git-symbolic-ref
(1)
Name
git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs
Synopsis
git symbolic-ref [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>]
Description
Git Manual GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
NAME
git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs
SYNOPSIS
git symbolic-ref [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>]
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>.
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
-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.
-m
Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is
valid only when creating or updating a symbolic ref.
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following
attributes:
+---------------+--------------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Availability | developer/versioning/git |
+---------------+--------------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+--------------------------+
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
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 1
Git Manual GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
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
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/.
Git 1.7.9.2 Last change: 02/22/2012 2