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GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)		  Git Manual		  GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)

NAME
       git-check-ref-format - Ensures that a reference name is well formed

SYNOPSIS
       git check-ref-format [--normalize]
	      [--[no-]allow-onelevel] [--refspec-pattern]
	      <refname>
       git check-ref-format --branch <branchname-shorthand>

DESCRIPTION
       Checks if a given refname is acceptable,	and exits with a non-zero
       status if it is not.

       A reference is used in Git to specify branches and tags.	A branch head
       is stored in the	refs/heads hierarchy, while a tag is stored in the
       refs/tags hierarchy of the ref namespace	(typically in
       $GIT_DIR/refs/heads and $GIT_DIR/refs/tags directories or, as entries
       in file $GIT_DIR/packed-refs if refs are	packed by git gc).

       Git imposes the following rules on how references are named:

	1. They	can include slash / for	hierarchical (directory) grouping, but
	   no slash-separated component	can begin with a dot .	or end with
	   the sequence	.lock.

	2. They	must contain at	least one /. This enforces the presence	of a
	   category like heads/, tags/ etc. but	the actual names are not
	   restricted. If the --allow-onelevel option is used, this rule is
	   waived.

	3. They	cannot have two	consecutive dots ..  anywhere.

	4. They	cannot have ASCII control characters (i.e. bytes whose values
	   are lower than \040,	or \177	DEL), space, tilde ~, caret ^, or
	   colon : anywhere.

	5. They	cannot have question-mark ?, asterisk *, or open bracket [
	   anywhere. See the --refspec-pattern option below for	an exception
	   to this rule.

	6. They	cannot begin or	end with a slash / or contain multiple
	   consecutive slashes (see the	--normalize option below for an
	   exception to	this rule)

	7. They	cannot end with	a dot ..

	8. They	cannot contain a sequence @{.

	9. They	cannot be the single character @.

       10. They	cannot contain a \.

       These rules make	it easy	for shell script based tools to	parse
       reference names,	pathname expansion by the shell	when a reference name
       is used unquoted	(by mistake), and also avoid ambiguities in certain
       reference name expressions (see gitrevisions(7)):

	1. A double-dot	..  is often used as in	ref1..ref2, and	in some
	   contexts this notation means	^ref1 ref2 (i.e. not in	ref1 and in
	   ref2).

	2. A tilde ~ and caret ^ are used to introduce the postfix nth parent
	   and peel onion operation.

	3. A colon : is	used as	in srcref:dstref to mean "use srcref's value
	   and store it	in dstref" in fetch and	push operations. It may	also
	   be used to select a specific	object such as with git	cat-file: "git
	   cat-file blob v1.3.3:refs.c".

	4. at-open-brace @{ is used as a notation to access a reflog entry.

       With the	--branch option, the command takes a name and checks if	it can
       be used as a valid branch name (e.g. when creating a new	branch). But
       be cautious when	using the previous checkout syntax that	may refer to a
       detached	HEAD state. The	rule git check-ref-format --branch $name
       implements may be stricter than what git	check-ref-format
       refs/heads/$name	says (e.g. a dash may appear at	the beginning of a ref
       component, but it is explicitly forbidden at the	beginning of a branch
       name). When run with --branch option in a repository, the input is
       first expanded for the "previous	checkout syntax" @{-n}.	For example,
       @{-1} is	a way to refer the last	thing that was checked out using "git
       switch" or "git checkout" operation. This option	should be used by
       porcelains to accept this syntax	anywhere a branch name is expected, so
       they can	act as if you typed the	branch name. As	an exception note
       that, the "previous checkout operation" might result in a commit	object
       name when the N-th last thing checked out was not a branch.

OPTIONS
       --[no-]allow-onelevel
	   Controls whether one-level refnames are accepted (i.e., refnames
	   that	do not contain multiple	/-separated components). The default
	   is --no-allow-onelevel.

       --refspec-pattern
	   Interpret <refname> as a reference name pattern for a refspec (as
	   used	with remote repositories). If this option is enabled,
	   <refname> is	allowed	to contain a single * in the refspec (e.g.,
	   foo/bar*/baz	or foo/bar*baz/	but not	foo/bar*/baz*).

       --normalize
	   Normalize refname by	removing any leading slash (/) characters and
	   collapsing runs of adjacent slashes between name components into a
	   single slash. If the	normalized refname is valid then print it to
	   standard output and exit with a status of 0,	otherwise exit with a
	   non-zero status. (--print is	a deprecated way to spell
	   --normalize.)

EXAMPLES
       o   Print the name of the previous thing	checked	out:

	       $ git check-ref-format --branch @{-1}

       o   Determine the reference name	to use for a new branch:

	       $ ref=$(git check-ref-format --normalize	"refs/heads/$newbranch")||
	       { echo "we do not like '$newbranch' as a	branch name." >&2 ; exit 1 ; }

GIT
       Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.28.0			  07/26/2020		  GIT-CHECK-REF-FOR(1)

NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | EXAMPLES | GIT

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