Check if branch exists in git repo without making a clone

Question

I have a huge git repository with a lot of branches. I need to check by shell command inside of Jenkins, if there is a branch inside of repository.

I make a clone of the single branch like this

if `sshpass -p password git clone -b "${BRANCH}" --single-branch ssh://user@server/GIT/${REPO}.git`; then 
    echo "success"    
else
    echo "ERROR: There is no branch "${BRANCH}" inside repo "${REPO}""
    exit 42
fi

It workes right, but it still takes a lot of time to clone a branch. Is there a way to make it work faster (maybe without making clone of repo or with interrupting of cloning if the branch is found)?

Thanks in advance

Answer 1

You could parse the output of

git ls-remote http://user@server/GIT/${REPO}.git

From its documentation:

Displays references available in a remote repository along with the associated commit IDs.