Get git current branch/tag name

Question

How can I get the current branch or tag name for my working copy? I have seen references that indicate rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD will give branch name, but t

Answer 1

I think you want this:

git symbolic-ref -q --short HEAD || git describe --tags --exact-match

That will output the value of HEAD, if it's not detached, or emit the tag name, if it's an exact match. It'll show you an error otherwise.

Answer 2

This command can print name in this priority: tag > branch > commit

git describe --tags --exact-match 2> /dev/null \
  || git symbolic-ref -q --short HEAD \
  || git rev-parse --short HEAD

Answer 3

This command can print name in this priority: branch > tag > commit id

git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD \
  || git describe --tags --exact-match 2> /dev/null \
  || git rev-parse --short HEAD

Merged @xiaohui-zhang's answer and @thisismydesign's comment. I keep coming back to this question every few months, and this is the answer I end up with, so I thought I'd post it.