git-symbolic-ref(1) (original) (raw)

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 argument to see which branch your working tree is on.

Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref to point at the given branch .

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.