6 git-rev-parse - Pick out and massage parameters
11 'git-rev-parse' [ --option ] <args>...
16 Many git porcelainish commands take mixture of flags
17 (i.e. parameters that begin with a dash '-') and parameters
18 meant for underlying `git-rev-list` command they use internally
19 and flags and parameters for other commands they use as the
20 downstream of `git-rev-list`. This command is used to
21 distinguish between them.
27 Do not output flags and parameters not meant for
28 `git-rev-list` command.
31 Do not output flags and parameters meant for
32 `git-rev-list` command.
35 Do not output non-flag parameters.
38 Do not output flag parameters.
41 If there is no parameter given by the user, use `<arg>`
45 The parameter given must be usable as a single, valid
46 object name. Otherwise barf and abort.
49 Usually the output is made one line per flag and
50 parameter. This option makes output a single line,
51 properly quoted for consumption by shell. Useful when
52 you expect your parameter to contain whitespaces and
53 newlines (e.g. when using pickaxe `-S` with
57 When showing object names, prefix them with '{caret}' and
58 strip '{caret}' prefix from the object names that already have
62 Usually the object names are output in SHA1 form (with
63 possible '{caret}' prefix); this option makes them output in a
64 form as close to the original input as possible.
68 Show all refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs`.
71 Show branch refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`.
74 Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags`.
77 Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes`.
80 When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
81 path of the current directory relative to the top-level
85 When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
86 path of the top-level directory relative to the current
87 directory (typically a sequence of "../", or an empty string).
90 Show `$GIT_DIR` if defined else show the path to the .git directory.
93 Return "true" if we are in the git directory, otherwise "false".
94 Some commands require to be run in a working directory.
96 --short, --short=number::
97 Instead of outputting the full SHA1 values of object names try to
98 abbreviate them to a shorter unique name. When no length is specified
99 7 is used. The minimum length is 4.
101 --since=datestring, --after=datestring::
102 Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
103 --max-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
105 --until=datestring, --before=datestring::
106 Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
107 --min-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
110 Flags and parameters to be parsed.
116 A revision parameter typically, but not necessarily, names a
117 commit object. They use what is called an 'extended SHA1'
118 syntax. Here are various ways to spell object names. The
119 ones listed near the end of this list are to name trees and
120 blobs contained in a commit.
122 * The full SHA1 object name (40-byte hexadecimal string), or
123 a substring of such that is unique within the repository.
124 E.g. dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735 and dae86e both
125 name the same commit object if there are no other object in
126 your repository whose object name starts with dae86e.
128 * An output from `git-describe`; i.e. a closest tag, followed by a
129 dash, a `g`, and an abbreviated object name.
131 * A symbolic ref name. E.g. 'master' typically means the commit
132 object referenced by $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master. If you
133 happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
134 explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
135 When ambiguous, a `<name>` is disambiguated by taking the
136 first match in the following rules:
138 . if `$GIT_DIR/<name>` exists, that is what you mean (this is usually
139 useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD` and `MERGE_HEAD`);
141 . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/<name>` if exists;
143 . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<name>` if exists;
145 . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<name>` if exists;
147 . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>` if exists;
149 . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` if exists.
151 * A ref followed by the suffix '@' with a date specification
153 pair (e.g. '\{yesterday\}', '\{1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour 1
154 second ago\}' or '\{1979-02-26 18:30:00\}') to specify the value
155 of the ref at a prior point in time. This suffix may only be
156 used immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an
157 existing log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
159 * A ref followed by the suffix '@' with an ordinal specification
160 enclosed in a brace pair (e.g. '\{1\}', '\{15\}') to specify
161 the n-th prior value of that ref. For example 'master@\{1\}'
162 is the immediate prior value of 'master' while 'master@\{5\}'
163 is the 5th prior value of 'master'. This suffix may only be used
164 immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an existing
165 log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
167 * You can use the '@' construct with an empty ref part to get at a
168 reflog of the current branch. For example, if you are on the
169 branch 'blabla', then '@\{1\}' means the same as 'blabla@\{1\}'.
171 * A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
172 that commit object. '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
174 is equivalent to 'rev{caret}1'). As a special rule,
175 'rev{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
176 object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object.
178 * A suffix '{tilde}<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
179 object that is the <n>th generation grand-parent of the named
180 commit object, following only the first parent. I.e. rev~3 is
181 equivalent to rev{caret}{caret}{caret} which is equivalent to
182 rev{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1. See below for a illustration of
183 the usage of this form.
185 * A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in
186 brace pair (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}`) means the object
187 could be a tag, and dereference the tag recursively until an
188 object of that type is found or the object cannot be
189 dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf). `rev{caret}0`
190 introduced earlier is a short-hand for `rev{caret}\{commit\}`.
192 * A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair
193 (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{\}`) means the object could be a tag,
194 and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is
197 * A colon, followed by a slash, followed by a text: this names
198 a commit whose commit message starts with the specified text.
199 This name returns the youngest matching commit which is
200 reachable from any ref. If the commit message starts with a
201 '!', you have to repeat that; the special sequence ':/!',
202 followed by something else than '!' is reserved for now.
204 * A suffix ':' followed by a path; this names the blob or tree
205 at the given path in the tree-ish object named by the part
208 * A colon, optionally followed by a stage number (0 to 3) and a
209 colon, followed by a path; this names a blob object in the
210 index at the given path. Missing stage number (and the colon
211 that follows it) names an stage 0 entry.
213 Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger. Both node B and C are
214 a commit parents of commit node A. Parent commits are ordered
231 D = A^^ = A^1^1 = A~2
234 G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3
235 H = D^2 = B^^2 = A^^^2 = A~2^2
236 I = F^ = B^3^ = A^^3^
237 J = F^2 = B^3^2 = A^^3^2
243 History traversing commands such as `git-log` operate on a set
244 of commits, not just a single commit. To these commands,
245 specifying a single revision with the notation described in the
246 previous section means the set of commits reachable from that
247 commit, following the commit ancestry chain.
249 To exclude commits reachable from a commit, a prefix `{caret}`
250 notation is used. E.g. "`{caret}r1 r2`" means commits reachable
251 from `r2` but exclude the ones reachable from `r1`.
253 This set operation appears so often that there is a shorthand
254 for it. "`r1..r2`" is equivalent to "`{caret}r1 r2`". It is
255 the difference of two sets (subtract the set of commits
256 reachable from `r1` from the set of commits reachable from
259 A similar notation "`r1\...r2`" is called symmetric difference
260 of `r1` and `r2` and is defined as
261 "`r1 r2 --not $(git-merge-base --all r1 r2)`".
262 It is the set of commits that are reachable from either one of
263 `r1` or `r2` but not from both.
265 Two other shorthands for naming a set that is formed by a commit
266 and its parent commits exists. `r1{caret}@` notation means all
267 parents of `r1`. `r1{caret}!` includes commit `r1` but excludes
270 Here are a handful examples:
283 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
284 Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
288 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
292 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite