How to Check If a Git Remote Has a Specific Branch

Introduction

In this lab, you will learn how to check if a specific branch exists on a Git remote repository. We will explore different methods to achieve this, starting with the git branch -r command to list remote branches.

Next, you will discover the versatility of the git ls-remote command, which allows you to list references, including branches, directly from a remote URL without needing to configure it locally. Finally, you will learn how to verify the existence of a specific branch on a configured remote.

Skills Graph

Run git branch -r to List Branches

In this step, we'll learn how to see the branches that exist on a remote Git repository. While we haven't connected to a remote repository yet, understanding this command is crucial for working with others or with online platforms like GitHub or GitLab.

The command to list remote branches is git branch -r.

Let's try running it now. Since we don't have any remotes configured yet, you won't see any output, but it's good practice to see how the command works:

git branch -r

You should see no output, as expected.

Why is this command useful? When you're working on a project with other people, they might create new branches on a shared remote repository. The git branch -r command allows you to see what branches exist on that remote, so you know what work is being done and what branches you might want to pull down to your local machine.

Think of it like checking the directory of a shared library. You want to see what books (branches) are available before you decide which one to borrow (checkout).

In the next steps, we'll explore other ways to check for remote branches, which can be helpful in different scenarios.

Use git ls-remote for Branch Check

In addition to git branch -r, another powerful command to check for remote branches is git ls-remote. This command is more general and can list references (like branches and tags) from a remote repository without fetching them first.

The basic syntax is git ls-remote <remote_url>.

Since we don't have a remote configured in our current repository, let's use a public Git repository to demonstrate. We'll use the official Git repository hosted on kernel.org.

Run the following command in your terminal:

git ls-remote https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git

You will see a lot of output! This output lists various references in the remote repository, including branches and tags. Look for lines that contain refs/heads/. These represent the branches on the remote.

<some_hash>     refs/heads/master
<some_hash>     refs/heads/next
<some_hash>     refs/heads/pu
<some_hash>     refs/heads/topic/add-options-to-git-config
...

The git ls-remote command is useful when you want to quickly see what's available on a remote without adding it to your local repository or fetching all the data. It's like peeking into a remote library's catalog without actually visiting the library.

While git branch -r shows you the remote branches that your local repository is aware of (usually after a git fetch), git ls-remote directly queries the remote repository. This makes git ls-remote useful for checking a remote repository you haven't added to your local configuration yet.

Verify with Specific Remote

In the previous step, we used git ls-remote with a full URL. You can also use git ls-remote with the name of a remote that is already configured in your repository.

First, let's add a remote to our current repository. We'll add the same kernel.org Git repository as a remote named kernel_git.

Run the following command:

git remote add kernel_git https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/git/git.git

This command adds a remote named kernel_git pointing to the specified URL. It won't produce any output if successful.

Now, let's use git ls-remote with the remote name:

git ls-remote kernel_git

You should see the same output as when you used the full URL in the previous step.

<some_hash>     refs/heads/master
<some_hash>     refs/heads/next
<some_hash>     refs/heads/pu
<some_hash>     refs/heads/topic/add-options-to-git-config
...

Using git ls-remote with a remote name is convenient when you have already added the remote to your configuration. It saves you from typing the full URL every time.

You can also specify what kind of references you want to see. For example, to only see branches, you can add refs/heads:

git ls-remote kernel_git refs/heads

This will filter the output to show only the branches.

<some_hash>     refs/heads/master
<some_hash>     refs/heads/next
<some_hash>     refs/heads/pu
<some_hash>     refs/heads/topic/add-options-to-git-config
...

This demonstrates the flexibility of git ls-remote for inspecting remote repositories.

Summary

In this lab, we learned how to check for branches on a remote Git repository using two primary methods. First, we explored the git branch -r command, which lists remote-tracking branches that your local repository is aware of. While initially showing no output without a configured remote, understanding its purpose is crucial for seeing branches on shared repositories. We then moved on to the more versatile git ls-remote command. This command allows us to directly query a remote repository (even without a local remote configuration) for its references, including branches, by providing the remote URL. We demonstrated this by listing references from a public Git repository, observing how lines containing refs/heads/ indicate branches. These methods provide different ways to ascertain the existence of specific branches on a remote, which is essential for collaborative workflows and interacting with online Git platforms.