git-find-branch

#!/bin/sh

# Usage:  git-find-branch REPO_URL BRANCH ...
# Prints either the first BRANCH that exists in REPO_URL,
# or else prints the default branch name if none of the given branches exists.

# Often, you can use the `git-clone-related` script instead of this one.

REPO_URL=$1
shift

for BRANCH in "$@"; do
    if (git ls-remote --quiet --exit-code --heads "${REPO_URL}" "${BRANCH}" > /dev/null) ; then
        echo "${BRANCH}"
	exit 0
    fi
done

git ls-remote --symref "${REPO_URL}" HEAD | awk '/^ref:/ {sub(/refs\/heads\//, "", $2); print $2}'