What is a Git branch?
A branch is an independent line of development work. When you’re adding a new feature or fixing a bug, you create a branch so your changes are isolated from the main codebase until they are ready.
The default branch is created as either master or main depending on your Git settings.
Branch commands
Create a branch
Checkout / switch branch
After creating a branch, switch to it:
git checkout <branch-name>
# Create and switch in one command
git checkout -b <branch-name>
HEAD is Git’s way of referring to the current snapshot (the commit you are currently working on).
Merge branch (fast-forward)
The git merge command combines two branches, consolidating multiple commit sequences into a single history.
In a fast-forward merge, the feature branch diverged directly from main and no other changes have been made to main — so Git simply moves the pointer forward.
# Merge develop into main
git checkout main
git merge develop
Merge conflicts
A merge conflict occurs when two developers change the same lines in a file and Git cannot determine which version is correct.
Open the conflicting file
Manually review and resolve the conflicting sections in the file.
Stage the resolved file
git add <file-that-has-conflicts>
Commit the merge
git commit -m "merged with <branch> after fixing conflicts"
List branches
git branch # list local branches
git branch -a # list all local and remote branches
Delete a branch
git branch -d <branch-name> # safe delete
git branch -D <branch-name> # force delete
Rename a branch
git branch -m <branch-name> <new-branch-name> # rename
git branch -M <branch-name> <new-branch-name> # force rename
Create remote branches and push
Before pushing a local branch to a remote repository, add the remote if you haven’t already:
git remote add <remote-name> <remote-repo-url>
# Example
git remote add origin https://github.com/KarChunT/git-training
# Set upstream and push
git push -u <remote-name> <local-branch-name>
# After upstream is set, you can simply run:
git push
# Force push (overwrites remote)
git push --force
# Example
git push -u origin develop
An upstream is a remote tracking branch associated with your local branch. Each local branch can have only one upstream. Setting it once lets you run git pull and git push without specifying the remote and branch every time.
git branch -u origin/<branch-name>
Use git push --force with caution. It overwrites the remote branch history and can cause other contributors to lose work.