Get the head ref branch name in GitHub Actions when PR is merged to main branch

Question

I want to trigger a GitHub Actions workflow when a release/vX.Y.Z format of PR gets merged into the main branch.

I want the version number from this head branch i.e. "vX.Y.Z" so that I can create a release and tag it accordingly.

name: Auto PR Action

on:
  pull_request:
    branches: 
      - main
    types: [closed]
  

jobs:
  build:
    if: ${{ github.event.pull_request.merged }}
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest

    steps:
      - name: Extract version number
        run: |
          echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.base_ref }}"

          # Extract version number from the Release branch format: release/v1.2.3
          # E.g: release/v1.2.3 | sed 's/.*\///' will give us v1.2.3

          echo "${{ GET_THE_RELEASE_BRANCH_NAME }}" | sed 's/.*\///' >> $RELEASE_VERSION

      - name: Create Release
        id: create_release
        env:
          GH_TOKEN: ${{ github.token }}
        run: |
          gh release create $RELEASE_VERSION --generate-notes --latest --verify-tag

I always get the information about the base branch, i.e. main, but no info about the head branch.

How can we achieve this?

Does this answer your question? [How to get the current branch within Github Actions?](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/58033366/how-to-get-the-current-branch-within-github-actions) — hakre, May 24 '23 at 11:19

GuiFalourd · Accepted Answer · 2023-05-24T11:32:13.073

I want to trigger a GitHub Actions workflow when a release/vX.Y.Z format of PR gets merged into the main branch.

Here is something similar using the release-vX.Y.Z format:

on:
  pull_request:
    types:
      - closed

jobs:
  tag:
    if: contains(github.head_ref, 'release-') && contains(github.base_ref, 'main') && github.event.action == 'closed' && github.event.pull_request.merged == true
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    outputs:
      tag: ${{ steps.tag.outputs.tag }}
    steps:
      - name: Extract branch tag
        id: tag
        run: |
          BRANCH=${{ github.head_ref }}
          TAG="${BRANCH//release-/""}"
          echo $TAG
          echo "tag=$TAG" >> $GITHUB_OUTPUT

  release:
    needs:
      - TAG
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    env:
      TAG: ${{ needs.TAG.outputs.tag }}
    steps:
       [ ... ] # use $TAG to do something

This workflow will trigger when a PR is closed.

However, according to the if expression, the tag job will only be executed when the PR head branch use the release-vX.Y.Z format, and if the PR gets merged into the main branch.

Using this implementation, the tag variable and output will be equal to vX.Y.Z.

Get the head ref branch name in GitHub Actions when PR is merged to main branch

1 Answers1