Show the current branch name in Git

David Y.
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The Problem

How do I view the name of the current branch in my Git repository?

The Solution

We can use git branch:

git branch --show-current

The --show-current flag was added in Git 2.2. For older versions of Git, we must use the following command instead:

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

Note that neither of these commands will work if the repository is in detached HEAD state, i.e. if you’ve previously checked out a commit that is not on the tip of any branch.

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