ref [-m <reason>] <name> <ref>
git symbolic-ref [-q] [--short] <name>
git symbolic-ref --delete [-q] <name>
DESCRIPTION
Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to
the .git/ directory. Typically you would give HEAD as the <name> argument to see which branch your working
tree is on.
Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to point at the given branch <ref>.
Given --delete and an additional argument, deletes the given symbolic ref.
A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that begins with ref: refs/. For example, your .git/HEAD
is a regular file whose contents is ref: refs/heads/master.
OPTIONS
-d, --delete
Delete the symbolic ref <name>.
-q, --quiet
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.
--short
When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the value, e.g. from refs/heads/master
to master.
-m
Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only when creating or updating a symbolic ref.
NOTES
In the past, .git/HEAD was a symbolic link pointing at refs/heads/master. When we wanted to switch to another
branch, we did ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD, and when we wanted to find out which branch we are on,
we did readlink .git/HEAD. But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now deprecated and
symbolic refs (as described above) are used by default.
git symbolic-ref 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.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 1.8.3.1 03/23/2016 GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
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