Git: How to find out on which branch a tag is?

Question

I'm currently busy with a project with a lot of branches and I have a tag for last changes which where done on one of the branches. But it's not clear for me on which branch this tag is.

How to find out on which branch a tag is?

Solution 1

Even shorter:

git branch --contains tags/<tag>

(it works for any tree-ish reference)

---

If you can find which commit a tag refers to:

 git rev-parse --verify tags/<tag>^{commit}
 # or, shorter:
 git rev-parse tags/<tag>~0

Then you can find which branch contain that commit.

git branch --contains <commit>

---

As commented below by user3356885, for the fetched branches (branches in remotes namespace)

git branch -a --contains tags/<tag>
git branch -a --contains <commit>

---

As noted in Pyr3z's answer, for each candidate tag listed above, you can add:

git log -1 --pretty='%D' TAG

That will show the branches associated to that tag.

Solution 2

If "git branch --contains " does nothing, be sure that you are including all branches, both remote and local branches:

git branch -a --contains <tag>

From the git help:

Specific git-branch actions: -a, --all list both remote-tracking and local branches

Solution 3

In regards to @VonC's comment about finding the commit referenced by a tag, just use:

git show <tag>

Since a tag is tied to a specific commit, it can be used to show that commit - which will give you the full commit details.

Solution 4

git branch --contains tag

does nothing for me, but I found my solution to this problem in git gui.

Start it like this:

git gui

(On my Ubuntu I had to install it first with sudo apt-get install git-gui.)

Then I selected the menu item Repository -> Visualize All Branch History. In the resulting window I then selected the menu item File -> List References.

Another window popped up, listing all my tags (and other references). These are clickable and after clicking one of them I just had to check the bottom left frame for the list of branches. Like this:

Parent: somesha (message)
Parent: someothersha (another message)
Child:  anothersha (yet another message)
Branches: branch1, master, remotes/origin/branch2, remotes/upstream/branch1, etc
Follows: v1.1.2
Precedes: v1.1.4

Solution 5

You can also try this , had similar use case and this worked for me

git ls-remote --heads origin | grep $CI_COMMIT_SHORT_SHA  | sed "s/.*\///"

Slightly different but taking inspiration from @ttfreeman's answer

View more solutions

Comments

[Dan Moulding]

On my version of Git, 1.7.1, I can simply do git branch --contains <tag>.

[VonC]

@DanMoulding true, I have edited the answer to reflect that. I was initially interested on finding the commit attached to a tag.

[user3356885]

Looking for tag that was created on remote branch won't produce any results in this case. Another words, no results will be produced for branches that do not exist locally. Option -a should be used for that. git branch -a --contains <tag>. Same will work for commits.

[herm]

Unfortunately this returns multiple things: * (HEAD detached at 82dd3f0) master refs/tags/0.0.1-test-masterBr --> I want to programatically access the branch, no HEAD info or the tag itself

[VonC]

@herm In that case, try git branch --no-merge tags/<a-tag>

[herm]

@ VonC With this method I get a branch after taggin a commit on the master.

[VonC]

@herm In that case, ask a new question with your configuration (OS, version of Git) and your current setup.

[Alejandro Cotilla]

This returns * (no branch) for me on a freshly cloned repo.

[VonC]

@AlejandroCotilla Maybe it is a tag not referenced by any branch.

[Alejandro Cotilla]

@VonC thanks! I figured it out. I had to use git branch -r --contains <commit>. The way my repo is being cloned is on a detached HEAD initially, maybe that's why -a shows * (no branch).

[redanimalwar]

This opens a list of tags with one marked green in same cases for me. I need to close that. I just want it to print the branch out that tag was tagged on to stdout. How do I do that?

[VonC]

@redanimalwar What command do you type? On which OS? With which version of Git? In which shell/CMD?

[redanimalwar]

git branch --contains <tag>. git version 2.23.0, zsh, open SUSE tumbleweed. I do not think this is specific to my OS or shell, I think this is the default thing modern git versions do. They open a list in a pager

[redanimalwar]

What I can to is git ... | grep "*" that with output me * branchname.

[VonC]

@redanimalwar Then those are all the branches from which the tag is accessible: that tag could have been set on that commit while being in any of those branches.

[VonC]

@redanimalwar indeed. Since the new --show-current option is not compatible with --contain: stackoverflow.com/a/55088865/6309, a grep remains a good alternative: but that references only the branch you happen to have checked out at the time of your search.

[redanimalwar]

I do not really get it. "Set on that commit while beeing?" I specified a tag and not some random commit hash. Anyway I guess what you are saying it all those branches were created from the point it was tagged. That was not my question anywas. The starred marked one is the branch if was created on and I would like a simple git comment to just output me the branch cleanly without the need for anything else if possible.

[redanimalwar]

So its actually not what I am looking for, hmmm. But its opens a pager even if its just one branch.

[VonC]

@redanimalwar I don't think the 'x' marks the "the branch if was created on": it only marks the branch you happen to be right now. Test it yourself: checkout another branch (ony listed by your previous git branch --contains command): a new git branch --contains of that same tag will put the '*' in front of the branch you just checked out.

[VonC]

@redanimalwar You can prevent the pager to bother you with --no-pager: stackoverflow.com/a/2183920/6309

[VonC]

Interesting alternative, upvoted. I have referenced it in my ow answer.

[John]

@VonC What are the differences between git branch -a --contains tags/<tag> and git log -1 --pretty='%D' TAG

[VonC]

@John Not much for this question.