git-rev-parse
(1)Pick out and massage parameters
Options
46--parseoptUse git rev-parse in option parsing mode (see PARSEOPT section below). The command in this mode can be used outside a repository or a working tree controlled by a repository.
--sq-quoteUse git rev-parse in shell quoting mode (see SQ-QUOTE section below). In contrast to the --sq option below, this mode only does quoting. Nothing else is done to command input. The command in this mode can be used outside a repository or a working tree controlled by a repository.
--keep-dashdashOnly meaningful in --parseopt mode. Tells the option parser to echo out the first -- met instead of skipping it.
--stop-at-non-optionOnly meaningful in --parseopt mode. Lets the option parser stop at the first non-option argument. This can be used to parse sub-commands that take options themselves.
--stuck-longOnly meaningful in --parseopt mode. Output the options in their long form if available, and with their arguments stuck.
--revs-onlyDo not output flags and parameters not meant for git rev-list command.
--no-revsDo not output flags and parameters meant for git rev-list command.
--flagsDo not output non-flag parameters.
--no-flagsDo not output flag parameters.
--defaultIf there is no parameter given by the user, use <arg> instead.
--prefixBehave as if git rev-parse was invoked from the <arg> subdirectory of the working tree. Any relative filenames are resolved as if they are prefixed by <arg> and will be printed in that form. This can be used to convert arguments to a command run in a subdirectory so that they can still be used after moving to the top-level of the repository. For example: prefix=$(git rev-parse --show-prefix) cd "$(git rev-parse --show-toplevel)" # rev-parse provides the -- needed for 'set' eval "set $(git rev-parse --sq --prefix "$prefix" -- "$@")"
--verifyVerify that exactly one parameter is provided, and that it can be turned into a raw 20-byte SHA-1 that can be used to access the object database. If so, emit it to the standard output; otherwise, error out. If you want to make sure that the output actually names an object in your object database and/or can be used as a specific type of object you require, you can add the ^{type} peeling operator to the parameter. For example, git rev-parse "$VAR^{commit}" will make sure $VAR names an existing object that is a commit-ish (i.e. a commit, or an annotated tag that points at a commit). To make sure
-q--quietOnly meaningful in --verify mode. Do not output an error message if the first argument is not a valid object name; instead exit with non-zero status silently. SHA-1s for valid object names are printed to stdout on success.
--sqUsually the output is made one line per flag and parameter. This option makes output a single line, properly quoted for consumption by shell. Useful when you expect your parameter to contain whitespaces and newlines (e.g. when using pickaxe -S with git diff-*). In contrast to the --sq-quote option, the command input is still interpreted as usual.
--shortSame as --verify but shortens the object name to a unique prefix with at least length characters. The minimum length is 4, the default is the effective value of the core.abbrev configuration variable (see git-config(1)).
--notWhen showing object names, prefix them with ^ and strip ^ prefix from the object names that already have one.
--abbrev-refA non-ambiguous short name of the objects name. The option core.warnAmbiguousRefs is used to select the strict abbreviation mode.
--symbolicUsually the object names are output in SHA-1 form (with possible ^ prefix); this option makes them output in a form as close to the original input as possible.
--symbolic-full-nameThis is similar to --symbolic, but it omits input that are not refs (i.e. branch or tag names; or more explicitly disambiguating "heads/master" form, when you want to name the "master" branch when there is an unfortunately named tag "master"), and shows them as full refnames (e.g. "refs/heads/master").
--output-object-formatAllow oids to be input from any object format that the current repository supports. Specifying "sha1" translates if necessary and returns a sha1 oid. Specifying "sha256" translates if necessary and returns a sha256 oid. Specifying "storage" translates if necessary and returns an oid in encoded in the storage hash algorithm.
--allShow all refs found in refs/.
--branches--tags--remotesShow all branches, tags, or remote-tracking branches, respectively (i.e., refs found in refs/heads, refs/tags, or refs/remotes, respectively). If a pattern is given, only refs matching the given shell glob are shown. If the pattern does not contain a globbing character (?, *, or [), it is turned into a prefix match by appending /*.
--globShow all refs matching the shell glob pattern pattern. If the pattern does not start with refs/, this is automatically prepended. If the pattern does not contain a globbing character (?, *, or [), it is turned into a prefix match by appending /*.
--excludeDo not include refs matching <glob-pattern> that the next --all, --branches, --tags, --remotes, or --glob would otherwise consider. Repetitions of this option accumulate exclusion patterns up to the next --all, --branches, --tags, --remotes, or --glob option (other options or arguments do not clear accumulated patterns). The patterns given should not begin with refs/heads, refs/tags, or refs/remotes when applied to --branches, --tags, or --remotes, respectively, and they must begin with refs/ when applied to --glob or --all. If a trailing /* is intended, it must be given explicitly.
--exclude-hiddenDo not include refs that would be hidden by git-fetch, git-receive-pack or git-upload-pack by consulting the appropriate fetch.hideRefs, receive.hideRefs or uploadpack.hideRefs configuration along with transfer.hideRefs (see git-config(1)). This option affects the next pseudo-ref option --all or --glob and is cleared after processing them.
--disambiguateShow every object whose name begins with the given prefix. The <prefix> must be at least 4 hexadecimal digits long to avoid listing each and every object in the repository by mistake.
--local-env-varsList the GIT_* environment variables that are local to the repository (e.g. GIT_DIR or GIT_WORK_TREE, but not GIT_EDITOR). Only the names of the variables are listed, not their value, even if they are set.
--path-formatControls the behavior of certain other options. If specified as absolute, the paths printed by those options will be absolute and canonical. If specified as relative, the paths will be relative to the current working directory if that is possible. The default is option specific. This option may be specified multiple times and affects only the arguments that follow it on the command line, either to the end of the command line or the next instance of this option.
--git-dirShow $GIT_DIR if defined. Otherwise show the path to the .git directory. The path shown, when relative, is relative to the current working directory. If $GIT_DIR is not defined and the current directory is not detected to lie in a Git repository or work tree print a message to stderr and exit with nonzero status.
--git-common-dirShow $GIT_COMMON_DIR if defined, else $GIT_DIR.
--resolve-git-dirCheck if <path> is a valid repository or a gitfile that points at a valid repository, and print the location of the repository. If <path> is a gitfile then the resolved path to the real repository is printed.
--git-pathResolve "$GIT_DIR/<path>" and takes other path relocation variables such as $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY, $GIT_INDEX_FILE... into account. For example, if $GIT_OBJECT_DIRECTORY is set to /foo/bar then "git rev-parse --git-path objects/abc" returns /foo/bar/abc.
--show-toplevelShow the (by default, absolute) path of the top-level directory of the working tree. If there is no working tree, report an error.
--show-superproject-working-treeShow the absolute path of the root of the superproject’s working tree (if exists) that uses the current repository as its submodule. Outputs nothing if the current repository is not used as a submodule by any project.
--shared-index-pathShow the path to the shared index file in split index mode, or empty if not in split-index mode.
--absolute-git-dirLike --git-dir, but its output is always the canonicalized absolute path.
--is-inside-git-dirWhen the current working directory is below the repository directory print "true", otherwise "false".
--is-inside-work-treeWhen the current working directory is inside the work tree of the repository print "true", otherwise "false".
--is-bare-repositoryWhen the repository is bare print "true", otherwise "false".
--is-shallow-repositoryWhen the repository is shallow print "true", otherwise "false".
--show-cdupWhen the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the path of the top-level directory relative to the current directory (typically a sequence of "../", or an empty string).
--show-prefixWhen the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the path of the current directory relative to the top-level directory.
--show-object-formatShow the object format (hash algorithm) used for the repository for storage inside the .git directory, input, or output. For input, multiple algorithms may be printed, space-separated. If not specified, the default is "storage".
--show-ref-formatShow the reference storage format used for the repository.
--since--afterParse the date string, and output the corresponding --max-age= parameter for git rev-list.
--until--beforeParse the date string, and output the corresponding --min-age= parameter for git rev-list.
DESCRIPTION
Many Git porcelainish commands take a mixture of flags (i.e. parameters that begin with a dash -) and parameters meant for the underlying git rev-list command they use internally and flags and parameters for the other commands they use downstream of git rev-list. The primary purpose of this command is to allow calling programs to distinguish between them. There are a few other operation modes that have nothing to do with the above "help parse command line options".
Unless otherwise specified, most of the options and operation modes require you to run this command inside a git repository or a working tree that is under the control of a git repository, and will give you a fatal error otherwise.
SPECIFYING REVISIONS
A revision parameter <rev> typically, but not necessarily, names a commit object. It uses what is called an extended SHA-1 syntax. Here are various ways to spell object names. The ones listed near the end of this list name trees and blobs contained in a commit.
Note
This document shows the "raw" syntax as seen by git. The shell and other UIs might require additional quoting to protect special characters and to avoid word splitting.
<sha1>, e.g. dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735, dae86e
<describeOutput>, e.g. v1.7.4.2-679-g3bee7fb
<refname>, e.g. master, heads/master, refs/heads/master
HEAD
FETCH_HEAD
ORIG_HEAD
MERGE_HEAD
REBASE_HEAD
REVERT_HEAD
CHERRY_PICK_HEAD
BISECT_HEAD
AUTO_MERGE
Note that any of the refs/* cases above may come either from the $GIT_DIR/refs directory or from the $GIT_DIR/packed-refs file. While the ref name encoding is unspecified, UTF-8 is preferred as some output processing may assume ref names in UTF-8.
@
[<refname>]@{<date>}, e.g. master@{yesterday}, HEAD@{5 minutes ago}
<refname>@{<n>}, e.g. master@{1}
@{<n>}, e.g. @{1}
@{-<n>}, e.g. @{-1}
[<branchname>]@{upstream}, e.g. master@{upstream}, @{u}
[<branchname>]@{push}, e.g. master@{push}, @{push}
Here’s an example to make it more clear:
$ git config push.default current
$ git config remote.pushdefault myfork
$ git switch -c mybranch origin/master
$ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{upstream}
refs/remotes/origin/master
$ git rev-parse --symbolic-full-name @{push}
refs/remotes/myfork/mybranch
Note in the example that we set up a triangular workflow, where we pull from one location and push to another. In a non-triangular workflow, @{push} is the same as @{upstream}, and there is no need for it.
This suffix is also accepted when spelled in uppercase, and means the same thing no matter the case.
<rev>^[<n>], e.g. HEAD^, v1.5.1^0
<rev>~[<n>], e.g. HEAD~, master~3
<rev>^{<type>}, e.g. v0.99.8^{commit}
<rev>^{object} can be used to make sure <rev> names an object that exists, without requiring <rev> to be a tag, and without dereferencing <rev>; because a tag is already an object, it does not have to be dereferenced even once to get to an object.
<rev>^{tag} can be used to ensure that <rev> identifies an existing tag object.
<rev>^{}, e.g. v0.99.8^{}
<rev>^{/<text>}, e.g. HEAD^{/fix nasty bug}
:/<text>, e.g. :/fix nasty bug
<rev>:<path>, e.g. HEAD:README, master:./README
:[<n>:]<path>, e.g. :0:README, :README
Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger. Both commit nodes B and C are parents of commit node A. Parent commits are ordered left-to-right.
G H I J
\ / \ /
D E F
\ | / \
\ | / |
\|/ |
B C
\ /
\ /
A
A = = A^0 B = A^ = A^1 = A~1 C = = A^2 D = A^^ = A^1^1 = A~2 E = B^2 = A^^2 F = B^3 = A^^3 G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3 H = D^2 = B^^2 = A^^^2 = A~2^2 I = F^ = B^3^ = A^^3^ J = F^2 = B^3^2 = A^^3^2
SPECIFYING RANGES
History traversing commands such as git log operate on a set of commits, not just a single commit.
For these commands, specifying a single revision, using the notation described in the previous section, means the set of commits reachable from the given commit.
Specifying several revisions means the set of commits reachable from any of the given commits.
A commit’s reachable set is the commit itself and the commits in its ancestry chain.
There are several notations to specify a set of connected commits (called a "revision range"), illustrated below.
Commit Exclusions
^<rev> (caret) Notation
Dotted Range Notations
The .. (two-dot) Range Notation
The ... (three-dot) Symmetric Difference Notation
In these two shorthand notations, you can omit one end and let it default to HEAD. For example, origin.. is a shorthand for origin..HEAD and asks "What did I do since I forked from the origin branch?" Similarly, ..origin is a shorthand for HEAD..origin and asks "What did the origin do since I forked from them?" Note that .. would mean HEAD..HEAD which is an empty range that is both reachable and unreachable from HEAD.
Commands that are specifically designed to take two distinct ranges (e.g. "git range-diff R1 R2" to compare two ranges) do exist, but they are exceptions. Unless otherwise noted, all "git" commands that operate on a set of commits work on a single revision range. In other words, writing two "two-dot range notation" next to each other, e.g.
$ git log A..B C..D
does not specify two revision ranges for most commands. Instead it will name a single connected set of commits, i.e. those that are reachable from either B or D but are reachable from neither A or C. In a linear history like this:
---A---B---o---o---C---D
because A and B are reachable from C, the revision range specified by these two dotted ranges is a single commit D.
Other <rev>^ Parent Shorthand Notations
Three other shorthands exist, particularly useful for merge commits, for naming a set that is formed by a commit and its parent commits.
The r1^@ notation means all parents of r1.
The r1^! notation includes commit r1 but excludes all of its parents. By itself, this notation denotes the single commit r1.
The <rev>^-[<n>] notation includes <rev> but excludes the <n>th parent (i.e. a shorthand for <rev>^<n>..<rev>), with <n> = 1 if not given. This is typically useful for merge commits where you can just pass <commit>^- to get all the commits in the branch that was merged in merge commit <commit> (including <commit> itself).
While <rev>^<n> was about specifying a single commit parent, these three notations also consider its parents. For example you can say HEAD^2^@, however you cannot say HEAD^@^2.
REVISION RANGE SUMMARY
<rev>
^<rev>
<rev1>..<rev2>
<rev1>...<rev2>
<rev>^@, e.g. HEAD^@
<rev>^!, e.g. HEAD^!
<rev>^-<n>, e.g. HEAD^-, HEAD^-2
Here are a handful of examples using the Loeliger illustration above, with each step in the notation’s expansion and selection carefully spelt out:
Args Expanded arguments Selected commits
D G H D
D F G H I J D F
^G D H D
^D B E I J F B
^D B C E I J F B C
C I J F C
B..C = ^B C C
B...C = B ^F C G H D E B C
B^- = B^..B
= ^B^1 B E I J F B
C^@ = C^1
= F I J F
B^@ = B^1 B^2 B^3
= D E F D G H E F I J
C^! = C ^C^@
= C ^C^1
= C ^F C
B^! = B ^B^@
= B ^B^1 ^B^2 ^B^3
= B ^D ^E ^F B
F^! D = F ^I ^J D G H D F
PARSEOPT
In --parseopt mode, git rev-parse helps massaging options to bring to shell scripts the same facilities C builtins have. It works as an option normalizer (e.g. splits single switches aggregate values), a bit like getopt(1) does.
It takes on the standard input the specification of the options to parse and understand, and echoes on the standard output a string suitable for sh(1) eval to replace the arguments with normalized ones. In case of error, it outputs usage on the standard error stream, and exits with code 129.
Note: Make sure you quote the result when passing it to eval. See below for an example.
Input Format
git rev-parse --parseopt input format is fully text based. It has two parts, separated by a line that contains only --. The lines before the separator (should be one or more) are used for the usage. The lines after the separator describe the options.
Each line of options has this format:
<opt-spec><flags>*<arg-hint>? SP+ help LF
<opt-spec>
<flags>
<arg-hint>
The remainder of the line, after stripping the spaces, is used as the help associated with the option.
Blank lines are ignored, and lines that don’t match this specification are used as option group headers (start the line with a space to create such lines on purpose).
Example
OPTS_SPEC="\ some-command [<options>] <args>... some-command does foo and bar! -- h,help! show the help foo some nifty option --foo bar= some cool option --bar with an argument baz=arg another cool option --baz with a named argument qux?path qux may take a path argument but has meaning by itself
An option group Header C? option C with an optional argument" eval "$(echo "$OPTS_SPEC" | git rev-parse --parseopt -- "$@" || echo exit $?)"
Usage text
When "$@" is -h or --help in the above example, the following usage text would be shown:
usage: some-command [<options>] <args>...
some-command does foo and bar!
-h, --help show the help
--[no-]foo some nifty option --foo
--[no-]bar ... some cool option --bar with an argument
--[no-]baz <arg> another cool option --baz with a named argument
--[no-]qux[=<path>] qux may take a path argument but has meaning by itself An option group Header
-C[...] option C with an optional argument
SQ-QUOTE
In --sq-quote mode, git rev-parse echoes on the standard output a single line suitable for sh(1) eval. This line is made by normalizing the arguments following --sq-quote. Nothing other than quoting the arguments is done.
If you want command input to still be interpreted as usual by git rev-parse before the output is shell quoted, see the --sq option.
Example
$ cat >your-git-script.sh <<\EOF #!/bin/sh args=$(git rev-parse --sq-quote "$@") # quote user-supplied arguments command="git frotz -n24 $args" # and use it inside a handcrafted
# command line eval "$command" EOF $ sh your-git-script.sh "a b'c"
EXAMPLES
$ git rev-parse --verify HEAD
$ git rev-parse --verify --end-of-options $REV^{commit}
This will error out if $REV is empty or not a valid revision.
$ git rev-parse --default master --verify --end-of-options $REV
but if $REV is empty, the commit object name from master will be printed.