1git-branch(1) 2============= 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-branch - List, create, or delete branches 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git branch' [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [-r | -a] 12 [-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]] 13 [(--merged | --no-merged | --contains) [<commit>]] 14'git branch' [--set-upstream | --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 its 67 upstream branch, or in `HEAD` if no upstream was set with 68 `--track` or `--set-upstream`. 69 70-D:: 71 Delete a branch irrespective of its merged status. 72 73-l:: 74 Create the branch's reflog. This activates recording of 75 all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date 76 based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}". 77 Note that in non-bare repositories, reflogs are usually 78 enabled by default by the `core.logallrefupdates` config option. 79 80-f:: 81--force:: 82 Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists 83 already. Without `-f` 'git branch' refuses to change an existing branch. 84 85-m:: 86 Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog. 87 88-M:: 89 Move/rename a branch even if the new branch name already exists. 90 91--color[=<when>]:: 92 Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote branches. 93 The value must be always (the default), never, or auto. 94 95--no-color:: 96 Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the 97 default to color output. 98 Same as `--color=never`. 99 100-r:: 101 List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches. 102 103-a:: 104 List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. 105 106-v:: 107--verbose:: 108 Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with 109 relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print 110 the name of the upstream branch, as well. 111 112--abbrev=<length>:: 113 Alter the sha1's minimum display length in the output listing. 114 The default value is 7. 115 116--no-abbrev:: 117 Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them. 118 119-t:: 120--track:: 121 When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the 122 start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This 123 configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the 124 two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore, 125 it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the 126 upstream when the new branch is checked out. 127+ 128This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote branch. 129Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you 130want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track' 131were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the 132start-point is either a local or remote branch. 133 134--no-track:: 135 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the 136 branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true. 137 138--set-upstream:: 139 If specified branch does not exist yet or if '--force' has been 140 given, acts exactly like '--track'. Otherwise sets up configuration 141 like '--track' would when creating the branch, except that where 142 branch points to is not changed. 143 144--contains <commit>:: 145 Only list branches which contain the specified commit. 146 147--merged [<commit>]:: 148 Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the 149 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 150 151--no-merged [<commit>]:: 152 Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the 153 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 154 155<branchname>:: 156 The name of the branch to create or delete. 157 The new branch name must pass all checks defined by 158 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks 159 may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name. 160 161<start-point>:: 162 The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be 163 given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this 164 option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead. 165 166<oldbranch>:: 167 The name of an existing branch to rename. 168 169<newbranch>:: 170 The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for 171 <branchname> apply. 172 173 174Examples 175-------- 176 177Start development from a known tag:: 178+ 179------------ 180$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6 181$ cd my2.6 182$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 <1> 183$ git checkout my2.6.14 184------------ 185+ 186<1> This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with 187"checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14". 188 189Delete an unneeded branch:: 190+ 191------------ 192$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git 193$ cd my.git 194$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man <1> 195$ git branch -D test <2> 196------------ 197+ 198<1> Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next 199'fetch' or 'pull' will create them again unless you configure them not to. 200See linkgit:git-fetch[1]. 201<2> Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch 202is currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch. 203 204 205Notes 206----- 207 208If you are creating a branch that you want to checkout immediately, it is 209easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create 210a branch and check it out with a single command. 211 212The options `--contains`, `--merged` and `--no-merged` serve three related 213but different purposes: 214 215- `--contains <commit>` is used to find all branches which will need 216 special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since those 217 branches contain the specified <commit>. 218 219- `--merged` is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, 220 since those branches are fully contained by HEAD. 221 222- `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging 223 into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD. 224 225SEE ALSO 226-------- 227linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1], 228linkgit:git-fetch[1], 229linkgit:git-remote[1], 230link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is 231a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual. 232 233Author 234------ 235Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> 236 237Documentation 238-------------- 239Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 240 241GIT 242--- 243Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite