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1 | git-symbolic-ref(1) |
2 | =================== | |
3 | ||
4 | NAME | |
5 | ---- | |
c3f0baac | 6 | git-symbolic-ref - Read and modify symbolic refs |
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7 | |
8 | SYNOPSIS | |
9 | -------- | |
b1889c36 | 10 | 'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [-m <reason>] <name> [<ref>] |
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11 | |
12 | DESCRIPTION | |
13 | ----------- | |
14 | Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic | |
15 | ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` | |
16 | directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> | |
75f492ac | 17 | argument to see which branch your working tree is on. |
12905637 | 18 | |
75f492ac | 19 | Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to |
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20 | point at the given branch <ref>. |
21 | ||
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22 | A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that |
23 | begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is | |
24 | a regular file whose contents is `ref: refs/heads/master`. | |
25 | ||
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26 | OPTIONS |
27 | ------- | |
28 | ||
3240240f SB |
29 | -q:: |
30 | --quiet:: | |
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31 | Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a |
32 | symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with | |
33 | non-zero status silently. | |
34 | ||
8b5157e4 NP |
35 | -m:: |
36 | Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only | |
37 | when creating or updating a symbolic ref. | |
38 | ||
22b1c7ee AP |
39 | NOTES |
40 | ----- | |
41 | In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at | |
42 | `refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, | |
43 | we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted | |
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44 | to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. |
45 | This was fine, and internally that is what still happens by | |
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46 | default, but on platforms that do not have working symlinks, |
47 | or that do not have the `readlink(1)` command, this was a bit | |
12905637 | 48 | cumbersome. On some platforms, `ln -sf` does not even work as |
22b1c7ee AP |
49 | advertised (horrors). Therefore symbolic links are now deprecated |
50 | and symbolic refs are used by default. | |
12905637 | 51 | |
0b444cdb | 52 | 'git symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the |
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53 | symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested |
54 | name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. | |
55 | ||
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56 | Author |
57 | ------ | |
59eb68aa | 58 | Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> |
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59 | |
60 | GIT | |
61 | --- | |
9e1f0a85 | 62 | Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite |