{ "content": [ { "type": "text", "text": "# git-describe(1) (man)\n\n**Summary:** git-describe - Give an object a human readable name based on an available ref\n\n**Synopsis:** git describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] [...]\ngit describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] --dirty[=]\ngit describe \n\n## Flags\n\n| Flag | Long | Arg | Description |\n|------|------|-----|-------------|\n| — | --all | — | Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref found in refs/ namespace. This option enables matching any known b |\n| — | --tags | — | Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag found in refs/tags namespace. This option enables matching a light |\n| — | --contains | — | Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it. Aut |\n| — | --exact-match | — | Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the supplied commit). This is a synonym for --candidates=0. |\n| — | --debug | — | Verbosely display information about the searching strategy being employed to standard error. The tag name will still be |\n| — | --long | — | Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a ta |\n| — | --match | | Only consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\" prefix. If used with --all, it also co |\n| — | --exclude | | Do not consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\" prefix. If used with --all, it also |\n| — | --always | — | Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback. |\n| — | --first-parent | — | Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge commit. This is useful when you wish to not match tags on branch |\n\n## Examples\n\n- `With something like git.git current tree, I get:`\n- `[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent`\n- `v1.0.4-14-g2414721`\n- `i.e. the current head of my \"parent\" branch is based on v1.0.4, but since it has a few`\n- `commits on top of that, describe has added the number of additional commits (\"14\") and an`\n- `abbreviated object name for the commit itself (\"2414721\") at the end.`\n- `The number of additional commits is the number of commits which would be displayed by \"git`\n- `log v1.0.4..parent\". The hash suffix is \"-g\" + an unambigous abbreviation for the tip commit`\n- `of parent (which was 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6). The length of the`\n- `abbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the approximate number of objects in the`\n- `repository and a bit of math around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7. The`\n- `\"g\" prefix stands for \"git\" and is used to allow describing the version of a software`\n- `depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful in an environment where`\n- `people may use different SCMs.`\n- `Doing a git describe on a tag-name will just show the tag name:`\n- `[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4`\n- `v1.0.4`\n- `With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so the output shows the reference`\n- `path as well:`\n- `[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2`\n- `tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b`\n- `[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^`\n- `heads/lt/describe-7-g975b`\n- `With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the closest tagname without any`\n- `suffix:`\n- `[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2`\n- `tags/v1.0.0`\n- `Note that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be longer than what Linus`\n- `saw above when he ran these commands, as your Git repository may have new commits whose`\n- `object names begin with 975b that did not exist back then, and \"-g975b\" suffix alone may not`\n- `be sufficient to disambiguate these commits.`\n\n## Section Outline\n\n- **NAME** (2 lines)\n- **SYNOPSIS** (5 lines)\n- **DESCRIPTION** (13 lines)\n- **OPTIONS** (10 lines) — 10 subsections\n - --all (3 lines)\n - --tags (3 lines)\n - --contains (15 lines)\n - --exact-match (3 lines)\n - --debug (3 lines)\n - --long (6 lines)\n - --match (7 lines)\n - --exclude (9 lines)\n - --always (2 lines)\n - --first-parent (3 lines)\n- **EXAMPLES** (43 lines)\n- **SEARCH STRATEGY** (15 lines)\n- **BUGS** (4 lines)\n- **GIT** (5 lines)\n\n## Full Content\n\n### NAME\n\ngit-describe - Give an object a human readable name based on an available ref\n\n### SYNOPSIS\n\ngit describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] [...]\ngit describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] --dirty[=]\ngit describe \n\n### DESCRIPTION\n\nThe command finds the most recent tag that is reachable from a commit. If the tag points to\nthe commit, then only the tag is shown. Otherwise, it suffixes the tag name with the number\nof additional commits on top of the tagged object and the abbreviated object name of the most\nrecent commit. The result is a \"human-readable\" object name which can also be used to\nidentify the commit to other git commands.\n\nBy default (without --all or --tags) git describe only shows annotated tags. For more\ninformation about creating annotated tags see the -a and -s options to git-tag(1).\n\nIf the given object refers to a blob, it will be described as :, such that\nthe blob can be found at in the , which itself describes the first commit\nin which this blob occurs in a reverse revision walk from HEAD.\n\n### OPTIONS\n\n...\nCommit-ish object names to describe. Defaults to HEAD if omitted.\n\n--dirty[=], --broken[=]\nDescribe the state of the working tree. When the working tree matches HEAD, the output is\nthe same as \"git describe HEAD\". If the working tree has local modification \"-dirty\" is\nappended to it. If a repository is corrupt and Git cannot determine if there is local\nmodification, Git will error out, unless ‘--broken’ is given, which appends the suffix\n\"-broken\" instead.\n\n#### --all\n\nInstead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref found in refs/ namespace. This\noption enables matching any known branch, remote-tracking branch, or lightweight tag.\n\n#### --tags\n\nInstead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag found in refs/tags namespace. This\noption enables matching a lightweight (non-annotated) tag.\n\n#### --contains\n\nInstead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find the tag that comes after the\ncommit, and thus contains it. Automatically implies --tags.\n\n--abbrev=\nInstead of using the default number of hexadecimal digits (which will vary according to\nthe number of objects in the repository with a default of 7) of the abbreviated object\nname, use digits, or as many digits as needed to form a unique object name. An of\n0 will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag.\n\n--candidates=\nInstead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as candidates to describe the input\ncommit-ish consider up to candidates. Increasing above 10 will take slightly\nlonger but may produce a more accurate result. An of 0 will cause only exact matches\nto be output.\n\n#### --exact-match\n\nOnly output exact matches (a tag directly references the supplied commit). This is a\nsynonym for --candidates=0.\n\n#### --debug\n\nVerbosely display information about the searching strategy being employed to standard\nerror. The tag name will still be printed to standard out.\n\n#### --long\n\nAlways output the long format (the tag, the number of commits and the abbreviated commit\nname) even when it matches a tag. This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit\nobject name in \"describe\" output, even when the commit in question happens to be a tagged\nversion. Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will describe such a commit as\nv1.2-0-gdeadbee (0th commit since tag v1.2 that points at object deadbee....).\n\n#### --match \n\nOnly consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\" prefix.\nIf used with --all, it also considers local branches and remote-tracking references\nmatching the pattern, excluding respectively \"refs/heads/\" and \"refs/remotes/\" prefix;\nreferences of other types are never considered. If given multiple times, a list of\npatterns will be accumulated, and tags matching any of the patterns will be considered.\nUse --no-match to clear and reset the list of patterns.\n\n#### --exclude \n\nDo not consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\"\nprefix. If used with --all, it also does not consider local branches and remote-tracking\nreferences matching the pattern, excluding respectively \"refs/heads/\" and \"refs/remotes/\"\nprefix; references of other types are never considered. If given multiple times, a list\nof patterns will be accumulated and tags matching any of the patterns will be excluded.\nWhen combined with --match a tag will be considered when it matches at least one --match\npattern and does not match any of the --exclude patterns. Use --no-exclude to clear and\nreset the list of patterns.\n\n#### --always\n\nShow uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback.\n\n#### --first-parent\n\nFollow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge commit. This is useful when you\nwish to not match tags on branches merged in the history of the target commit.\n\n### EXAMPLES\n\nWith something like git.git current tree, I get:\n\n[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent\nv1.0.4-14-g2414721\n\ni.e. the current head of my \"parent\" branch is based on v1.0.4, but since it has a few\ncommits on top of that, describe has added the number of additional commits (\"14\") and an\nabbreviated object name for the commit itself (\"2414721\") at the end.\n\nThe number of additional commits is the number of commits which would be displayed by \"git\nlog v1.0.4..parent\". The hash suffix is \"-g\" + an unambigous abbreviation for the tip commit\nof parent (which was 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6). The length of the\nabbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the approximate number of objects in the\nrepository and a bit of math around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7. The\n\"g\" prefix stands for \"git\" and is used to allow describing the version of a software\ndepending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful in an environment where\npeople may use different SCMs.\n\nDoing a git describe on a tag-name will just show the tag name:\n\n[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4\nv1.0.4\n\nWith --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so the output shows the reference\npath as well:\n\n[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2\ntags/v1.0.0-21-g975b\n\n[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^\nheads/lt/describe-7-g975b\n\nWith --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the closest tagname without any\nsuffix:\n\n[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2\ntags/v1.0.0\n\nNote that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be longer than what Linus\nsaw above when he ran these commands, as your Git repository may have new commits whose\nobject names begin with 975b that did not exist back then, and \"-g975b\" suffix alone may not\nbe sufficient to disambiguate these commits.\n\n### SEARCH STRATEGY\n\nFor each commit-ish supplied, git describe will first look for a tag which tags exactly that\ncommit. Annotated tags will always be preferred over lightweight tags, and tags with newer\ndates will always be preferred over tags with older dates. If an exact match is found, its\nname will be output and searching will stop.\n\nIf an exact match was not found, git describe will walk back through the commit history to\nlocate an ancestor commit which has been tagged. The ancestor’s tag will be output along with\nan abbreviation of the input commit-ish’s SHA-1. If --first-parent was specified then the\nwalk will only consider the first parent of each commit.\n\nIf multiple tags were found during the walk then the tag which has the fewest commits\ndifferent from the input commit-ish will be selected and output. Here fewest commits\ndifferent is defined as the number of commits which would be shown by git log tag..input will\nbe the smallest number of commits possible.\n\n### BUGS\n\nTree objects as well as tag objects not pointing at commits, cannot be described. When\ndescribing blobs, the lightweight tags pointing at blobs are ignored, but the blob is still\ndescribed as : despite the lightweight tag being favorable.\n\n### GIT\n\nPart of the git(1) suite\n\n\n\nGit 2.34.1 02/26/2026 GIT-DESCRIBE(1)\n\n" } ], "structuredContent": { "command": "git-describe", "section": "1", "mode": "man", "summary": "git-describe - Give an object a human readable name based on an available ref", "synopsis": "git describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] [...]\ngit describe [--all] [--tags] [--contains] [--abbrev=] --dirty[=]\ngit describe ", "flags": [ { "flag": "", "long": "--all", "arg": null, "description": "Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any ref found in refs/ namespace. This option enables matching any known branch, remote-tracking branch, or lightweight tag." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--tags", "arg": null, "description": "Instead of using only the annotated tags, use any tag found in refs/tags namespace. This option enables matching a lightweight (non-annotated) tag." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--contains", "arg": null, "description": "Instead of finding the tag that predates the commit, find the tag that comes after the commit, and thus contains it. Automatically implies --tags. --abbrev= Instead of using the default number of hexadecimal digits (which will vary according to the number of objects in the repository with a default of 7) of the abbreviated object name, use digits, or as many digits as needed to form a unique object name. An of 0 will suppress long format, only showing the closest tag. --candidates= Instead of considering only the 10 most recent tags as candidates to describe the input commit-ish consider up to candidates. Increasing above 10 will take slightly longer but may produce a more accurate result. An of 0 will cause only exact matches to be output." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--exact-match", "arg": null, "description": "Only output exact matches (a tag directly references the supplied commit). This is a synonym for --candidates=0." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--debug", "arg": null, "description": "Verbosely display information about the searching strategy being employed to standard error. The tag name will still be printed to standard out." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--long", "arg": null, "description": "Always output the long format (the tag, the number of commits and the abbreviated commit name) even when it matches a tag. This is useful when you want to see parts of the commit object name in \"describe\" output, even when the commit in question happens to be a tagged version. Instead of just emitting the tag name, it will describe such a commit as v1.2-0-gdeadbee (0th commit since tag v1.2 that points at object deadbee....)." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--match", "arg": "", "description": "Only consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\" prefix. If used with --all, it also considers local branches and remote-tracking references matching the pattern, excluding respectively \"refs/heads/\" and \"refs/remotes/\" prefix; references of other types are never considered. If given multiple times, a list of patterns will be accumulated, and tags matching any of the patterns will be considered. Use --no-match to clear and reset the list of patterns." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--exclude", "arg": "", "description": "Do not consider tags matching the given glob(7) pattern, excluding the \"refs/tags/\" prefix. If used with --all, it also does not consider local branches and remote-tracking references matching the pattern, excluding respectively \"refs/heads/\" and \"refs/remotes/\" prefix; references of other types are never considered. If given multiple times, a list of patterns will be accumulated and tags matching any of the patterns will be excluded. When combined with --match a tag will be considered when it matches at least one --match pattern and does not match any of the --exclude patterns. Use --no-exclude to clear and reset the list of patterns." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--always", "arg": null, "description": "Show uniquely abbreviated commit object as fallback." }, { "flag": "", "long": "--first-parent", "arg": null, "description": "Follow only the first parent commit upon seeing a merge commit. This is useful when you wish to not match tags on branches merged in the history of the target commit." } ], "examples": [ "With something like git.git current tree, I get:", "[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe parent", "v1.0.4-14-g2414721", "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, describe has added the number of additional commits (\"14\") and an", "abbreviated object name for the commit itself (\"2414721\") at the end.", "The number of additional commits is the number of commits which would be displayed by \"git", "log v1.0.4..parent\". The hash suffix is \"-g\" + an unambigous abbreviation for the tip commit", "of parent (which was 2414721b194453f058079d897d13c4e377f92dc6). The length of the", "abbreviation scales as the repository grows, using the approximate number of objects in the", "repository and a bit of math around the birthday paradox, and defaults to a minimum of 7. The", "\"g\" prefix stands for \"git\" and is used to allow describing the version of a software", "depending on the SCM the software is managed with. This is useful in an environment where", "people may use different SCMs.", "Doing a git describe on a tag-name will just show the tag name:", "[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe v1.0.4", "v1.0.4", "With --all, the command can use branch heads as references, so the output shows the reference", "path as well:", "[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 v1.0.5^2", "tags/v1.0.0-21-g975b", "[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --all --abbrev=4 HEAD^", "heads/lt/describe-7-g975b", "With --abbrev set to 0, the command can be used to find the closest tagname without any", "suffix:", "[torvalds@g5 git]$ git describe --abbrev=0 v1.0.5^2", "tags/v1.0.0", "Note that the suffix you get if you type these commands today may be longer than what Linus", "saw above when he ran these commands, as your Git repository may have new commits whose", "object names begin with 975b that did not exist back then, and \"-g975b\" suffix alone may not", "be sufficient to disambiguate these commits." ], "see_also": [], "section_outline": [ { "name": "NAME", "lines": 2, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SYNOPSIS", "lines": 5, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "DESCRIPTION", "lines": 13, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "OPTIONS", "lines": 10, "subsections": [ { "name": "--all", "lines": 3, "long": "--all" }, { "name": "--tags", "lines": 3, "long": "--tags" }, { "name": "--contains", "lines": 15, "long": "--contains" }, { "name": "--exact-match", "lines": 3, "long": "--exact-match" }, { "name": "--debug", "lines": 3, "long": "--debug" }, { "name": "--long", "lines": 6, "long": "--long" }, { "name": "--match ", "lines": 7, "long": "--match", "arg": "" }, { "name": "--exclude ", "lines": 9, "long": "--exclude", "arg": "" }, { "name": "--always", "lines": 2, "long": "--always" }, { "name": "--first-parent", "lines": 3, "long": "--first-parent" } ] }, { "name": "EXAMPLES", "lines": 43, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "SEARCH STRATEGY", "lines": 15, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "BUGS", "lines": 4, "subsections": [] }, { "name": "GIT", "lines": 5, "subsections": [] } ] } }