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. 117 118--no-abbrev:: 119 Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them. 120 121-t:: 122--track:: 123 When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the 124 start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This 125 configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the 126 two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore, 127 it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the 128 upstream when the new branch is checked out. 129+ 130This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote-tracking branch. 131Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you 132want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track' 133were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the 134start-point is either a local or remote-tracking branch. 135 136--no-track:: 137 Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the 138 branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true. 139 140--set-upstream:: 141 If specified branch does not exist yet or if '--force' has been 142 given, acts exactly like '--track'. Otherwise sets up configuration 143 like '--track' would when creating the branch, except that where 144 branch points to is not changed. 145 146--contains <commit>:: 147 Only list branches which contain the specified commit. 148 149--merged [<commit>]:: 150 Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the 151 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 152 153--no-merged [<commit>]:: 154 Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the 155 specified commit (HEAD if not specified). 156 157<branchname>:: 158 The name of the branch to create or delete. 159 The new branch name must pass all checks defined by 160 linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1]. Some of these checks 161 may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name. 162 163<start-point>:: 164 The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be 165 given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this 166 option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead. 167 168<oldbranch>:: 169 The name of an existing branch to rename. 170 171<newbranch>:: 172 The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for 173 <branchname> apply. 174 175 176Examples 177-------- 178 179Start development from a known tag:: 180+ 181------------ 182$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6 183$ cd my2.6 184$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 <1> 185$ git checkout my2.6.14 186------------ 187+ 188<1> This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with 189"checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14". 190 191Delete an unneeded branch:: 192+ 193------------ 194$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git 195$ cd my.git 196$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man <1> 197$ git branch -D test <2> 198------------ 199+ 200<1> Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next 201'fetch' or 'pull' will create them again unless you configure them not to. 202See linkgit:git-fetch[1]. 203<2> Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch 204is currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch. 205 206 207Notes 208----- 209 210If you are creating a branch that you want to checkout immediately, it is 211easier to use the git checkout command with its `-b` option to create 212a branch and check it out with a single command. 213 214The options `--contains`, `--merged` and `--no-merged` serve three related 215but different purposes: 216 217- `--contains <commit>` is used to find all branches which will need 218 special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since those 219 branches contain the specified <commit>. 220 221- `--merged` is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, 222 since those branches are fully contained by HEAD. 223 224- `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging 225 into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD. 226 227SEE ALSO 228-------- 229linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1], 230linkgit:git-fetch[1], 231linkgit:git-remote[1], 232link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is 233a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual. 234 235GIT 236--- 237Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite