How to get SHA of the latest commit from remote git repository?

Question

Does anyone know how to get the latest SHA of a given branch from outside a git repository?

If you are inside a git repository, you can do:

git log origin/branch_X | head -1

However, I am not inside a git repository, and I would like to avoid having to clone a repository just to get the latest SHA of a tag/branch. Is there a clever way of doing this?

Do you have filesystem access to the repository you would like to query? — Greg Hewgill, Jul 21 '09 at 21:44
The correct way to do this is "git rev-parse origin/branch_X" or "git rev-parse refs/remotes/origin/branch_X", not git-log — Jakub Narębski, Jul 21 '09 at 23:52
What about doing this without having the repo cloned but having the url I could use to clone it? (To answer my own Q: https://stackoverflow.com/a/24750310/7945066) — pellucidcoder, Jan 10 '22 at 22:16

gprasant · Answer 1 · 2015-09-21T18:24:21.013

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Use rev-parse

git rev-parse origin/master # to get the latest commit on the remote

git rev-parse HEAD          # to get the latest commit on the local

edited Sep 21 '15 at 18:24

answered May 16 '13 at 05:49

gprasant

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+1 Proved most useful along with appending | clip to drop the sha onto the clipboard (windows). – Darren Lewis Oct 24 '13 at 09:31
And for those mac users `git rev-parse origin/master | pbcopy` will drop the commit sha (with a `\n`) on your clipboard for you to paste at your convenience. – Aaron Dec 27 '13 at 20:56
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`git rev-parse HEAD` returns the latest commit in the local copy, while `git rev-parse origin/master` returns the latest commit on remote, which is what's been asked here. This is my favorite answer, even if first command should be removed. – fedelibre Sep 20 '15 at 01:47
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The question notes "I would like to avoid having to clone a repository just to get the latest SHA of a tag/branch". Is it possible to use `git rev-parse` against a repository that you don't have any information for locally? – Nick Chammas Nov 25 '15 at 04:38
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I think git rev-parse origin/master only returns the correct answer if your local repo is up to date. To prove this, disconnect from the internet and try it; the command will succeed. In contrast, git ls-remote will fail because it tries to contact the remote repo. – Andy Stewart Feb 10 '16 at 12:16
Found this to be very useful if you only want to grab a specific branch such as master ```git rev-parse REMOTE_NAME BRANCH_NAME``` – CTS_AE Aug 18 '16 at 20:40
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uhhh, no, it's `git fetch origin; git rev-parse origin/master`, isn't the fetch extremely important? – Alexander Mills Dec 28 '17 at 22:01

score 77 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

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If you want to check SHA-1 of given branch in remote repository, then your answer is correct:

$ git ls-remote <URL>

However if you are on the same filesystem simpler solution (not requiring to extract SHA-1 from output) would be simply:

$ git --git-dir=/path/to/repo/.git rev-parse origin/branch_X

See git(1) manpage for description of '--git-dir' option.

edited May 23 '17 at 12:10

Community

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answered Jul 21 '09 at 23:58

Jakub Narębski

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score 50 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 11 '20 at 00:06

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A colleague of mine answered this for me:

git ls-remote ssh://git.dev.pages/opt/git/repos/dev.git <branch>

edited Jan 11 '20 at 00:06

Kara

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answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:43

AdvilUser

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thanks. This should be upgraded as answer for this question. – Abhijeet Sep 01 '16 at 07:13

dch4pm4n · Answer 4 · 2013-07-31T20:46:47.237

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Using a git URL:

$ git ls-remote <URL> | head -1 | sed "s/HEAD//"

Using a directory on an accessible system:

$ git --git-dir=/path/to/repo/.git rev-parse origin/<targeted-banch>

edited Jul 31 '13 at 20:46

answered Jul 31 '13 at 20:37

dch4pm4n

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Use `sed "s/\tHEAD//"` to also remove the trailing tab. – Perseids Sep 14 '15 at 10:23
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Why not using `| awk '{ print $1 }'`? – devxoul Dec 18 '15 at 06:01

score 16 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 01 '16 at 12:03

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As mentioned in comments above this should be the best solution:

$ git ls-remote <URL> | head -1 | cut -f 1

answered Jun 01 '16 at 12:03

kitingChris

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This is the only option that worked (for me) for getting the commit from an upstream remote in a forked repo. – Jalakoo Nov 11 '16 at 16:57

score 15 · Answer 6 · edited Jan 03 '15 at 17:29

15

This should do the trick git ls-remote REMOTE | awk "/BRANCH/ {print \$1}"

Replace REMOTE with the name of the remote repository and BRANCH with the name of the branch.

edited Jan 03 '15 at 17:29

Neeme Praks

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answered Jan 18 '13 at 20:46

antonagestam

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score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Sep 08 '09 at 23:04

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If you just want the SHA-1 from the currently checked out branch of your local repo, you can just specify HEAD instead of origin/branch_X:

git --git-dir=/path/to/repo/.git rev-parse --verify HEAD

answered Sep 08 '09 at 23:04

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Sep 18 '17 at 19:15

4

Heres a copy-paste solution which works inside the repository.

origin_head=$(git ls-remote --heads $(git config --get remote.origin.url) | grep "refs/heads/master" | cut -f 1)
if [ $origin_head != "$(git rev-parse HEAD)" ]; then
    echo >&2 "HEAD and origin/master differ."
    exit 1
fi

answered Sep 18 '17 at 19:15

skensell

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I would recommend `grep "refs/heads/master$"` so if anyone might asked for other branches than master or having an master2 branch this may break ;) – kitingChris Sep 20 '17 at 15:50

score 2 · Answer 9 · answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:44

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References to branch heads are stored in the .git/refs/ tree. So you should be able to find the hash of the latest commit at:

cat .git/refs/remotes/origin/branch_X

Your path may differ slightly.

answered Jul 21 '09 at 21:44

Greg Hewgill

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That wouldn't work if you have packed refs. Then you have to take a look at .git/packed-refs – Jakub Narębski Jul 21 '09 at 23:50
That's true, this solution is susceptible to any future changes in the Git on-disk repository format. – Greg Hewgill Jul 22 '09 at 00:12

score 0 · Answer 10 · answered Sep 07 '16 at 13:05

0

I recommend fetching info related only to a given branch, and then parse to get the latest sha:
git ls-remote <url> --tags <branch_name> | awk '{print $1;}'

answered Sep 07 '16 at 13:05

anamar

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score -1 · Answer 11 · answered Oct 07 '21 at 04:15

with gituhb desktop, it's easy!

First go to your repository on github desktop initial screen after selecting a repository
Then go to History Hisotry of pushes in that repo
Then, right click on the push you want SHA key of, and then copy the SHA key, from the pop up menu.

Menu after right click, to get SHA key

How to get SHA of the latest commit from remote git repository?

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