What Is GIT Head?
Table Of Contents:
- What Is GIT Head ?
- How To Use GIT Head ?
- What Is Detached Head ?
(1) What Is GIT Head?
- In Git, HEAD is like a pointer that tells you where you currently are in your project’s history.
- It usually points to the latest commit in the branch you are working on.
- Think of HEAD as a bookmark that Git uses to track your current position in the repository.
- The ‘HEAD’ can be understood as the “current branch.”
- When you switch branches with ‘checkout,’ the ‘HEAD’ is transferred to the new branch.
(2) How To Use GIT Head?
- Use the below command to check the ‘GIT HEAD’.
git show HEAD 
Note:
- It will show you the last committed ID on the checkout branch.
- You can verify that by seeing the logs.
git log – raw
(3) What Is Detached Head ?
- If you check out an old commit:
git checkout <commit-hash>
- HEAD goes into a detached state, meaning you are no longer on a branch. Any new commits won’t be linked to any branch unless you create a new branch.
- To fix it:
git checkout main # Go back to a branch
Analogy:
Think of Git HEAD like a YouTube video progress bar:
HEAD at the latest commit → You’re at the end of the video (current code state).
HEAD at an old commit → You rewound the video to an earlier scene (past version).
Detached HEAD → Watching a part of the video but without being on a playlist (not on a branch).