GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1) Git Manual GIT-SYMBOLIC-REF(1)

# [NAME](#NAME)

git-symbolic-ref - Read, modify and delete symbolic refs

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
git symbolic-ref [-m <reason>] <name> <ref>
git symbolic-ref [-q] [--short] [--no-recurse] <name>
git symbolic-ref --delete [-q] <name>
```

# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

Given one argument, reads which branch head the given symbolic ref refers to and outputs its path, relative to the **.git/** directory. Typically you would give **HEAD** as the &lt;name&gt; argument to see which branch your working tree is on.

Given two arguments, creates or updates a symbolic ref &lt;name&gt; to point at the given branch &lt;ref&gt;.

Given **--delete** and an additional argument, deletes the given symbolic ref.

A symbolic ref is a regular file that stores a string that begins with **ref:** **refs/**. For example, your **.git/HEAD** is a regular file whose content is **ref:** **refs/heads/master**.

# [OPTIONS](#OPTIONS)

-d, --delete

Delete the symbolic ref &lt;name&gt;.

-q, --quiet

Do not issue an error message if the &lt;name&gt; is not a symbolic ref but a detached HEAD; instead exit with non-zero status silently.

--short

When showing the value of &lt;name&gt; as a symbolic ref, try to shorten the value, e.g. from **refs/heads/master** to **master**.

--recurse, --no-recurse

When showing the value of &lt;name&gt; as a symbolic ref, if &lt;name&gt; refers to another symbolic ref, follow such a chain of symbolic refs until the result no longer points at a symbolic ref (**--recurse**, which is the default). **--no-recurse** stops after dereferencing only a single level of symbolic ref.

-m

Update the reflog for &lt;name&gt; with &lt;reason&gt;. This is valid only when creating or updating a symbolic ref.

# [NOTES](#NOTES)

In the past, **.git/HEAD** was a symbolic link pointing at **refs/heads/master**. When we wanted to switch to another branch, we did **ln** **-sf** **refs/heads/newbranch** **.git/HEAD**, and when we wanted to find out which branch we are on, we did **readlink** **.git/HEAD**. But symbolic links are not entirely portable, so they are now deprecated and symbolic refs (as described above) are used by default.

*git symbolic-ref* will exit with status 0 if the contents of the symbolic ref were printed correctly, with status 1 if the requested name is not a symbolic ref, or 128 if another error occurs.

# [SEE ALSO](#SEE_ALSO)

[**git-update-ref**(1)](/man/os/git/git-update-ref.1)

# [GIT](#GIT)

Part of the [**git**(1)](/man/os/git/git.1) suite

2026-09-27 Git 2.56.0

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Document: git-symbolic-ref(1) from git 2.56.0-r0 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://kernel.googlesource.com/pub/scm/git/git.git