Git Branching

Commands for branch management and merging.

Branch Operations

# List branches
git branch
git branch -a  # Include remote branches
git branch -r  # Only remote branches
git branch -v  # Show last commit on each branch

# Create a branch (does not switch)
git branch feature-name

# Delete branch
git branch -d feature-name
git branch -D feature-name  # Force delete

# Rename current branch
git branch -m new-name

# Rename any branch
git branch -m old-name new-name

Checkout and Switch

# Switch to existing branch
git checkout main
git switch main  # Modern alternative

# Create and switch in one step
git checkout -b feature/login
git switch -c feature/login

# Create branch from specific commit/tag
git checkout -b hotfix v1.2.0
git checkout -b bugfix abc1234

# Checkout remote branch (auto-track)
git checkout feature/api
git checkout -b local-name origin/remote-name

# Go back to previous branch
git checkout -
git switch -

# Discard changes in a file
git checkout -- file.txt

# Checkout specific file from another branch
git checkout main -- src/config.ts

# Detached HEAD (inspect a commit)
git checkout abc1234

Quick Branch Shortcuts

# Create feature branch from main
git checkout main && git pull && git checkout -b feature/new-feature

# Create hotfix branch from tag
git checkout -b hotfix/fix-bug v2.0.0

# Create branch and push immediately
git checkout -b feature/api && git push -u origin feature/api

# List branches containing a commit
git branch --contains abc1234

# List merged/unmerged branches
git branch --merged main
git branch --no-merged main

# Clean up merged branches
git branch --merged main | grep -v main | xargs git branch -d

Merging

# Merge branch into current
git merge feature-name

# Merge with no fast-forward
git merge --no-ff feature-name

# Abort merge
git merge --abort

Rebasing

# Rebase current branch onto main
git rebase main

# Interactive rebase (last 3 commits)
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Continue after resolving conflicts
git rebase --continue

# Abort rebase
git rebase --abort

Remote Branches

# Fetch remote branches
git fetch origin

# Track remote branch
git checkout -b local-branch origin/remote-branch

# Push new branch to remote
git push -u origin feature-name

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete feature-name