summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/Documentation/git-branch.txt
blob: 8dc5171f5e685ab18d466751710f44e8aba104b7 (plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
git-branch(1)
=============

NAME
----
git-branch - List, create, or delete branches

SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git-branch' [--color | --no-color] [-r | -a]
	   [-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]]
'git-branch' [--track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>]
'git-branch' (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
'git-branch' (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...

DESCRIPTION
-----------
With no arguments given a list of existing branches
will be shown, the current branch will be highlighted with an asterisk.
Option `-r` causes the remote-tracking branches to be listed,
and option `-a` shows both.

In its second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
equal to that of the currently checked out branch.

When a local branch is started off a remote branch, git can setup the
branch so that gitlink:git-pull[1] will appropriately merge from that
remote branch.  If this behavior is desired, it is possible to make it
the default using the global `branch.autosetupmerge` configuration
flag.  Otherwise, it can be chosen per-branch using the `--track`
and `--no-track` options.

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.

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 ref log then the ref log will also be deleted. Use -r together with -d
to delete remote-tracking branches.


OPTIONS
-------
-d::
	Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged.

-D::
	Delete a branch irrespective of its index status.

-l::
	Create the branch's ref log.  This activates recording of
	all changes to made the branch ref, enabling use of date
	based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@{yesterday}".

-f::
	Force the creation of a new branch even if it means deleting
	a branch that already exists with the same name.

-m::
	Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog.

-M::
	Move/rename a branch even if the new branchname already exists.

--color::
	Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote branches.

--no-color::
	Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the
	default to color output.

-r::
	List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches.

-a::
	List both remote-tracking branches and local branches.

-v::
	Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head.

--abbrev=<length>::
	Alter minimum display length for sha1 in output listing,
	default value is 7.

--no-abbrev::
	Display the full sha1s in output listing rather than abbreviating them.

<branchname>::
	The name of the branch to create or delete.
	The new branch name must pass all checks defined by
	gitlink:git-check-ref-format[1].  Some of these checks
	may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.

<start-point>::
	The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this.  It may
	be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag.  If this option
	is omitted, the current branch is assumed.

<oldbranch>::
	The name of an existing branch to rename.

<newbranch>::
	The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for
	<branchname> applies.


Examples
--------

Start development off of a known tag::
+
------------
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
$ cd my2.6
$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14   <1>
$ git checkout my2.6.14
------------
+
<1> This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with
"checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14".

Delete unneeded branch::
+
------------
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
$ cd my.git
$ git branch -d -r todo html man   <1>
$ git branch -D test               <2>
------------
+
<1> delete remote-tracking branches "todo", "html", "man"
<2> delete "test" branch even if the "master" branch does not have all
commits from test branch.


Notes
-----

If you are creating a branch that you want to immediately checkout, it's
easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create
a branch and check it out with a single command.


Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>

Documentation
--------------
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

GIT
---
Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite