git-check-ref-format
(1)
Name
git-check-ref-format - Ensures that a reference name is well
formed
Synopsis
git check-ref-format [--normalize]
[--[no-]allow-onelevel] [--refspec-pattern]
<refname>
git check-ref-format --branch <branchname-shorthand>
Description
Git Manual GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)
NAME
git-check-ref-format - Ensures that a reference name is well
formed
SYNOPSIS
git check-ref-format [--normalize]
[--[no-]allow-onelevel] [--refspec-pattern]
<refname>
git check-ref-format --branch <branchname-shorthand>
DESCRIPTION
Checks if a given refname is acceptable, and exits with a
non-zero status if it is not.
A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags. A
branch head is stored in the refs/heads hierarchy, while a
tag is stored in the refs/tags hierarchy of the ref
namespace (typically in $GIT_DIR/refs/heads and
$GIT_DIR/refs/tags directories or, as entries in file
$GIT_DIR/packed-refs if refs are packed by git gc).
git imposes the following rules on how references are named:
1. They can include slash / for hierarchical (directory)
grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin
with a dot . or end with the sequence .lock.
2. They must contain at least one /. This enforces the
presence of a category like heads/, tags/ etc. but the
actual names are not restricted. If the --allow-onelevel
option is used, this rule is waived.
3. They cannot have two consecutive dots .. anywhere.
4. They cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes
whose values are lower than \040, or \177 DEL), space,
tilde ~, caret ^, or colon : anywhere.
5. They cannot have question-mark ?, asterisk *, or open
bracket [ anywhere. See the --refspec-pattern option
below for an exception to this rule.
6. They cannot begin or end with a slash / or contain
multiple consecutive slashes (see the --normalize option
below for an exception to this rule)
7. They cannot end with a dot ..
8. They cannot contain a sequence @{.
9. They cannot contain a \.
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Git Manual GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)
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 gitrevisions(5)):
1. A double-dot .. is often used as in ref1..ref2, and in
some contexts this notation means ^ref1 ref2 (i.e. not
in ref1 and in ref2).
2. A tilde ~ and caret ^ are used to introduce the postfix
nth parent and peel onion operation.
3. A colon : is used as in srcref:dstref 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 git cat-file: "git cat-file blob
v1.3.3:refs.c".
4. at-open-brace @{ is used as a notation to access a
reflog entry.
With the --branch option, it expands the "previous branch
syntax" @{-n}. For example, @{-1} 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.
OPTIONS
--allow-onelevel, --no-allow-onelevel
Controls whether one-level refnames are accepted (i.e.,
refnames that do not contain multiple /-separated
components). The default is --no-allow-onelevel.
--refspec-pattern
Interpret <refname> as a reference name pattern for a
refspec (as used with remote repositories). If this
option is enabled, <refname> is allowed to contain a
single * in place of a one full pathname component
(e.g., foo/*/bar but not foo/bar*).
--normalize
Normalize refname by removing any leading slash (/)
characters and collapsing runs of adjacent slashes
between name components into a single slash. Iff the
normalized refname is valid then print it to standard
output and exit with a status of 0. (--print is a
deprecated way to spell --normalize.)
EXAMPLES
o Print the name of the previous branch:
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Git Manual GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)
$ git check-ref-format --branch @{-1}
o Determine the reference name to use for a new branch:
$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --normalize "refs/heads/$newbranch") ||
die "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name."
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | developer/versioning/git |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------------+
NOTES
This software was built from source available at
https://java.net/projects/solaris-userland. The original
community source was downloaded from http://git-
core.googlecode.com/files/git-1.7.9.2.tar.gz
Further information about this software can be found on the
open source community website at http://git-scm.com/.
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