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'git branch' --edit-description [<branchname>] 18 19DESCRIPTION 20----------- 21 22With no arguments, existing branches are listed and the current branch will 23be highlighted with an asterisk. Option `-r` causes the remote-tracking 24branches to be listed, and option `-a` shows both. 25 26With `--contains`, shows only the branches that contain the named commit 27(in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the 28named commit). With `--merged`, only branches merged into the named 29commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are reachable from the named 30commit) will be listed. With `--no-merged` only branches not merged into 31the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it 32defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch). 33 34The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname> 35which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given. 36 37Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the 38working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the 39new branch. 40 41When a local branch is started off a remote-tracking branch, git sets up the 42branch so that 'git pull' will appropriately merge from 43the remote-tracking branch. This behavior may be changed via the global 44`branch.autosetupmerge` configuration flag. That setting can be 45overridden by using the `--track` and `--no-track` options, and 46changed later using `git branch --set-upstream`. 47 48With a '-m' or '-M' option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. 49If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match 50<newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch 51renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename 52to happen. 53 54With a `-d` or `-D` option, `<branchname>` will be deleted. You may 55specify more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently 56has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted. 57 58Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it 59only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist 60in the remote repository or if 'git fetch' was configured not to fetch 61them again. See also the 'prune' subcommand of linkgit:git-remote[1] for a 62way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches. 63 64 65OPTIONS 66------- 67-d:: 68 Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its 69 upstream branch, or in `HEAD` if no upstream was set with 70 `--track` or `--set-upstream`. 71 72-D:: 73 Delete a branch irrespective of its merged status. 74 75-l:: 76 Create the branch's reflog. This activates recording of 77 all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date 78 based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}". 79 Note that in non-bare repositories, reflogs are usually 80 enabled by default by the `core.logallrefupdates` config option. 81 82-f:: 83--force:: 84 Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists 85 already. Without `-f` 'git branch' refuses to change an existing branch. 86 87-m:: 88 Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog. 89 90-M:: 91 Move/rename a branch even if the new branch name already exists. 92 93--color[=<when>]:: 94 Color branches to highlight current, local, and 95 remote-tracking branches. 96 The value must be always (the default), never, or auto. 97 98--no-color:: 99 Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the 100 default to color output. 101 Same as `--color=never`. 102 103-r:: 104 List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches. 105 106-a:: 107 List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. 108 109-v:: 110--verbose:: 111 Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with 112 relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print 113 the name of the upstream branch, as well. 114 115--abbrev=<length>:: 116 Alter the sha1's minimum display length in the output listing. 117 The default value is 7 and can be overridden by the `core.abbrev` 118 config option. 119 120--no-abbrev:: 121 Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them. 122 123-t:: 124--track:: 125 When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the 126 start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This 127 configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the 128 two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore, 129 it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the 130 upstream when the new branch is checked out. 131+ 132This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote-tracking branch. 133Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you 134want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track' 135were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the 136start-point is either a local or remote-tracking branch. 137 138--no-track:: 139 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the 140 branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true. 141 142--set-upstream:: 143 If specified branch does not exist yet or if '--force' has been 144 given, acts exactly like '--track'. Otherwise sets up configuration 145 like '--track' would when creating the branch, except that where 146 branch points to is not changed. 147 148--edit-description:: 149 Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is 150 for, to be used by various other commands (e.g. `request-pull`). 151 152--contains <commit>:: 153 Only list branches which contain the specified commit. 154 155--merged [<commit>]:: 156 Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the 157 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 158 159--no-merged [<commit>]:: 160 Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the 161 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 162 163<branchname>:: 164 The name of the branch to create or delete. 165 The new branch name must pass all checks defined by 166 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks 167 may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name. 168 169<start-point>:: 170 The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be 171 given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this 172 option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead. 173 174<oldbranch>:: 175 The name of an existing branch to rename. 176 177<newbranch>:: 178 The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for 179 <branchname> apply. 180 181 182Examples 183-------- 184 185Start development from a known tag:: 186+ 187------------ 188$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6 189$ cd my2.6 190$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 <1> 191$ git checkout my2.6.14 192------------ 193+ 194<1> This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with 195"checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14". 196 197Delete an unneeded branch:: 198+ 199------------ 200$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git 201$ cd my.git 202$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man <1> 203$ git branch -D test <2> 204------------ 205+ 206<1> Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next 207'fetch' or 'pull' will create them again unless you configure them not to. 208See linkgit:git-fetch[1]. 209<2> Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch 210is currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch. 211 212 213Notes 214----- 215 216If you are creating a branch that you want to checkout immediately, it is 217easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create 218a branch and check it out with a single command. 219 220The options `--contains`, `--merged` and `--no-merged` serve three related 221but different purposes: 222 223- `--contains <commit>` is used to find all branches which will need 224 special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since those 225 branches contain the specified <commit>. 226 227- `--merged` is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, 228 since those branches are fully contained by HEAD. 229 230- `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging 231 into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD. 232 233SEE ALSO 234-------- 235linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1], 236linkgit:git-fetch[1], 237linkgit:git-remote[1], 238link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is 239a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual. 240 241GIT 242--- 243Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite