Find Out Which Remote Branch a Local Branch Is Tracking

To determine which remote branch a local branch is tracking in Git, you can use a few different commands. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you find this information:

1. Using git branch

The git branch command with the -vv option provides detailed information about local branches, including which remote branch they are tracking.

git branch -vv

• vv: Shows verbose information including the remote-tracking branch and the last commit on each branch.

Example Output:

* main          7f9c2d1 [origin/main] Update README
  feature-branch 8a9b1c2 [origin/feature-branch] Add new feature

In this output:

• main is tracking origin/main.
• feature-branch is tracking origin/feature-branch.

2. Using git status

You can also use the git status command when you are on a specific branch. It shows which remote branch the current branch is tracking.

git status

Example Output:

On branch feature-branch
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/feature-branch'.

This tells you that the feature-branch is tracking origin/feature-branch.

3. Using git rev-parse

For a more direct approach, use the git rev-parse command with --abbrev-ref and --symbolic-full-name options.

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref <local-branch>@{upstream}

• <local-branch>: Replace this with the name of your local branch.

Example:

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref main@{upstream}

This will output the name of the remote branch that main is tracking, such as origin/main.

4. Using git for-each-ref

You can use git for-each-ref to get detailed information about all branches and their tracking status.

git for-each-ref --format '%(refname:short) %(upstream:short)' refs/heads/

Example Output:

main          origin/main
feature-branch origin/feature-branch

This lists all local branches and their corresponding remote-tracking branches.

Summary

• List Local Branches with Remote Tracking Information:

   

  Copied!

  git branch -vv
  

• Check Tracking Branch for the Current Branch:

   

  Copied!

  git status
  

• Find Remote Branch Tracking a Specific Local Branch:

   

  Copied!

  git rev-parse --abbrev-ref <local-branch>@{upstream}
  

• List All Branches with Their Tracking Information:

   

  Copied!

  git for-each-ref --format '%(refname:short) %(upstream:short)' refs/heads/
  

These commands help you determine the remote branch each local branch is tracking, which is useful for understanding and managing your branch relationships in Git.

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