Git Tag Command

If you’re working with code, then Git is an absolute tool you need in your Syllabus. It helps manage source code development and history so that everyone can work together efficiently. Plus, it’s distributed which means it can be used by product managers, developers, and data scientists all at once! In this article, we’ll explore one of Git’s most powerful features- tagging and how the git tag command works.

What is Git Tag?

The Git version control system is an amazing tool! It has so many great features that help streamline the process of tracking files in coding projects. In this article, we will discuss the git tag command. This awesome command allows you to label your commits and also other Git objects by assigning them readable names that can be easily referenced when we are traversing the history of a Git repository.

When we are creating a tag, you can specify the commit that should be pointed to by the new ref.
You might use tags to mark specific releases of your software project or other events in the history of your repository. The Git tags are in human-readable label format instead of the lengthy SHA-1 GUIDs.

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How To Create Tags in Git?

If you’re not familiar with the Git Log, it’s advised that you read the tutorial about it first. You can create tags in Git very simply, by associating them with either the commit to which your HEAD points, or a specific commit of your choice.

Types of Git Tags

There are mainly two types of tags available in Git: they are annotated and lightweight. By using both Git tag types you can commit in the repository, but there is a slight difference in the amount of metadata that is stored.

Annotated Tags

If you’re looking to store extra metadata for your project, annotated tags are a great option. Annotated tags store the author name, release notes, tag message, and date as full objects in the Git database. This data is important for the public release of your project.

If you’re looking to add some extra context or detail to your tags like a tag message or annotation, something similar to a commit message. This is all cans be done by using the -a annotation.

git tag -a v1.0.0

By executing the above command you will create a new annotated tag identified with version v1.0.0. The command will then open up your commit editor so that you can fill up the metadata – super easy and user-friendly!

If you want to add the tag message also to the tag then you can do that by using the -m option, which is similar to git commit -m.

$ git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Releasing version v1.0.0"

Lightweight Tags

The simplest way to add a tag to your git repository is by using a lightweight tag, which only stores the hash of the commit it refers to. To create one of these lightweight tags, just omit the -a, -s, or -m options when you run the ‘git tag’ command.

Example:

$ git tag v1.0.0

How To add a Tag In Git?

For Crete tag to a commit follow the below steps:

• Open the Git Bash on your working directory.
• Before executing the Git Tag command check whether the directory is clear or not, by running the git log command. to check to execute the below command.

git log –oneline

We can tag any of the commits by executing the following command:

git tag <tag name> <branch name>

Note: If you make a change to a branch, it will not show up in any other branches. Because the branch is separate from all other branches.

To see the tags you can execute the git log –oneline command.

How To Tag Specific Commit In Git?

If you want to tag a specific commit on a branch, then we have to use the hashcode of that commit. So to list down all the commits of the branch you can use the git log –oneline command.

To tag into a specific commit you can use the below command:

git tag -a <tag_name> -m “<Message_for_commit>” <commit_hash_code>

Note: “-a” denotes the annotated tags, which in layman’s terms means tags that are specific and not generalized. -m is the flag to tell that the sentence that is followed is the commit message.

After executing the command if you want to see the details you have to execute the git log –online command.

How To View Tags of a Branch In Git?

If you want to see all the tags of a branch or repository then you have to execute the below command:

git tag

Until this whatever tags we created all are reflected in our local branch but those are not available in the remote repository on GitHub. So to available these tags in the remote repository, we have to push those tags.

How to Push Tags to Remote Repository or GitHub?

Pushing tags into the remote repository is much similar to pushing branches to a git remote. The only difference is you have to mention the tag name after the “git push” command as by default this command only pushed the branch.

$ git push <remote> <tagname>

Push all git tags to remote

If you want to push all the tags of the local branch to the remote then you have to add “–tags” with the git push command and it will push all the tags to the remote at a time. But this process is not recommended because of you push all tags at a time then it will be very difficult to get rid of bad tags from the remote.

git push origin –tags

Additional Commands

There are a few other additional commands there that you can use with the Git tag command but out of that list, we tried to list down some frequently used commands. Those we have listed below:

Git Tag List

You can use these Listing tags when there are lots of tags on your branch or repo and you want to see those as a list. Also with this tag, you can filter your tags by using the wildcard characters like *.

git tag -l “v1.1.*”

If you notice when you execute the git tag command that time you are not able to see the contents of your annotations. If you want to see the contents then you have to use the -n on your command like below:

git tag -n3

Tag details

By using the Tag details command you can see the Tag details and information from the commit that was tagged.

git show <tag_identifier>

This command gives you information like the author’s name, creation date, message, GnuPG signature if present, and the information about the referenced commit. If the tag is lightweight, the output will be limited to the information about the referenced commit.

Editing tags

If you have tried to create a tag with the same name which is already present in that branch then you will receive an error. To deal with such conditions you can use the -f or -force in your git command instead of deleting and re-add the tag.

git tag -a -f <tag_identifier> <commit_id>

Git Tag Delete

In our daily job using delete, the tags are very rarely used because tags are not using any resources unless you have mistakenly created a tag to the wrong commit. In that case, to delete the tag you can use the below command:

git tag -d <tag_identifier>

If you want to delete a tag from a remote repository then you have to use like below

git push origin -d <tag_identifier>