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