git symbolic-ref

Read, change, or delete files that store references. More information: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-symbolic-ref.

• Store a reference by a name:

git symbolic-ref refs/name ref

• Store a reference by name, including a message with a reason for the update:

git symbolic-ref -m "message" refs/name refs/heads/branch_name

• Read a reference by name:

git symbolic-ref refs/name

• Delete a reference by name:

git symbolic-ref --delete refs/name

• For scripting, hide errors with --quiet and use --short to simplify (“refs/heads/X” prints as “X”):

git symbolic-ref --quiet --short refs/name