Tip
Press "?" on any page in GitHub to see all available keyboard shortcuts.
File views show the latest version on a branch
When viewing a file on GitHub, you usually see the version at the current head of a branch. For example:
refers to GitHub's codeql repository, and shows the main branch's current version of the README.md file.
The version of a file at the head of branch can change as new commits are made, so if you were to copy the normal URL, the file contents might not be the same when someone looks at it later.
Press Y to permalink to a file in a specific commit
For a permanent link to the specific version of a file that you see, instead of using a branch name in the URL (i.e. the main part in the example above), put a commit ID. This will permanently link to the exact version of the file in that commit. For example:
replaces main with a specific commit ID and the file content will not change.
Looking up the commit SHA by hand is inconvenient, however, so as a shortcut you can type y to automatically update the URL to the permalink version. Then you can copy the URL knowing that anyone you share it with will see exactly what you saw.
Tip
You can put any identifier that can be resolved to a commit in the URL, including branch names, specific commit SHAs, or tags!
Creating a permanent link to a code snippet
You can create a permanent link to a specific line or range of lines of code in a specific version of a file or pull request. For more information, see Creating a permanent link to a code snippet.