6 git-show-ref - List references in a local repository
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
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
35 Show the HEAD reference.
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.
47 Dereference tags into object IDs as well. They will be shown with "^{}"
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.
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.
64 Abbreviate the object name. When using `--hash`, you do
65 not have to say `--hash --abbrev`; `--hash=n` would do.
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>(?:{backslash}{caret}\{\})?$"
77 and performs the 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.
87 Show references matching one or more patterns. Patterns are matched from
88 the end of the full name, and only complete parts are matched, e.g.
89 'master' matches 'refs/heads/master', 'refs/remotes/origin/master',
90 'refs/tags/jedi/master' but not 'refs/heads/mymaster' nor
91 'refs/remotes/master/jedi'.
96 The output is in the format: '<SHA-1 ID>' '<space>' '<reference name>'.
98 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
99 $ git show-ref --head --dereference
100 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 HEAD
101 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 refs/heads/master
102 832e76a9899f560a90ffd62ae2ce83bbeff58f54 refs/heads/origin
103 3521017556c5de4159da4615a39fa4d5d2c279b5 refs/tags/v0.99.9c
104 6ddc0964034342519a87fe013781abf31c6db6ad refs/tags/v0.99.9c^{}
105 055e4ae3ae6eb344cbabf2a5256a49ea66040131 refs/tags/v1.0rc4
106 423325a2d24638ddcc82ce47be5e40be550f4507 refs/tags/v1.0rc4^{}
108 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
110 When using --hash (and not --dereference) the output format is: '<SHA-1 ID>'
112 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
113 $ git show-ref --heads --hash
114 2e3ba0114a1f52b47df29743d6915d056be13278
115 185008ae97960c8d551adcd9e23565194651b5d1
116 03adf42c988195b50e1a1935ba5fcbc39b2b029b
118 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
123 To show all references called "master", whether tags or heads or anything
124 else, and regardless of how deep in the reference naming hierarchy they are,
127 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
129 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
131 This will show "refs/heads/master" but also "refs/remote/other-repo/master",
132 if such references exists.
134 When using the '--verify' flag, the command requires an exact path:
136 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
137 git show-ref --verify refs/heads/master
138 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
140 will only match the exact branch called "master".
142 If nothing matches, 'git show-ref' will return an error code of 1,
143 and in the case of verification, it will show an error message.
145 For scripting, you can ask it to be quiet with the "--quiet" flag, which
146 allows you to do things like
148 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
149 git show-ref --quiet --verify -- "refs/heads/$headname" ||
150 echo "$headname is not a valid branch"
151 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
153 to check whether a particular branch exists or not (notice how we don't
154 actually want to show any results, and we want to use the full refname for it
155 in order to not trigger the problem with ambiguous partial matches).
157 To show only tags, or only proper branch heads, use "--tags" and/or "--heads"
158 respectively (using both means that it shows tags and heads, but not other
159 random references under the refs/ subdirectory).
161 To do automatic tag object dereferencing, use the "-d" or "--dereference"
164 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
165 git show-ref --tags --dereference
166 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
168 to get a listing of all tags together with what they dereference.
172 `.git/refs/*`, `.git/packed-refs`
176 linkgit:git-ls-remote[1],
177 linkgit:git-update-ref[1],
178 linkgit:gitrepository-layout[5]
182 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite