1 git-show-ref(1)
2 ===============
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-show-ref - List references in a local repository
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 [verse]
11 'git show-ref' [-q|--quiet] [--verify] [--head] [-d|--dereference]
12 [-s|--hash[=<n>]] [--abbrev[=<n>]] [--tags]
13 [--heads] [--] <pattern>...
14 'git show-ref' --exclude-existing[=<pattern>] < ref-list
16 DESCRIPTION
17 -----------
19 Displays references available in a local repository along with the associated
20 commit IDs. Results can be filtered using a pattern and tags can be
21 dereferenced into object IDs. Additionally, it can be used to test whether a
22 particular ref exists.
24 The --exclude-existing form is a filter that does the inverse, it shows the
25 refs from stdin that don't exist in the local repository.
27 Use of this utility is encouraged in favor of directly accessing files under
28 the `.git` directory.
30 OPTIONS
31 -------
33 --head::
35 Show the HEAD reference.
37 --tags::
38 --heads::
40 Limit to only "refs/heads" and "refs/tags", respectively. These
41 options are not mutually exclusive; when given both, references stored
42 in "refs/heads" and "refs/tags" are displayed.
44 -d::
45 --dereference::
47 Dereference tags into object IDs as well. They will be shown with "^{}"
48 appended.
50 -s::
51 --hash[=<n>]::
53 Only show the SHA1 hash, not the reference name. When combined with
54 --dereference the dereferenced tag will still be shown after the SHA1.
56 --verify::
58 Enable stricter reference checking by requiring an exact ref path.
59 Aside from returning an error code of 1, it will also print an error
60 message if '--quiet' was not specified.
62 --abbrev[=<n>]::
64 Abbreviate the object name. When using `--hash`, you do
65 not have to say `--hash --abbrev`; `--hash=n` would do.
67 -q::
68 --quiet::
70 Do not print any results to stdout. When combined with '--verify' this
71 can be used to silently check if a reference exists.
73 --exclude-existing[=<pattern>]::
75 Make 'git show-ref' act as a filter that reads refs from stdin of the
76 form "^(?:<anything>\s)?<refname>(?:\^\{\})?$" and performs the
77 following actions on each:
78 (1) strip "^{}" at the end of line if any;
79 (2) ignore if pattern is provided and does not head-match refname;
80 (3) warn if refname is not a well-formed refname and skip;
81 (4) ignore if refname is a ref that exists in the local repository;
82 (5) otherwise output the line.
85 <pattern>...::
87 Show references matching one or more patterns.
89 OUTPUT
90 ------
92 The output is in the format: '<SHA-1 ID>' '<space>' '<reference name>'.
94 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
95 $ git show-ref --head --dereference
96 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 HEAD
97 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 refs/heads/master
98 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 refs/heads/origin
99 3521017556c5de4159da4615a39fa4d5d2c279b5 refs/tags/v0.99.9c
100 6ddc0964034342519a87fe013781abf31c6db6ad refs/tags/v0.99.9c^{}
101 055e4ae3ae6eb344cbabf2a5256a49ea66040131 refs/tags/v1.0rc4
102 423325a2d24638ddcc82ce47be5e40be550f4507 refs/tags/v1.0rc4^{}
103 ...
104 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
106 When using --hash (and not --dereference) the output format is: '<SHA-1 ID>'
108 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
109 $ git show-ref --heads --hash
110 2e3ba0114a1f52b47df29743d6915d056be13278
111 185008ae97960c8d551adcd9e23565194651b5d1
112 03adf42c988195b50e1a1935ba5fcbc39b2b029b
113 ...
114 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
116 EXAMPLE
117 -------
119 To show all references called "master", whether tags or heads or anything
120 else, and regardless of how deep in the reference naming hierarchy they are,
121 use:
123 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
124 git show-ref master
125 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
127 This will show "refs/heads/master" but also "refs/remote/other-repo/master",
128 if such references exists.
130 When using the '--verify' flag, the command requires an exact path:
132 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
133 git show-ref --verify refs/heads/master
134 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
136 will only match the exact branch called "master".
138 If nothing matches, 'git show-ref' will return an error code of 1,
139 and in the case of verification, it will show an error message.
141 For scripting, you can ask it to be quiet with the "--quiet" flag, which
142 allows you to do things like
144 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
145 git show-ref --quiet --verify -- "refs/heads/$headname" ||
146 echo "$headname is not a valid branch"
147 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
149 to check whether a particular branch exists or not (notice how we don't
150 actually want to show any results, and we want to use the full refname for it
151 in order to not trigger the problem with ambiguous partial matches).
153 To show only tags, or only proper branch heads, use "--tags" and/or "--heads"
154 respectively (using both means that it shows tags and heads, but not other
155 random references under the refs/ subdirectory).
157 To do automatic tag object dereferencing, use the "-d" or "--dereference"
158 flag, so you can do
160 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
161 git show-ref --tags --dereference
162 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
164 to get a listing of all tags together with what they dereference.
166 SEE ALSO
167 --------
168 linkgit:git-ls-remote[1]
170 AUTHORS
171 -------
172 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>.
173 Man page by Jonas Fonseca <fonseca@diku.dk>.
175 GIT
176 ---
177 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite