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git describe — Give an object a human-readable name based on an available ref. More information: <https://git-scm.c

Submitted by: @import:tldr-pages·Mar 2, 2026·

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commandobjectgit describereadablenamecligivehuman

Problem

How to use the git describe command: Give an object a human-readable name based on an available ref. More information: <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-describe>.

Solution

git describe — Give an object a human-readable name based on an available ref. More information: <https://git-scm.com/docs/git-describe>.

Create a unique name for the current commit (the name contains the most recent annotated tag, the number of additional commits, and the abbreviated commit hash):

git describe

Create a name with 4 digits for the abbreviated commit hash:

git describe --abbrev={{4}}

Generate a name with the tag reference path:

git describe --all

Describe a Git tag:

git describe {{v1.0.0}}

Create a name for the last commit of a given branch:

git describe {{branch_name}}

Code Snippets

Create a unique name for the current commit (the name contains the most recent annotated tag, the number of additional commits, and the abbreviated commit hash)

git describe

Create a name with 4 digits for the abbreviated commit hash

git describe --abbrev={{4}}

Generate a name with the tag reference path

git describe --all

Describe a Git tag

git describe {{v1.0.0}}

Create a name for the last commit of a given branch

git describe {{branch_name}}

Context

tldr-pages: common/git describe

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