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.TH "GIT-DESCRIBE" 1 "" "" ""
.SH NAME
git-describe \- Show the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit
.SH "SYNOPSIS"


\fIgit\-describe\fR [\-\-all] [\-\-tags] [\-\-abbrev=<n>] <committish>...

.SH "DESCRIPTION"


The command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit, and if the commit itself is pointed at by the tag, shows the tag\&. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with abbreviated object name of the commit\&.

.SH "OPTIONS"

.TP
<committish>
The object name of the comittish\&.

.TP
\-\-all
Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref found in \&.git/refs/\&.

.TP
\-\-tags
Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag found in \&.git/refs/tags\&.

.TP
\-\-abbrev=<n>
Instead of using the default 8 hexadecimal digits as the abbreviated object name, use <n> digits\&.

.SH "EXAMPLES"


With something like git\&.git current tree, I get:

.nf
[torvalds@g5 git]$ git\-describe parent
v1\&.0\&.4\-g2414721b
.fi


i\&.e\&. the current head of my "parent" branch is based on v1\&.0\&.4, but since it has a few commits on top of that, it has added the git hash of the thing to the end: "\-g" + 8\-char shorthand for the commit 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6\&.


Doing a "git\-describe" on a tag\-name will just show the tag name:

.nf
[torvalds@g5 git]$ git\-describe v1\&.0\&.4
v1\&.0\&.4
.fi


With \-\-all, the command can use branch heads as references, so the output shows the reference path as well:

.nf
[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe \-\-all \-\-abbrev=4 v1\&.0\&.5^2
tags/v1\&.0\&.0\-g975b
.fi

.nf
[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe \-\-all HEAD^
heads/lt/describe\-g975b
.fi

.SH "AUTHOR"


Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl\&.org>, but somewhat butchered by Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox\&.net>

.SH "DOCUMENTATION"


Documentation by David Greaves, Junio C Hamano and the git\-list <git@vger\&.kernel\&.org>\&.

.SH "GIT"


Part of the \fBgit\fR(7) suite