SYNOPSIS
git check-ref-format [--normalize]
[--[no-]allow-onelevel] [--refspec-pattern]
<refname>
git check-ref-format --branch <branchname-shorthand>
DESCRIPTION
Checks if a given refname is acceptable, and exits with a non-zero status if it is not.
A reference is used in Git to specify branches and tags. A
branch head is stored in the refs/heads hierarchy, while
a tag is stored in the refs/tags hierarchy of the ref namespace
(typically in $GIT_DIR/refs/heads and $GIT_DIR/refs/tags
directories or, as entries in file $GIT_DIR/packed-refs
if refs are packed by git gc).
Git imposes the following rules on how references are named:
-
They can include slash
/for hierarchical (directory) grouping, but no slash-separated component can begin with a dot.or end with the sequence.lock. -
They must contain at least one
/. This enforces the presence of a category likeheads/,tags/etc. but the actual names are not restricted. If the--allow-oneleveloption is used, this rule is waived. -
They cannot have two consecutive dots
..anywhere. -
They cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes whose values are lower than \040, or \177
DEL), space, tilde~, caret^, or colon:anywhere. -
They cannot have question-mark
?, asterisk*, or open bracket[anywhere. See the--refspec-patternoption below for an exception to this rule. -
They cannot begin or end with a slash
/or contain multiple consecutive slashes (see the--normalizeoption below for an exception to this rule) -
They cannot end with a dot
.. -
They cannot contain a sequence
@{. -
They cannot be the single character
@. -
They cannot contain a
\.
These rules make it easy for shell script based tools to parse reference names, pathname expansion by the shell when a reference name is used unquoted (by mistake), and also avoids ambiguities in certain reference name expressions (see gitrevisions(7)):
-
A double-dot
..is often used as inref1..ref2, and in some contexts this notation means^ref1 ref2(i.e. not inref1and inref2). -
A tilde
~and caret^are used to introduce the postfix nth parent and peel onion operation. -
A colon
:is used as insrcref:dstrefto mean "use srcref’s value and store it in dstref" in fetch and push operations. It may also be used to select a specific object such as with git cat-file: "git cat-file blob v1.3.3:refs.c". -
at-open-brace
@{is used as a notation to access a reflog entry.
With the --branch option, it expands the “previous branch syntax”
@{-n}. For example, @{-1} is a way to refer the last branch you
were on. This option should be used by porcelains to accept this
syntax anywhere a branch name is expected, so they can act as if you
typed the branch name.
OPTIONS
- --[no-]allow-onelevel
-
Controls whether one-level refnames are accepted (i.e., refnames that do not contain multiple
/-separated components). The default is--no-allow-onelevel. - --refspec-pattern
-
Interpret <refname> as a reference name pattern for a refspec (as used with remote repositories). If this option is enabled, <refname> is allowed to contain a single
*in place of a one full pathname component (e.g.,foo/*/barbut notfoo/bar*). - --normalize
-
Normalize refname by removing any leading slash (
/) characters and collapsing runs of adjacent slashes between name components into a single slash. Iff the normalized refname is valid then print it to standard output and exit with a status of 0. (--printis a deprecated way to spell--normalize.)
EXAMPLES
-
Print the name of the previous branch:
$ git check-ref-format --branch @{-1} -
Determine the reference name to use for a new branch:
$ ref=$(git check-ref-format --normalize "refs/heads/$newbranch") || die "we do not like '$newbranch' as a branch name."
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite