Git command to display HEAD commit id?

Question

What command can I use to print out the commit id of HEAD?

This is what I'm doing by hand:

$ cat .git/HEAD
ref: refs/heads/v3.3
$ cat .git/refs/heads/v3.3
6050732e725c68b83c35c873ff8808dff1c406e1

But I need a script that can reliably pipe the output of some command to a text file such that the text file contains exactly the commit id of HEAD (nothing more or less, and not just a ref). Can anyone help?

I have a similar question before. And it was well answered here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44994626/why-git-use-2-different-commands-to-show-head — smwikipedia, Jul 09 '17 at 09:20

score 582 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 29 '17 at 13:56

582

Use the command:

git rev-parse HEAD

For the short version:

git rev-parse --short HEAD

edited Jun 29 '17 at 13:56

Jorge Ferreira

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answered Dec 28 '09 at 04:44

Randal Schwartz

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For anyone looking for the short version of the hash, `git rev-parse --short HEAD` will work. – mgarciaisaia Apr 13 '15 at 18:21
I can't believe that this answer (straight from the documentation) is still getting up-votes 13 years later. :) – Randal Schwartz Apr 23 '22 at 17:58

score 64 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 07 '15 at 15:44

64

git log -1

for only commit id

git log | head -n 1

answered Dec 07 '15 at 15:44

cyb0k

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Thanks, it's easy – eC Droid May 15 '19 at 09:40
Just FYI: `git log | head -1` is as same as `git log | head -n 1` . – Milan May 26 '21 at 18:57
Although the OP has only asked for the commit ID of HEAD, `git log -1` is very useful. Because it also displays the commit message and other details which makes further analysis/comparison easy. Thank you! – Milan May 26 '21 at 19:00

score 19 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 05 '15 at 13:21

19

Old thread, still for future reference...:) even following works

git show-ref --head

by default HEAD is filtered out. Be careful about following though ; plural "heads" with a 's' at the end. The following command shows branches under "refs/heads"

 git show-ref --heads

answered Mar 05 '15 at 13:21

Abhijit Mazumder

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using these commands in a (large) git repo, I get two lines from `git show-ref --heads` and 6290 lines from `git show-ref --head`. so if you want just a single hash, this gives maybe not the intended result. – Remigius Stalder Jun 15 '17 at 08:47

score 13 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 25 '18 at 20:36

13

You can specify git log options to show only the last commit, -1, and a format that includes only the commit ID, like this:

git log -1 --format=%H

If you prefer the shortened commit ID:

git log -1 --format=%h

answered Mar 25 '18 at 20:36

JotaBe

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score 6 · Answer 5 · edited Oct 15 '17 at 16:20

6

Play with Bash:

git show HEAD | sed -n 1p | cut -d " " -f 2

edited Oct 15 '17 at 16:20

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 14 '15 at 21:19

Ali Moreno

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score 2 · Answer 6 · answered May 15 '18 at 19:54

2

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

answered May 15 '18 at 19:54

Avdhut Mankavale

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1

This does not show commit ID, but rather any names (like branches or tags) associated with the commit. This is not what the original user wanted. – Asfand Qazi Nov 08 '18 at 11:42
@AsfandQazi but it was exactly what I wanted to know, and my google search gave me this article at the top. – Axel Bregnsbo Feb 09 '21 at 09:28

score 0 · Answer 7 · edited Mar 09 '20 at 19:55

0

You can use this command

$ git rev-list HEAD

You can also use the head Unix command to show the latest n HEAD commits like

$ git rev-list HEAD | head - 2

edited Mar 09 '20 at 19:55

starscream_disco_party

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answered Sep 14 '19 at 00:10

medmik

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Stuti Verma · Answer 8 · 2022-05-05T16:18:37.593

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You can use

git log -g branchname

to see git reflog information formatted like the git log output along with commit id.

edited May 05 '22 at 16:18

answered Jun 13 '20 at 18:19

Stuti Verma

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Git command to display HEAD commit id?

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