Using GitPython module to get remote HEAD branch

Question

I'm trying to use GitPython to write some Python scripts which I can use it to simplify my daily tasks as I manage many branches.

I'm also quite new for Python when it comes to writing complicated scripts.

This is the API I used: GitPython API doc

I want to write it in GitPython that simply does the following and parse out the part which shows me the HEAD remote branch is pointing. In another word, I want to basically get the remotes/origin/HEAD

$ git branch -a
  master
* branch_to_remove
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
  remotes/origin/master
  remotes/origin/testing

I browse the API doc many times, at first I'm having trouble to understand the Python format of these API docs, and I couldn't find anything useful to use to do for this other than remote_head in class git.refs.reference.Reference(repo, path, check_path=True)

But I don't even know how to call/initialize it.

Here is what I had so far, and you can tell what I'm trying to do, to simply reset to 'no branch' state and remove the current branch I'm on:

import git
from git import *
repo = git.Repo("/some/path/testing")
repo.git.branch()
[some code to get the remotes/origin/HEAD, set it to remoteHeadBranch ]
repo.git.checkout(remoteHeadBranch)  # this should reset the Git back to 'no branch' state
repo.git.checkout(D="branch_to_remove")

Any help is much appreciated!

Thanks.

moisesvega · Answer 1 · 2012-06-12T08:03:23.787

4

I just saw your question I was wondering about this gitPython, looks like really nice tool, and I was looking for this specific question in the GitPython documentation with no lucky but if you search on github you will see a lot of tests there and there's a test for that.

You will see something like this when you search for "remove new branch":

# remove new branch
Head.delete(new_remote_branch.repo, new_remote_branch)

GitPython Reference

edited Jun 12 '12 at 08:03

answered Jun 12 '12 at 07:24

moisesvega

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Thanks for your comment! I will try this out! Can someone please help me a bit when reading these Python API docs? I meant the doc is very different and hard for me to read for a Java guy like me :-( Thanks! – samxiao Jun 12 '12 at 16:37
This will *NOT* work because you cannot delete the branch you are currently on, so the first step is always return back to the 'no branch' state which what I'm trying to do. `Error on switching to 'no' branch state. 'git branch -d newMaster' returned exit status 1: error: Cannot delete the branch 'newMaster' which you are currently on.` – samxiao Jun 12 '12 at 18:44

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Apr 17 '15 at 03:29

3

To print the current branch:

print(repo.head.ref)

To list branches

print [str(b) for b in repo.heads]

To checkout a branch

repo.heads[branch].checkout()

or repo.git.checkout(branch)

If you're trying to delete a branch, You need to be in a different LOCAL branch, which you can do in several ways

repo.heads['master'].checkout()

or repo.git.checkout('master') or repo.git.checkout('remotes/origin/master')

Hope this helps

answered Apr 17 '15 at 03:29

Mark Riggins

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No, this has nothing to do with the question. The asker is specifically asking about the HEAD of a remote. – flying sheep Jun 21 '21 at 13:15

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 30 '21 at 07:42

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next(ref for ref in repo.remotes.origin.refs if ref.name == "origin/HEAD").ref.name

repo.remotes.origin.refs will give you a list of the remote branches. Filter on the one that is the HEAD and check towards what it points(ref<.name>).

You are now left with something like "origin/master" or "origin/main".

answered Sep 30 '21 at 07:42

Philip Gaudreau

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For me `[ref for ref in repo.remotes.origin.refs if ref.name == "origin/HEAD"]` gives an empty list. I use `git version 2.36.2`. – akaihola Jan 07 '23 at 22:48

Using GitPython module to get remote HEAD branch

3 Answers3