Symbolic ref names branches tags remote-tracking branches

$ git log master    # specify branch
$ git show v1.0     # specify tag
$ git show HEAD     # specify current branch
$ git show origin   # specify default remote-tracking branch for remote 'origin'

You can specify revision using a symbolic ref name, which includes branches (for example ‘master’, ‘next’, ‘maint’), tags (for example ‘v1.0’, ‘v0.6.3-rc2’), remote-tracking branches (for example ‘origin’, ‘origin/master’), and special refs such as ‘HEAD’ for current branch.

If the symbolic ref name is ambiguous, for example if you have both branch and tag named ‘fix’ (having branch and tag with the same name is not recommended), you need to specify the kind of ref you want to use:

$ git show heads/fix      # or 'refs/heads/fix', to specify branch
$ git show tags/fix       # or 'refs/tags/fix', to specify tag