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: stackoverflow.com/questions/44994626/… — smwikipedia
– smwikipedia, Commented Jul 9, 2017 at 9:20

Jorge Ferreira · Accepted Answer · 2017-06-29 13:56:08Z

701

Use the command:

git rev-parse HEAD

For the short version:

git rev-parse --short HEAD

edited Jun 29, 2017 at 13:56

Jorge Ferreira

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answered Dec 28, 2009 at 4:44

Randal Schwartz

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mgarciaisaia Over a year ago

For anyone looking for the short version of the hash, git rev-parse --short HEAD will work.

Tomáš Záluský Jul 14, 2025 at 12:11

works also for another (different than the checked out) branch: git rev-parse feature/task123

cyb0k · Accepted Answer · 2015-12-07 15:44:44Z

79

git log -1

for only commit id

git log | head -n 1

answered Dec 7, 2015 at 15:44

cyb0k

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Milan Over a year ago

Just FYI: git log | head -1 is as same as git log | head -n 1 .

Milan Over a year ago

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!

Abhijit Mazumder · Accepted Answer · 2015-03-05 13:21:23Z

23

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 5, 2015 at 13:21

Abhijit Mazumder

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Remigius Stalder Over a year ago

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.

JotaBe · Accepted Answer · 2018-03-25 20:36:46Z

17

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, 2018 at 20:36

JotaBe

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Comments

Peter Mortensen · Accepted Answer · 2017-10-15 16:20:19Z

7

Play with Bash:

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

edited Oct 15, 2017 at 16:20

Peter Mortensen

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answered Nov 14, 2015 at 21:19

Ali Moreno

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Avdhut Mankavale · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-15 19:54:08Z

3

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

answered May 15, 2018 at 19:54

Avdhut Mankavale

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Asfand Qazi Over a year ago

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.

Axel Bregnsbo Over a year ago

@AsfandQazi but it was exactly what I wanted to know, and my google search gave me this article at the top.

Attila · Accepted Answer · 2022-08-15 11:04:31Z

1

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 -n 2

edited Aug 15, 2022 at 11:04

Attila

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answered Sep 14, 2019 at 0:10

medmik

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Comments

Stuti Verma · Accepted Answer · 2022-05-05 16:18:37Z

0

You can use

git log -g branchname

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

edited May 5, 2022 at 16:18

answered Jun 13, 2020 at 18:19

Stuti Verma

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