tldr/pages/common/git-symbolic-ref.md

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}}