1GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)               Git Manual               GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
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NAME

6       git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs
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SYNOPSIS

9       git symbolic-ref [-m <reason>] <name> <ref>
10       git symbolic-ref [-q] [--short] <name>
11       git symbolic-ref --delete [-q] <name>
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DESCRIPTION

15       Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic ref
16       refers to and outputs its path, relative to the .git/ directory.
17       Typically you would give HEAD as the <name> argument to see which
18       branch your working tree is on.
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20       Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to point
21       at the given branch <ref>.
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23       Given --delete and an additional argument, deletes the given symbolic
24       ref.
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26       A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that begins with
27       ref: refs/. For example, your .git/HEAD is a regular file whose
28       contents is ref: refs/heads/master.
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OPTIONS

31       -d, --delete
32           Delete the symbolic ref <name>.
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34       -q, --quiet
35           Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a symbolic ref
36           but a detached HEAD; instead exit with non-zero status silently.
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38       --short
39           When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten
40           the value, e.g. from refs/heads/master to master.
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42       -m
43           Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only when
44           creating or updating a symbolic ref.
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NOTES

47       In the past, .git/HEAD was a symbolic link pointing at
48       refs/heads/master. When we wanted to switch to another branch, we did
49       ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD, and when we wanted to find out
50       which branch we are on, we did readlink .git/HEAD. But symbolic links
51       are not entirely portable, so they are now deprecated and symbolic refs
52       (as described above) are used by default.
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54       git symbolic-ref will exit with status 0 if the contents of the
55       symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested
56       name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs.
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GIT

59       Part of the git(1) suite
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63Git 2.21.0                        02/24/2019               GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)
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