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