What's the difference between HEAD^ and HEAD~ in Git?

Question

When I specify an ancestor commit object in Git, I\'m confused between HEAD^ and HEAD~.

Both have a \"numbered\" version like HEAD^3<

Answer 1

The ^ format allows you to select the nth parent of the commit (relevant in merges). The ~ format allows you to select the nth ancestor commit, always following the first parent. See git-rev-parse's documentation for some examples.