1git-branch(1) 2============= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-branch - List, create, or delete branches 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git branch' [--color | --no-color] [-r | -a] 12 [-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]] 13 [(--merged | --no-merged | --contains) [<commit>]] 14'git branch' [--track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>] 15'git branch' (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch> 16'git branch' (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>... 17 18DESCRIPTION 19----------- 20 21With no arguments, existing branches are listed and the current branch will 22be highlighted with an asterisk. Option `-r` causes the remote-tracking 23branches to be listed, and option `-a` shows both. 24 25With `--contains`, shows only the branches that contain the named commit 26(in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the 27named commit). With `--merged`, only branches merged into the named 28commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are reachable from the named 29commit) will be listed. With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into 30the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it 31defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch). 32 33The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname> 34which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given. 35 36Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the 37working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the 38new branch. 39 40When a local branch is started off a remote branch, git sets up the 41branch so that 'git-pull' will appropriately merge from 42the remote branch. This behavior may be changed via the global 43`branch.autosetupmerge` configuration flag. That setting can be 44overridden by using the `--track` and `--no-track` options. 45 46With a '-m' or '-M' option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. 47If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match 48<newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch 49renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename 50to happen. 51 52With a `-d` or `-D` option, `<branchname>` will be deleted. You may 53specify more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently 54has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted. 55 56Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it 57only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist 58in the remote repository or if 'git-fetch' was configured not to fetch 59them again. See also the 'prune' subcommand of linkgit:git-remote[1] for a 60way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches. 61 62 63OPTIONS 64------- 65-d:: 66 Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in HEAD. 67 68-D:: 69 Delete a branch irrespective of its merged status. 70 71-l:: 72 Create the branch's reflog. This activates recording of 73 all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date 74 based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}". 75 76-f:: 77--force:: 78 Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists 79 already. Without `-f` 'git-branch' refuses to change an existing branch. 80 81-m:: 82 Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog. 83 84-M:: 85 Move/rename a branch even if the new branch name already exists. 86 87--color:: 88 Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote branches. 89 90--no-color:: 91 Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the 92 default to color output. 93 94-r:: 95 List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches. 96 97-a:: 98 List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. 99 100-v:: 101--verbose:: 102 Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with 103 relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print 104 the name of the upstream branch, as well. 105 106--abbrev=<length>:: 107 Alter the sha1's minimum display length in the output listing. 108 The default value is 7. 109 110--no-abbrev:: 111 Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them. 112 113-t:: 114--track:: 115 When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the 116 start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This 117 configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the 118 two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore, 119 it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the 120 upstream when the new branch is checked out. 121+ 122This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote branch. 123Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you 124want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track' 125were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the 126start-point is either a local or remote branch. 127 128--no-track:: 129 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the 130 branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true. 131 132--contains <commit>:: 133 Only list branches which contain the specified commit. 134 135--merged [<commit>]:: 136 Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the 137 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 138 139--no-merged [<commit>]:: 140 Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the 141 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 142 143<branchname>:: 144 The name of the branch to create or delete. 145 The new branch name must pass all checks defined by 146 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks 147 may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name. 148 149<start-point>:: 150 The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be 151 given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this 152 option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead. 153 154<oldbranch>:: 155 The name of an existing branch to rename. 156 157<newbranch>:: 158 The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for 159 <branchname> apply. 160 161 162Examples 163-------- 164 165Start development from a known tag:: 166+ 167------------ 168$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6 169$ cd my2.6 170$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 <1> 171$ git checkout my2.6.14 172------------ 173+ 174<1> This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with 175"checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14". 176 177Delete an unneeded branch:: 178+ 179------------ 180$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git 181$ cd my.git 182$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man <1> 183$ git branch -D test <2> 184------------ 185+ 186<1> Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next 187'fetch' or 'pull' will create them again unless you configure them not to. 188See linkgit:git-fetch[1]. 189<2> Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch 190is currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch. 191 192 193Notes 194----- 195 196If you are creating a branch that you want to checkout immediately, it is 197easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create 198a branch and check it out with a single command. 199 200The options `--contains`, `--merged` and `--no-merged` serve three related 201but different purposes: 202 203- `--contains <commit>` is used to find all branches which will need 204 special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since those 205 branches contain the specified <commit>. 206 207- `--merged` is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, 208 since those branches are fully contained by HEAD. 209 210- `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging 211 into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD. 212 213SEE ALSO 214-------- 215linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1], 216linkgit:git-fetch[1], 217linkgit:git-remote[1], 218link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is 219a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual. 220 221Author 222------ 223Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 224 225Documentation 226-------------- 227Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 228 229GIT 230--- 231Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite