The Meaning of Fetch_Head in Git

This article defines Fetch_Head in Git. This reference is integral to the git pull command and is important when incorporating changes from a remote repository to a local repo or branch.

If you are unsure what Fetch_Head means, this is the place to be.

the Meaning of Fetch_Head in Git

The Git documentation states that the git pull command is the short form for the git fetch and git merge Fetch_Head commands.

In simpler terms, git pull fetches from the remote repository and merges the changes to the local branch.

This brings up the question: What is this Fetch_Head?

Fetch_Head is a reference that keeps track of what has been fetched from the remote repository.

When you run the git fetch command, Git will download the contents at the tip of the specified remote branch. These contents come as a commit.

Hence Fetch_Head will store the SHA_1 of the commit at the tip of the specified branch. As we mentioned earlier, git pull will fetch from the remote and invoke git merge, which will merge Fetch_Head to the tip of the current local branch.

Note that Fetch_Head does not only contain the information for a single branch. It will store references to all the branches fetched from the remote repository.

For example, if you are checked out in the master branch, you could run git fetch and then git merge Fetch_Head. In hindsight, this is the same as git fetch followed by git merge origin/master.

Instead of naming things, you will refer to whatever single ref was fetched from the remote repository.

In a nutshell, Fetch_Head points to the commit at the tip of the fetched remote branch. It is worth noting that Fetch_Head stores information about all the branches fetched from the remote repository.