How can I get the latest tag name in current branch in Git?

Question

What's the simplest way to get the most recent tag in Git?

git tag a HEAD
git tag b HEAD^^
git tag c HEAD^
git tag

output:

a
b
c

Should I write a script to get each tag's datetime and compare them?

Answer

To get the most recent tag (example output afterwards):

git describe --tags --abbrev=0   # 0.1.0-dev

To get the most recent tag, with the number of additional commits on top of the tagged object & more:

git describe --tags              # 0.1.0-dev-93-g1416689

To get the most recent annotated tag:

git describe --abbrev=0

Git and nasty "error: cannot lock existing info/refs fatal"

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