Documentation / git-rev-parse.txton commit Merge branch 'maint' (02a2045)
   1git-rev-parse(1)
   2================
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-rev-parse - Pick out and massage parameters
   7
   8
   9SYNOPSIS
  10--------
  11'git-rev-parse' [ --option ] <args>...
  12
  13DESCRIPTION
  14-----------
  15
  16Many git porcelainish commands take mixture of flags
  17(i.e. parameters that begin with a dash '-') and parameters
  18meant for underlying `git-rev-list` command they use internally
  19and flags and parameters for other commands they use as the
  20downstream of `git-rev-list`.  This command is used to
  21distinguish between them.
  22
  23
  24OPTIONS
  25-------
  26--revs-only::
  27        Do not output flags and parameters not meant for
  28        `git-rev-list` command.
  29
  30--no-revs::
  31        Do not output flags and parameters meant for
  32        `git-rev-list` command.
  33
  34--flags::
  35        Do not output non-flag parameters.
  36
  37--no-flags::
  38        Do not output flag parameters.
  39
  40--default <arg>::
  41        If there is no parameter given by the user, use `<arg>`
  42        instead.
  43
  44--verify::
  45        The parameter given must be usable as a single, valid
  46        object name.  Otherwise barf and abort.
  47
  48--sq::
  49        Usually the output is made one line per flag and
  50        parameter.  This option makes output a single line,
  51        properly quoted for consumption by shell.  Useful when
  52        you expect your parameter to contain whitespaces and
  53        newlines (e.g. when using pickaxe `-S` with
  54        `git-diff-\*`).
  55
  56--not::
  57        When showing object names, prefix them with '{caret}' and
  58        strip '{caret}' prefix from the object names that already have
  59        one.
  60
  61--symbolic::
  62        Usually the object names are output in SHA1 form (with
  63        possible '{caret}' prefix); this option makes them output in a
  64        form as close to the original input as possible.
  65
  66
  67--all::
  68        Show all refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs`.
  69
  70--branches::
  71        Show branch refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads`.
  72
  73--tags::
  74        Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags`.
  75
  76--remotes::
  77        Show tag refs found in `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes`.
  78
  79--show-prefix::
  80        When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
  81        path of the current directory relative to the top-level
  82        directory.
  83
  84--show-cdup::
  85        When the command is invoked from a subdirectory, show the
  86        path of the top-level directory relative to the current
  87        directory (typically a sequence of "../", or an empty string).
  88
  89--git-dir::
  90        Show `$GIT_DIR` if defined else show the path to the .git directory.
  91
  92--short, --short=number::
  93        Instead of outputting the full SHA1 values of object names try to
  94        abbreviate them to a shorter unique name. When no length is specified
  95        7 is used. The minimum length is 4.
  96
  97--since=datestring, --after=datestring::
  98        Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
  99        --max-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
 100
 101--until=datestring, --before=datestring::
 102        Parses the date string, and outputs corresponding
 103        --min-age= parameter for git-rev-list command.
 104
 105<args>...::
 106        Flags and parameters to be parsed.
 107
 108
 109SPECIFYING REVISIONS
 110--------------------
 111
 112A revision parameter typically, but not necessarily, names a
 113commit object.  They use what is called an 'extended SHA1'
 114syntax.  Here are various ways to spell object names.  The
 115ones listed near the end of this list are to name trees and
 116blobs contained in a commit.
 117
 118* The full SHA1 object name (40-byte hexadecimal string), or
 119  a substring of such that is unique within the repository.
 120  E.g. dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735 and dae86e both
 121  name the same commit object if there are no other object in
 122  your repository whose object name starts with dae86e.
 123
 124* An output from `git-describe`; i.e. a closest tag, followed by a
 125  dash, a 'g', and an abbreviated object name.
 126
 127* A symbolic ref name.  E.g. 'master' typically means the commit
 128  object referenced by $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master.  If you
 129  happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
 130  explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
 131
 132* A suffix '@' followed by a date specification enclosed in a brace
 133  pair (e.g. '\{yesterday\}', '\{1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour 1
 134  second ago\}' or '\{1979-02-26 18:30:00\}') to specify the value
 135  of the ref at a prior point in time.  This suffix may only be
 136  used immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an
 137  existing log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
 138
 139* A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
 140  that commit object.  '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
 141  'rev{caret}'
 142  is equivalent to 'rev{caret}1').  As a special rule,
 143  'rev{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
 144  object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object.
 145
 146* A suffix '{tilde}<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
 147  object that is the <n>th generation grand-parent of the named
 148  commit object, following only the first parent.  I.e. rev~3 is
 149  equivalent to rev{caret}{caret}{caret} which is equivalent to\
 150  rev{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1.
 151
 152* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in
 153  brace pair (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}`) means the object
 154  could be a tag, and dereference the tag recursively until an
 155  object of that type is found or the object cannot be
 156  dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf).  `rev{caret}0`
 157  introduced earlier is a short-hand for `rev{caret}\{commit\}`.
 158
 159* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair
 160  (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{\}`) means the object could be a tag,
 161  and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is
 162  found.
 163
 164* A suffix ':' followed by a path; this names the blob or tree
 165  at the given path in the tree-ish object named by the part
 166  before the colon.
 167
 168* A colon, optionally followed by a stage number (0 to 3) and a
 169  colon, followed by a path; this names a blob object in the
 170  index at the given path.  Missing stage number (and the colon
 171  that follows it) names an stage 0 entry.
 172
 173Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger.  Both node B and C are
 174a commit parents of commit node A.  Parent commits are ordered
 175left-to-right.
 176
 177    G   H   I   J
 178     \ /     \ /
 179      D   E   F
 180       \  |  / \
 181        \ | /   |
 182         \|/    |
 183          B     C
 184           \   /
 185            \ /
 186             A
 187
 188    A =      = A^0
 189    B = A^   = A^1     = A~1
 190    C = A^2  = A^2
 191    D = A^^  = A^1^1   = A~2
 192    E = B^2  = A^^2
 193    F = B^3  = A^^3
 194    G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3
 195    H = D^2  = B^^2    = A^^^2  = A~2^2
 196    I = F^   = B^3^    = A^^3^
 197    J = F^2  = B^3^2   = A^^3^2
 198
 199
 200SPECIFYING RANGES
 201-----------------
 202
 203History traversing commands such as `git-log` operate on a set
 204of commits, not just a single commit.  To these commands,
 205specifying a single revision with the notation described in the
 206previous section means the set of commits reachable from that
 207commit, following the commit ancestry chain.
 208
 209To exclude commits reachable from a commit, a prefix `{caret}`
 210notation is used.  E.g. "`{caret}r1 r2`" means commits reachable
 211from `r2` but exclude the ones reachable from `r1`.
 212
 213This set operation appears so often that there is a shorthand
 214for it.  "`r1..r2`" is equivalent to "`{caret}r1 r2`".  It is
 215the difference of two sets (subtract the set of commits
 216reachable from `r1` from the set of commits reachable from
 217`r2`).
 218
 219A similar notation "`r1\...r2`" is called symmetric difference
 220of `r1` and `r2` and is defined as
 221"`r1 r2 --not $(git-merge-base --all r1 r2)`".
 222It it the set of commits that are reachable from either one of
 223`r1` or `r2` but not from both.
 224
 225Here are a few examples:
 226
 227   D                A B D
 228   D F              A B C D F
 229   ^A G             B D
 230   ^A F             B C F
 231   G...I            C D F G I
 232   ^B G I           C D F G I
 233
 234Author
 235------
 236Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
 237Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 238
 239Documentation
 240--------------
 241Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 242
 243GIT
 244---
 245Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 246