How do you find the default branch of a remote git repository?

Question

Different repositories name their primary development branches differently (eg main , gh-pages , master , etc.), and scripts meant to work with multiple repositories need an automated way to discover the current repository's default branch name.

What git command returns that name?

Answer 1

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref origin/HEAD will print origin/<default-branch-name> .

If the origin repository changes its default branch name, then git remote set-head origin -a will retrieve the new default branch name.