Documentation / git-rev-parse.txton commit update-index: do not die too early in a read-only repository. (7b802b8)
   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 $GIT_DIR/refs/heads/master.  If you
 129  happen to have both heads/master and tags/master, you can
 130  explicitly say 'heads/master' to tell git which one you mean.
 131  When ambiguous, a `<name>` is disambiguated by taking the
 132  first match in the following rules:
 133
 134  . if `$GIT_DIR/<name>` exists, that is what you mean (this is usually
 135    useful only for `HEAD`, `FETCH_HEAD` and `MERGE_HEAD`);
 136
 137  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/<name>` if exists;
 138
 139  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags/<name>` if exists;
 140
 141  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads/<name>` if exists;
 142
 143  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>` if exists;
 144
 145  . otherwise, `$GIT_DIR/refs/remotes/<name>/HEAD` if exists.
 146
 147* A ref followed by the suffix '@' with a date specification
 148  enclosed in a brace
 149  pair (e.g. '\{yesterday\}', '\{1 month 2 weeks 3 days 1 hour 1
 150  second ago\}' or '\{1979-02-26 18:30:00\}') to specify the value
 151  of the ref at a prior point in time.  This suffix may only be
 152  used immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an
 153  existing log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
 154
 155* A ref followed by the suffix '@' with an ordinal specification
 156  enclosed in a brace pair (e.g. '\{1\}', '\{15\}') to specify
 157  the n-th prior value of that ref.  For example 'master@\{1\}'
 158  is the immediate prior value of 'master' while 'master@\{5\}'
 159  is the 5th prior value of 'master'. This suffix may only be used
 160  immediately following a ref name and the ref must have an existing
 161  log ($GIT_DIR/logs/<ref>).
 162
 163* You can use the '@' construct with an empty ref part to get at a
 164  reflog of the current branch. For example, if you are on the
 165  branch 'blabla', then '@\{1\}' means the same as 'blabla@\{1\}'.
 166
 167* A suffix '{caret}' to a revision parameter means the first parent of
 168  that commit object.  '{caret}<n>' means the <n>th parent (i.e.
 169  'rev{caret}'
 170  is equivalent to 'rev{caret}1').  As a special rule,
 171  'rev{caret}0' means the commit itself and is used when 'rev' is the
 172  object name of a tag object that refers to a commit object.
 173
 174* A suffix '{tilde}<n>' to a revision parameter means the commit
 175  object that is the <n>th generation grand-parent of the named
 176  commit object, following only the first parent.  I.e. rev~3 is
 177  equivalent to rev{caret}{caret}{caret} which is equivalent to
 178  rev{caret}1{caret}1{caret}1.  See below for a illustration of
 179  the usage of this form.
 180
 181* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an object type name enclosed in
 182  brace pair (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{commit\}`) means the object
 183  could be a tag, and dereference the tag recursively until an
 184  object of that type is found or the object cannot be
 185  dereferenced anymore (in which case, barf).  `rev{caret}0`
 186  introduced earlier is a short-hand for `rev{caret}\{commit\}`.
 187
 188* A suffix '{caret}' followed by an empty brace pair
 189  (e.g. `v0.99.8{caret}\{\}`) means the object could be a tag,
 190  and dereference the tag recursively until a non-tag object is
 191  found.
 192
 193* A suffix ':' followed by a path; this names the blob or tree
 194  at the given path in the tree-ish object named by the part
 195  before the colon.
 196
 197* A colon, optionally followed by a stage number (0 to 3) and a
 198  colon, followed by a path; this names a blob object in the
 199  index at the given path.  Missing stage number (and the colon
 200  that follows it) names an stage 0 entry.
 201
 202Here is an illustration, by Jon Loeliger.  Both node B and C are
 203a commit parents of commit node A.  Parent commits are ordered
 204left-to-right.
 205
 206    G   H   I   J
 207     \ /     \ /
 208      D   E   F
 209       \  |  / \
 210        \ | /   |
 211         \|/    |
 212          B     C
 213           \   /
 214            \ /
 215             A
 216
 217    A =      = A^0
 218    B = A^   = A^1     = A~1
 219    C = A^2  = A^2
 220    D = A^^  = A^1^1   = A~2
 221    E = B^2  = A^^2
 222    F = B^3  = A^^3
 223    G = A^^^ = A^1^1^1 = A~3
 224    H = D^2  = B^^2    = A^^^2  = A~2^2
 225    I = F^   = B^3^    = A^^3^
 226    J = F^2  = B^3^2   = A^^3^2
 227
 228
 229SPECIFYING RANGES
 230-----------------
 231
 232History traversing commands such as `git-log` operate on a set
 233of commits, not just a single commit.  To these commands,
 234specifying a single revision with the notation described in the
 235previous section means the set of commits reachable from that
 236commit, following the commit ancestry chain.
 237
 238To exclude commits reachable from a commit, a prefix `{caret}`
 239notation is used.  E.g. "`{caret}r1 r2`" means commits reachable
 240from `r2` but exclude the ones reachable from `r1`.
 241
 242This set operation appears so often that there is a shorthand
 243for it.  "`r1..r2`" is equivalent to "`{caret}r1 r2`".  It is
 244the difference of two sets (subtract the set of commits
 245reachable from `r1` from the set of commits reachable from
 246`r2`).
 247
 248A similar notation "`r1\...r2`" is called symmetric difference
 249of `r1` and `r2` and is defined as
 250"`r1 r2 --not $(git-merge-base --all r1 r2)`".
 251It it the set of commits that are reachable from either one of
 252`r1` or `r2` but not from both.
 253
 254Two other shorthands for naming a set that is formed by a commit
 255and its parent commits exists.  `r1{caret}@` notation means all
 256parents of `r1`.  `r1{caret}!` includes commit `r1` but excludes
 257its all parents.
 258
 259Here are a handful examples:
 260
 261   D                A B D
 262   D F              A B C D F
 263   ^A G             B D
 264   ^A F             B C F
 265   G...I            C D F G I
 266   ^B G I           C D F G I
 267   F^@              A B C
 268   F^! H            D F H
 269
 270Author
 271------
 272Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
 273Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 274
 275Documentation
 276--------------
 277Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
 278
 279GIT
 280---
 281Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
 282