1git-check-ref-format(1) 2======================= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-check-ref-format - Make sure ref name is well formed 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git check-ref-format' <refname> 12'git check-ref-format' [--branch] <branchname-shorthand> 13 14DESCRIPTION 15----------- 16Checks if a given 'refname' is acceptable, and exits non-zero if 17it is not. 18 19A reference is used in git to specify branches and tags. A 20branch head is stored under `$GIT_DIR/refs/heads` directory, and 21a tag is stored under `$GIT_DIR/refs/tags` directory. git 22imposes the following rules on how refs are named: 23 24. It can include slash `/` for hierarchical (directory) 25 grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a 26 dot `.`; 27 28. It cannot have two consecutive dots `..` anywhere; 29 30. It cannot have ASCII control character (i.e. bytes whose 31 values are lower than \040, or \177 `DEL`), space, tilde `~`, 32 caret `{caret}`, colon `:`, question-mark `?`, asterisk `*`, 33 or open bracket `[` anywhere; 34 35. They cannot end with a slash `/` nor a dot `.`. 36 37. They cannot contain a sequence `@{`. 38 39These rules makes it easy for shell script based tools to parse 40refnames, pathname expansion by the shell when a refname is used 41unquoted (by mistake), and also avoids ambiguities in certain 42refname expressions (see linkgit:git-rev-parse[1]). Namely: 43 44. double-dot `..` are often used as in `ref1..ref2`, and in some 45 context this notation means `{caret}ref1 ref2` (i.e. not in 46 ref1 and in ref2). 47 48. tilde `~` and caret `{caret}` are used to introduce postfix 49 'nth parent' and 'peel onion' operation. 50 51. colon `:` is used as in `srcref:dstref` to mean "use srcref\'s 52 value and store it in dstref" in fetch and push operations. 53 It may also be used to select a specific object such as with 54 'git-cat-file': "git cat-file blob v1.3.3:refs.c". 55 56. at-open-brace `@{` is used as a notation to access a reflog entry. 57 58With the `--branch` option, it expands a branch name shorthand and 59prints the name of the branch the shorthand refers to. 60 61EXAMPLE 62------- 63 64git check-ref-format --branch @{-1}:: 65 66Print the name of the previous branch. 67 68 69GIT 70--- 71Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite