1GIT-BRANCH(1) Git Manual GIT-BRANCH(1)
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6 git-branch - List, create, or delete branches
7
9 git branch [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [--show-current]
10 [-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]]
11 [--column[=<options>] | --no-column] [--sort=<key>]
12 [(--merged | --no-merged) [<commit>]]
13 [--contains [<commit]] [--no-contains [<commit>]]
14 [--points-at <object>] [--format=<format>]
15 [(-r | --remotes) | (-a | --all)]
16 [--list] [<pattern>...]
17 git branch [--track | --no-track] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>]
18 git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>]
19 git branch --unset-upstream [<branchname>]
20 git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
21 git branch (-c | -C) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
22 git branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...
23 git branch --edit-description [<branchname>]
24
27 If --list is given, or if there are no non-option arguments, existing
28 branches are listed; the current branch will be highlighted in green
29 and marked with an asterisk. Any branches checked out in linked
30 worktrees will be highlighted in cyan and marked with a plus sign.
31 Option -r causes the remote-tracking branches to be listed, and option
32 -a shows both local and remote branches.
33 If a <pattern> is given, it is used as a shell wildcard to restrict the
35 output to matching branches. If multiple patterns are given, a branch
36 is shown if it matches any of the patterns.
37 Note that when providing a <pattern>, you must use --list; otherwise
39 the command may be interpreted as branch creation.
40 With --contains, shows only the branches that contain the named commit
42 (in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the
43 named commit), --no-contains inverts it. With --merged, only branches
44 merged into the named commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are
45 reachable from the named commit) will be listed. With --no-merged only
46 branches not merged into the named commit will be listed. If the
47 <commit> argument is missing it defaults to HEAD (i.e. the tip of the
48 current branch).
49 The command’s second form creates a new branch head named <branchname>
51 which points to the current HEAD, or <start-point> if given. As a
52 special case, for <start-point>, you may use "A...B" as a shortcut for
53 the merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can
54 leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
55 Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
57 working tree to it; use "git switch <newbranch>" to switch to the new
58 branch.
59 When a local branch is started off a remote-tracking branch, Git sets
61 up the branch (specifically the branch.<name>.remote and
62 branch.<name>.merge configuration entries) so that git pull will
63 appropriately merge from the remote-tracking branch. This behavior may
64 be changed via the global branch.autoSetupMerge configuration flag.
65 That setting can be overridden by using the --track and --no-track
66 options, and changed later using git branch --set-upstream-to.
67 With a -m or -M option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. If
69 <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match
70 <newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch
71 renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename to
72 happen.
73 The -c and -C options have the exact same semantics as -m and -M,
75 except instead of the branch being renamed it along with its config and
76 reflog will be copied to a new name.
77 With a -d or -D option, <branchname> will be deleted. You may specify
79 more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently has a reflog
80 then the reflog will also be deleted.
81 Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that
83 it only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no
84 longer exist in the remote repository or if git fetch was configured
85 not to fetch them again. See also the prune subcommand of git-remote(1)
86 for a way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.
87
89 -d, --delete
90 Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its upstream
91 branch, or in HEAD if no upstream was set with --track or
92 --set-upstream-to.
93 -D
95 Shortcut for --delete --force.
96 --create-reflog
98 Create the branch’s reflog. This activates recording of all changes
99 made to the branch ref, enabling use of date based sha1 expressions
100 such as "<branchname>@{yesterday}". Note that in non-bare
101 repositories, reflogs are usually enabled by default by the
102 core.logAllRefUpdates config option. The negated form
103 --no-create-reflog only overrides an earlier --create-reflog, but
104 currently does not negate the setting of core.logAllRefUpdates.
105 -f, --force
107 Reset <branchname> to <startpoint>, even if <branchname> exists
108 already. Without -f, git branch refuses to change an existing
109 branch. In combination with -d (or --delete), allow deleting the
110 branch irrespective of its merged status. In combination with -m
111 (or --move), allow renaming the branch even if the new branch name
112 already exists, the same applies for -c (or --copy).
113 -m, --move
115 Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog.
116 -M
118 Shortcut for --move --force.
119 -c, --copy
121 Copy a branch and the corresponding reflog.
122 -C
124 Shortcut for --copy --force.
125 --color[=<when>]
127 Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote-tracking
128 branches. The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
129 --no-color
131 Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the
132 default to color output. Same as --color=never.
133 -i, --ignore-case
135 Sorting and filtering branches are case insensitive.
136 --column[=<options>], --no-column
138 Display branch listing in columns. See configuration variable
139 column.branch for option syntax.--column and --no-column without
140 options are equivalent to always and never respectively.
141 This option is only applicable in non-verbose mode.
143 -r, --remotes
145 List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches.
146 Combine with --list to match the optional pattern(s).
147 -a, --all
149 List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. Combine with
150 --list to match optional pattern(s).
151 -l, --list
153 List branches. With optional <pattern>..., e.g. git branch --list
154 'maint-*', list only the branches that match the pattern(s).
155 --show-current
157 Print the name of the current branch. In detached HEAD state,
158 nothing is printed.
159 -v, -vv, --verbose
161 When in list mode, show sha1 and commit subject line for each head,
162 along with relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given
163 twice, print the path of the linked worktree (if any) and the name
164 of the upstream branch, as well (see also git remote show
165 <remote>). Note that the current worktree’s HEAD will not have its
166 path printed (it will always be your current directory).
167 -q, --quiet
169 Be more quiet when creating or deleting a branch, suppressing
170 non-error messages.
171 --abbrev=<length>
173 Alter the sha1’s minimum display length in the output listing. The
174 default value is 7 and can be overridden by the core.abbrev config
175 option.
176 --no-abbrev
178 Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than
179 abbreviating them.
180 -t, --track
182 When creating a new branch, set up branch.<name>.remote and
183 branch.<name>.merge configuration entries to mark the start-point
184 branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This configuration will
185 tell git to show the relationship between the two branches in git
186 status and git branch -v. Furthermore, it directs git pull without
187 arguments to pull from the upstream when the new branch is checked
188 out.
189 This behavior is the default when the start point is a
191 remote-tracking branch. Set the branch.autoSetupMerge configuration
192 variable to false if you want git switch, git checkout and git
193 branch to always behave as if --no-track were given. Set it to
194 always if you want this behavior when the start-point is either a
195 local or remote-tracking branch.
196 --no-track
198 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
199 branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable is true.
200 --set-upstream
202 As this option had confusing syntax, it is no longer supported.
203 Please use --track or --set-upstream-to instead.
204 -u <upstream>, --set-upstream-to=<upstream>
206 Set up <branchname>'s tracking information so <upstream> is
207 considered <branchname>'s upstream branch. If no <branchname> is
208 specified, then it defaults to the current branch.
209 --unset-upstream
211 Remove the upstream information for <branchname>. If no branch is
212 specified it defaults to the current branch.
213 --edit-description
215 Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is for,
216 to be used by various other commands (e.g. format-patch,
217 request-pull, and merge (if enabled)). Multi-line explanations may
218 be used.
219 --contains [<commit>]
221 Only list branches which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
222 specified). Implies --list.
223 --no-contains [<commit>]
225 Only list branches which don’t contain the specified commit (HEAD
226 if not specified). Implies --list.
227 --merged [<commit>]
229 Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the specified
230 commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies --list, incompatible with
231 --no-merged.
232 --no-merged [<commit>]
234 Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the specified
235 commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies --list, incompatible with
236 --merged.
237 <branchname>
239 The name of the branch to create or delete. The new branch name
240 must pass all checks defined by git-check-ref-format(1). Some of
241 these checks may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
242 <start-point>
244 The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be given as a
245 branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this option is omitted, the
246 current HEAD will be used instead.
247 <oldbranch>
249 The name of an existing branch to rename.
250 <newbranch>
252 The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for
253 <branchname> apply.
254 --sort=<key>
256 Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending order
257 of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option multiple times,
258 in which case the last key becomes the primary key. The keys
259 supported are the same as those in git for-each-ref. Sort order
260 defaults to the value configured for the branch.sort variable if
261 exists, or to sorting based on the full refname (including refs/...
262 prefix). This lists detached HEAD (if present) first, then local
263 branches and finally remote-tracking branches. See git-config(1).
264 --points-at <object>
266 Only list branches of the given object.
267 --format <format>
269 A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a branch ref being
270 shown and the object it points at. The format is the same as that
271 of git-for-each-ref(1).
272
274 pager.branch is only respected when listing branches, i.e., when --list
275 is used or implied. The default is to use a pager. See git-config(1).
276
278 Start development from a known tag
279 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
281 $ cd my2.6
282 $ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 [1m(1)
283 $ git switch my2.6.14
284 1. This step and the next one could be combined into a single step
286 with "checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14".
287 Delete an unneeded branch
289 $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
291 $ cd my.git
292 $ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man [1m(1)
293 $ git branch -D test [1m(2)
294 1. Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man".
296 The next fetch or pull will create them again unless you configure
297 them not to. See git-fetch(1).
298 2. Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or
299 whichever branch is currently checked out) does not have all
300 commits from the test branch.
301 Listing branches from a specific remote
303 $ git branch -r -l '<remote>/<pattern>' [1m(1)
305 $ git for-each-ref 'refs/remotes/<remote>/<pattern>' [1m(2)
306 1. Using -a would conflate <remote> with any local branches you
308 happen to have been prefixed with the same <remote> pattern.
309 2. for-each-ref can take a wide range of options. See git-for-each-
310 ref(1)
311 Patterns will normally need quoting.
313
315 If you are creating a branch that you want to switch to immediately, it
316 is easier to use the "git switch" command with its -c option to do the
317 same thing with a single command.
318 The options --contains, --no-contains, --merged and --no-merged serve
320 four related but different purposes:
321 · --contains <commit> is used to find all branches which will need
323 special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since
324 those branches contain the specified <commit>.
325 · --no-contains <commit> is the inverse of that, i.e. branches that
327 don’t contain the specified <commit>.
328 · --merged is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted,
330 since those branches are fully contained by HEAD.
331 · --no-merged is used to find branches which are candidates for
333 merging into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by
334 HEAD.
335
337 git-check-ref-format(1), git-fetch(1), git-remote(1), “Understanding
338 history: What is a branch?”[1] in the Git User’s Manual.
339
341 Part of the git(1) suite
342
344 1. “Understanding history: What is a branch?”
345 file:///usr/share/doc/git/user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch
346Git 2.24.1 12/10/2019 GIT-BRANCH(1)