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