GIT-BRANCH(1) Git Manual GIT-BRANCH(1)
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.
OPTIONS
-d, --delete
Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its upstream
branch, or in HEAD if no upstream was set with --track or
--set-upstream-to.
-D
Shortcut for --delete --force.
--create-reflog
Create the branch's reflog. This activates recording of all changes
made to the branch ref, enabling use of date based sha1 expressions
such as "<branchname>@{yesterday}". Note that in non-bare
repositories, reflogs are usually enabled by default by the
core.logAllRefUpdates config option. The negated form
--no-create-reflog only overrides an earlier --create-reflog, but
currently does not negate the setting of core.logAllRefUpdates.
-f, --force
Reset <branchname> to <start-point>, even if <branchname> exists
already. Without -f, git branch refuses to change an existing
branch. In combination with -d (or --delete), allow deleting the
branch irrespective of its merged status, or whether it even points
to a valid commit. In combination with -m (or --move), allow
renaming the branch even if the new branch name already exists, the
same applies for -c (or --copy).
Note that git branch -f <branchname> [<start-point>], even with -f,
refuses to change an existing branch <branchname> that is checked
out in another worktree linked to the same repository.
-m, --move
Move/rename a branch, together with its config and reflog.
-M
Shortcut for --move --force.
-c, --copy
Copy a branch, together with its config and reflog.
-C
Shortcut for --copy --force.
--color[=<when>]
Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote-tracking
branches. The value must be always (the default), never, or auto.
--no-color
Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the
default to color output. Same as --color=never.
-i, --ignore-case
Sorting and filtering branches are case insensitive.
--omit-empty
Do not print a newline after formatted refs where the format
expands to the empty string.
--column[=<options>], --no-column
Display branch listing in columns. See configuration variable
column.branch for option syntax. --column and --no-column without
options are equivalent to always and never respectively.
This option is only applicable in non-verbose mode.
-r, --remotes
List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches.
Combine with --list to match the optional pattern(s).
-a, --all
List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. Combine with
--list to match optional pattern(s).
-l, --list
List branches. With optional <pattern>..., e.g. git branch --list
'maint-*', list only the branches that match the pattern(s).
--show-current
Print the name of the current branch. In detached HEAD state,
nothing is printed.
-v, -vv, --verbose
When in list mode, show sha1 and commit subject line for each head,
along with relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given
twice, print the path of the linked worktree (if any) and the name
of the upstream branch, as well (see also git remote show
<remote>). Note that the current worktree's HEAD will not have its
path printed (it will always be your current directory).
-q, --quiet
Be more quiet when creating or deleting a branch, suppressing
non-error messages.
--abbrev=<n>
In the verbose listing that show the commit object name, show the
shortest prefix that is at least <n> hexdigits long that uniquely
refers the object. The default value is 7 and can be overridden by
the core.abbrev config option.
--no-abbrev
Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than
abbreviating them.
-t, --track[=(direct|inherit)]
When creating a new branch, set up branch.<name>.remote and
branch.<name>.merge configuration entries to set "upstream"
tracking configuration for the new branch. This configuration will
tell git to show the relationship between the two branches in git
status and git branch -v. Furthermore, it directs git pull without
arguments to pull from the upstream when the new branch is checked
out.
The exact upstream branch is chosen depending on the optional
argument: -t, --track, or --track=direct means to use the
start-point branch itself as the upstream; --track=inherit means to
copy the upstream configuration of the start-point branch.
The branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable specifies how git
switch, git checkout and git branch should behave when neither
--track nor --no-track are specified:
The default option, true, behaves as though --track=direct were
given whenever the start-point is a remote-tracking branch. false
behaves as if --no-track were given. always behaves as though
--track=direct were given. inherit behaves as though
--track=inherit were given. simple behaves as though
--track=direct were given only when the start-point is a
remote-tracking branch and the new branch has the same name as the
remote branch.
See git-pull(1) and git-config(1) for additional discussion on how
the branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options are used.
--no-track
Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable is set.
--recurse-submodules
THIS OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL! Causes the current command to recurse
into submodules if submodule.propagateBranches is enabled. See
submodule.propagateBranches in git-config(1). Currently, only
branch creation is supported.
When used in branch creation, a new branch <branchname> will be
created in the superproject and all of the submodules in the
superproject's <start-point>. In submodules, the branch will point
to the submodule commit in the superproject's <start-point> but the
branch's tracking information will be set up based on the
submodule's branches and remotes e.g. git branch
--recurse-submodules topic origin/main will create the submodule
branch "topic" that points to the submodule commit in the
superproject's "origin/main", but tracks the submodule's
"origin/main".
--set-upstream
As this option had confusing syntax, it is no longer supported.
Please use --track or --set-upstream-to instead.
-u <upstream>, --set-upstream-to=<upstream>
Set up <branchname>'s tracking information so <upstream> is
considered <branchname>'s upstream branch. If no <branchname> is
specified, then it defaults to the current branch.
--unset-upstream
Remove the upstream information for <branchname>. If no branch is
specified it defaults to the current branch.
--edit-description
Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is for,
to be used by various other commands (e.g. format-patch,
request-pull, and merge (if enabled)). Multi-line explanations may
be used.
--contains [<commit>]
Only list branches which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not
specified). Implies --list.
--no-contains [<commit>]
Only list branches which don't contain the specified commit (HEAD
if not specified). Implies --list.
--merged [<commit>]
Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the specified
commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies --list.
--no-merged [<commit>]
Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the specified
commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies --list.
<branchname>
The name of the branch to create or delete. The new branch name
must pass all checks defined by git-check-ref-format(1). Some of
these checks may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
<start-point>
The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be given as a
branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this option is omitted, the
current HEAD will be used instead.
<oldbranch>
The name of an existing branch to rename.
<newbranch>
The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for
<branchname> apply.
--sort=<key>
Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending order
of the value. You may use the --sort=<key> option multiple times,
in which case the last key becomes the primary key. The keys
supported are the same as those in git for-each-ref. Sort order
defaults to the value configured for the branch.sort variable if it
exists, or to sorting based on the full refname (including refs/...
prefix). This lists detached HEAD (if present) first, then local
branches and finally remote-tracking branches. See git-config(1).
--points-at <object>
Only list branches of the given object.
--format <format>
A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a branch ref being
shown and the object it points at. The format is the same as that
of git-for-each-ref(1).
CONFIGURATION
pager.branch is only respected when listing branches, i.e., when --list
is used or implied. The default is to use a pager. See git-config(1).
Everything above this line in this section isn't included from the git-
config(1) documentation. The content that follows is the same as what's
found there:
branch.autoSetupMerge
Tells git branch, git switch and git checkout to set up new
branches so that git-pull(1) will appropriately merge from the
starting point branch. Note that even if this option is not set,
this behavior can be chosen per-branch using the --track and
--no-track options. The valid settings are: false -- no automatic
setup is done; true -- automatic setup is done when the starting
point is a remote-tracking branch; always -- automatic setup is
done when the starting point is either a local branch or
remote-tracking branch; inherit -- if the starting point has a
tracking configuration, it is copied to the new branch; simple --
automatic setup is done only when the starting point is a
remote-tracking branch and the new branch has the same name as the
remote branch. This option defaults to true.
branch.autoSetupRebase
When a new branch is created with git branch, git switch or git
checkout that tracks another branch, this variable tells Git to set
up pull to rebase instead of merge (see "branch.<name>.rebase").
When never, rebase is never automatically set to true. When local,
rebase is set to true for tracked branches of other local branches.
When remote, rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
remote-tracking branches. When always, rebase will be set to true
for all tracking branches. See "branch.autoSetupMerge" for details
on how to set up a branch to track another branch. This option
defaults to never.
branch.sort
This variable controls the sort ordering of branches when displayed
by git-branch(1). Without the "--sort=<value>" option provided, the
value of this variable will be used as the default. See git-for-
each-ref(1) field names for valid values.
branch.<name>.remote
When on branch <name>, it tells git fetch and git push which remote
to fetch from or push to. The remote to push to may be overridden
with remote.pushDefault (for all branches). The remote to push to,
for the current branch, may be further overridden by
branch.<name>.pushRemote. If no remote is configured, or if you are
not on any branch and there is more than one remote defined in the
repository, it defaults to origin for fetching and
remote.pushDefault for pushing. Additionally, . (a period) is the
current local repository (a dot-repository), see
branch.<name>.merge's final note below.
branch.<name>.pushRemote
When on branch <name>, it overrides branch.<name>.remote for
pushing. It also overrides remote.pushDefault for pushing from
branch <name>. When you pull from one place (e.g. your upstream)
and push to another place (e.g. your own publishing repository),
you would want to set remote.pushDefault to specify the remote to
push to for all branches, and use this option to override it for a
specific branch.
branch.<name>.merge
Defines, together with branch.<name>.remote, the upstream branch
for the given branch. It tells git fetch/git pull/git rebase which
branch to merge and can also affect git push (see push.default).
When in branch <name>, it tells git fetch the default refspec to be
marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The value is handled like the
remote part of a refspec, and must match a ref which is fetched
from the remote given by "branch.<name>.remote". The merge
information is used by git pull (which first calls git fetch) to
lookup the default branch for merging. Without this option, git
pull defaults to merge the first refspec fetched. Specify multiple
values to get an octopus merge. If you wish to setup git pull so
that it merges into <name> from another branch in the local
repository, you can point branch.<name>.merge to the desired
branch, and use the relative path setting . (a period) for
branch.<name>.remote.
branch.<name>.mergeOptions
Sets default options for merging into branch <name>. The syntax and
supported options are the same as those of git-merge(1), but option
values containing whitespace characters are currently not
supported.
branch.<name>.rebase
When true, rebase the branch <name> on top of the fetched branch,
instead of merging the default branch from the default remote when
"git pull" is run. See "pull.rebase" for doing this in a non
branch-specific manner.
When merges (or just m), pass the --rebase-merges option to git
rebase so that the local merge commits are included in the rebase
(see git-rebase(1) for details).
When the value is interactive (or just i), the rebase is run in
interactive mode.
NOTE: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do not use it unless
you understand the implications (see git-rebase(1) for details).
branch.<name>.description
Branch description, can be edited with git branch
--edit-description. Branch description is automatically added to
the format-patch cover letter or request-pull summary.
EXAMPLES
Start development from 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 switch 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 an unneeded branch
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
$ cd my.git
$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man (1)
$ git branch -D test (2)
1. Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and
"man". The next fetch or pull will create them again
unless you configure them not to. See git-fetch(1).
2. Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or
whichever branch is currently checked out) does not have
all commits from the test branch.
Listing branches from a specific remote
$ git branch -r -l '<remote>/<pattern>' (1)
$ git for-each-ref 'refs/remotes/<remote>/<pattern>' (2)
1. Using -a would conflate <remote> with any local branches
you happen to have been prefixed with the same <remote>
pattern.
2. for-each-ref can take a wide range of options. See git-
for-each-ref(1)
Patterns will normally need quoting.
NOTES
If you are creating a branch that you want to switch to immediately, it
is easier to use the "git switch" command with its -c option to do the
same thing with a single command.
The options --contains, --no-contains, --merged and --no-merged serve
four related but different purposes:
o --contains <commit> is used to find all branches which will need
special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since
those branches contain the specified <commit>.
o --no-contains <commit> is the inverse of that, i.e. branches that
don't contain the specified <commit>.
o --merged is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted,
since those branches are fully contained by HEAD.
o --no-merged is used to find branches which are candidates for
merging into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by
HEAD.
When combining multiple --contains and --no-contains filters, only
references that contain at least one of the --contains commits and
contain none of the --no-contains commits are shown.
When combining multiple --merged and --no-merged filters, only
references that are reachable from at least one of the --merged commits
and from none of the --no-merged commits are shown.
SEE ALSO
git-check-ref-format(1), git-fetch(1), git-remote(1), "Understanding
history: What is a branch?"[1] in the Git User's Manual.
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
NOTES
1. "Understanding history: What is a branch?"
file:///usr/share/doc/git/user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch
Git 2.43.5 05/31/2024 GIT-BRANCH(1)
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