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Git Branching Commands

Git Commands​

NAME​

git-branch - List, create, or delete branches

SYNOPSIS​

git branch [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [--show-current] [-v [--abbrev=<n> | --no-abbrev]] [--column[=<options>] | --no-column] [--sort=<key>] [--merged [<commit>]] [--no-merged [<commit>]] [--contains [<commit>]] [--no-contains [<commit>]] [--points-at <object>] [--format=<format>] [(-r | --remotes) | (-a | --all)] [--list] [<pattern>…​] git branch [--track[=(direct|inherit)] | --no-track] [-f] [--recurse-submodules] <branchname> [<start-point>] git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>] git branch --unset-upstream [<branchname>] git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch> git branch (-c | -C) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch> git branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>…​ git branch --edit-description [<branchname>]

DESCRIPTION If --list is given, or if there are no non-option arguments, existing branches are listed; the current branch will be highlighted in green and marked with an asterisk. Any branches checked out in linked worktrees will be highlighted in cyan and marked with a plus sign. Option -r causes the remote-tracking branches to be listed, and option -a shows both local and remote branches.

If a <pattern> is given, it is used as a shell wildcard to restrict the output to matching branches. If multiple patterns are given, a branch is shown if it matches any of the patterns.

Note that when providing a <pattern>, you must use --list; otherwise the command may be interpreted as branch creation.

With --contains, shows only the branches that contain the named commit (in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the named commit), --no-contains inverts it. With --merged, only branches merged into the named commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are reachable from the named commit) will be listed. With --no-merged only branches not merged into the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it defaults to HEAD (i.e. the tip of the current branch).

The command’s second form creates a new branch head named <branchname> which points to the current HEAD, or <start-point> if given. As a special case, for <start-point>, you may use "A...B" as a shortcut for the merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.

Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the working tree to it; use "git switch <newbranch>" to switch to the new branch.

When a local branch is started off a remote-tracking branch, Git sets up the branch (specifically the branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge configuration entries) so that git pull will appropriately merge from the remote-tracking branch. This behavior may be changed via the global branch.autoSetupMerge configuration flag. That setting can be overridden by using the --track and --no-track options, and changed later using git branch --set-upstream-to.

With a -m or -M option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match <newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename to happen.

The -c and -C options have the exact same semantics as -m and -M, except instead of the branch being renamed, it will be copied to a new name, along with its config and reflog.

With a -d or -D option, <branchname> will be deleted. You may specify more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted.

Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist in the remote repository or if git fetch was configured not to fetch them again. See also the prune subcommand of git-remote[1] for a way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.