What does git push origin HEAD mean?

git git-push
scristalli picture scristalli · Apr 23, 2014 · Viewed 91.1k times · Source

I found, in the official guide:

git push origin HEAD

A handy way to push the current branch to the same name on the remote.

However, the meaning of the command is not clear to me. Why does it have this effect?

I haven't been able to find an answer (this question seems to treat the problem, but the title is misleading).

Answer

hek2mgl picture hek2mgl · Apr 23, 2014

HEAD points to the top of the current branch. git can obtain the branch name from that. So it's the same as:

git push origin CURRENT_BRANCH_NAME

but you don't have to remember/type the current branch name. Also it prevents you from pushing to the wrong remote branch by accident.

If you want to push a different branch than the current one the command will not work.

Related questions

How do I delete a Git branch locally and remotely?

I want to delete a branch both locally and remotely. Failed Attempts to Delete a Remote Branch $ git branch -d remotes/origin/bugfix error: branch 'remotes/origin/bugfix' not found. $ git branch -d origin/bugfix error: branch 'origin/bugfix' not …

Read More
How do I push a new local branch to a remote Git repository and track it too?

I want to be able to do the following: Create a local branch based on some other (remote or local) branch (via git branch or git checkout -b) Push the local branch to the remote repository (publish), but make it …

Read More
How do I properly force a Git push?

I've set up a remote non-bare "main" repo and cloned it to my computer. I made some local changes, updated my local repository, and pushed the changes back to my remote repo. Things were fine up to that point. Now, …

Read More