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HEAD

  • HEAD is the pointer for the current branch/commit you are working on. There only exists ONE head
  • Head is changed by running git checkout

  • Head is stored at .git/HEAD. E.g.,

  • Head on a branch

ref: refs/heads/master
  • Head on a specific commit (detached HEAD state)
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HEAD

Detached head state

  • Checkout to a specific commit
  • Experimental commits can be made in detached head and they will be garbage collected by git, because no other commits point to them (unreachable)
  • New branches can be created from detached head state to retain those commits
git checkout `SHA1`
git commit -m "Changes in detached head"
git checkout -b new-branch # Branch created from the currently checked out branch

Detached Head