Git Symbolic Ref

git-symbolic-ref(1) =================== NAME ---- git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs SYNOPSIS -------- [verse] 'git symbolic-ref' [-m <reason>] <name> <ref> 'git symbolic-ref' [-q] [--short] [--no-recurse] <name> 'git symbolic-ref' --delete [-q] <name> DESCRIPTION ----------- Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the `.git/` directory. Typically you would give `HEAD` as the <name> argument to see which branch your working tree is on. Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref <name> to point at the given branch <ref>. Given `--delete` and an additional argument, deletes the given symbolic ref. A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that begins with `ref: refs/`. For example, your `.git/HEAD` is a regular file whose content is `ref: refs/heads/master`. OPTIONS ------- -d:: --delete:: Delete the symbolic ref <name>. -q:: --quiet:: Do not issue an error message if the <name> is not a symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with non-zero status silently. --short:: When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the value, e.g. from `refs/heads/master` to `master`. --recurse:: --no-recurse:: When showing the value of <name> as a symbolic ref, if <name> refers to another symbolic ref, follow such a chain of symbolic refs until the result no longer points at a symbolic ref (`--recurse`, which is the default). `--no-recurse` stops after dereferencing only a single level of symbolic ref. -m:: Update the reflog for <name> with <reason>. This is valid only when creating or updating a symbolic ref. NOTES ----- In the past, `.git/HEAD` was a symbolic link pointing at `refs/heads/master`. When we wanted to switch to another branch, we did `ln -sf refs/heads/newbranch .git/HEAD`, and when we wanted to find out which branch we are on, we did `readlink .git/HEAD`. But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by default. 'git symbolic-ref' will exit with status 0 if the contents of the symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs. SEE ALSO -------- linkgit:git-update-ref[1] GIT --- Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite

The git-symbolic-ref command is used to read, modify, and delete symbolic refs in Git, allowing users to manage references to branch heads and other refs in their repository. It provides various options for creating, updating, and deleting symbolic refs, as well as displaying their values, and is part of the Git suite of version control tools.