Documentation / git-rev-parse.txton commit git-svn: starting a 1.1.0-pre development version (304dac1)
   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        abbriviate 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.
 115
 116* The full SHA1 object name (40-byte hexadecimal string), or
 117  a substring of such that is unique within the repository.
 118  E.g. dae86e1950b1277e545cee180551750029cfe735 and dae86e both
 119  name the same commit object if there are no other object in
 120  your repository whose object name starts with dae86e.
 121
 122* A symbolic ref name.  E.g. 'master' typically means the commit
 123  object referenced by $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master.  If you
 124  happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
 125  explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
 126
 127* A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
 128  that commit object.  '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
 129  'rev{caret}'
 130  is equivalent to 'rev{caret}1').  As a special rule,
 131  'rev{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
 132  object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object.
 133
 134* A suffix '~<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
 135  object that is the <n>th generation grand-parent of the named
 136  commit object, following only the first parent.  I.e. rev~3 is
 137  equivalent to rev{caret}{caret}{caret} which is equivalent to\
 138  rev{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1.
 139
 140* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in
 141  brace pair (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}`) means the object
 142  could be a tag, and dereference the tag recursively until an
 143  object of that type is found or the object cannot be
 144  dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf).  `rev{caret}0`
 145  introduced earlier is a short-hand for `rev{caret}\{commit\}`.
 146
 147* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair
 148  (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{\}`) means the object could be a tag,
 149  and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is
 150  found.
 151
 152'git-rev-parse' also accepts a prefix '{caret}' to revision parameter,
 153which is passed to 'git-rev-list'.  Two revision parameters
 154concatenated with '..' is a short-hand for writing a range
 155between them.  I.e. 'r1..r2' is equivalent to saying '{caret}r1 r2'
 156
 157Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger.  Both node B and C are
 158a commit parents of commit node A.  Parent commits are ordered
 159left-to-right.
 160
 161    G   H   I   J
 162     \ /     \ /
 163      D   E   F
 164       \  |  /
 165        \ | /
 166         \|/
 167          B     C
 168           \   /
 169            \ /
 170             A
 171
 172    A =      = A^0
 173    B = A^   = A^1     = A~1
 174    C = A^2  = A^2
 175    D = A^^  = A^1^1   = A~2
 176    E = B^2  = A^^2
 177    F = B^3  = A^^3
 178    G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3
 179    H = D^2  = B^^2    = A^^^2  = A~2^2
 180    I = F^   = B^3^    = A^^3^
 181    J = F^2  = B^3^2   = A^^3^2
 182
 183
 184Author
 185------
 186Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
 187Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 188
 189Documentation
 190--------------
 191Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 192
 193GIT
 194---
 195Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 196