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1 | git-symbolic-ref(1) |
2 | =================== | |
3 | ||
4 | NAME | |
5 | ---- | |
9ab55daa | 6 | git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs |
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7 | |
8 | SYNOPSIS | |
9 | -------- | |
7791a1d9 | 10 | [verse] |
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11 | 'git symbolic-ref' [-m <reason>] <name> <ref> |
12 | 'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [--short] <name> | |
9ab55daa | 13 | 'git symbolic-ref' --delete [-q] <name> |
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14 | |
15 | DESCRIPTION | |
16 | ----------- | |
17 | Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic | |
18 | ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` | |
19 | directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> | |
75f492ac | 20 | argument to see which branch your working tree is on. |
12905637 | 21 | |
75f492ac | 22 | Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to |
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23 | point at the given branch <ref>. |
24 | ||
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25 | Given `--delete` and an additional argument, deletes the given |
26 | symbolic ref. | |
27 | ||
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28 | A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that |
29 | begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is | |
30 | a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. | |
31 | ||
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32 | OPTIONS |
33 | ------- | |
34 | ||
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35 | -d:: |
36 | --delete:: | |
37 | Delete the symbolic ref <name>. | |
38 | ||
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39 | -q:: |
40 | --quiet:: | |
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41 | Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a |
42 | symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with | |
43 | non-zero status silently. | |
44 | ||
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45 | --short:: |
46 | When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the | |
47 | value, e.g. from `refs/heads/master` to `master`. | |
48 | ||
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49 | -m:: |
50 | Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only | |
51 | when creating or updating a symbolic ref. | |
52 | ||
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53 | NOTES |
54 | ----- | |
55 | In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at | |
56 | `refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, | |
57 | we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted | |
12905637 | 58 | to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
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59 | But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now |
60 | deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by | |
61 | default. | |
12905637 | 62 | |
0b444cdb | 63 | 'git symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the |
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64 | symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested |
65 | name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. | |
66 | ||
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67 | GIT |
68 | --- | |
9e1f0a85 | 69 | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |