If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
equal to that of the currently checked out branch.
+Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
+working tree to it; use "git checkout <newbranch>" to switch to the
+new branch.
+
When a local branch is started off a remote branch, git can setup the
branch so that gitlink:git-pull[1] will appropriately merge from that
remote branch. If this behavior is desired, it is possible to make it
With a `-d` or `-D` option, `<branchname>` will be deleted. You may
specify more than one branch for deletion. If the branch currently
-has a ref log then the ref log will also be deleted. Use -r together with -d
-to delete remote-tracking branches.
+has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted.
+
+Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it
+only makes sense to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist
+in remote repository or if gitlink:git-fetch[1] was configured not to fetch
+them again. See also 'prune' subcommand of gitlink:git-remote[1] for way to
+clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.
OPTIONS
-------
-d::
- Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged.
+ Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in HEAD.
-D::
- Delete a branch irrespective of its index status.
+ Delete a branch irrespective of its merged status.
-l::
- Create the branch's ref log. This activates recording of
- all changes to made the branch ref, enabling use of date
- based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@{yesterday}".
+ Create the branch's reflog. This activates recording of
+ all changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date
+ based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}".
-f::
Force the creation of a new branch even if it means deleting
-a::
List both remote-tracking branches and local branches.
--v::
+-v, --verbose::
Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head.
--abbrev=<length>::
--no-abbrev::
Display the full sha1s in output listing rather than abbreviating them.
+--track::
+ Set up configuration so that git-pull will automatically
+ retrieve data from the remote branch. Use this if you always
+ pull from the same remote branch into the new branch, or if you
+ don't want to use "git pull <repository> <refspec>" explicitly. Set the
+ branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to true if you
+ want git-checkout and git-branch to always behave as if
+ '--track' were given.
+
+--no-track::
+ When a branch is created off a remote branch,
+ set up configuration so that git-pull will not retrieve data
+ from the remote branch, ignoring the branch.autosetupmerge
+ configuration variable.
+
<branchname>::
The name of the branch to create or delete.
The new branch name must pass all checks defined by
------------
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
$ cd my.git
-$ git branch -d -r todo html man <1>
-$ git branch -D test <2>
+$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man <1>
+$ git branch -D test <2>
------------
+
-<1> delete remote-tracking branches "todo", "html", "man"
-<2> delete "test" branch even if the "master" branch does not have all
-commits from test branch.
+<1> Delete remote-tracking branches "todo", "html", "man". Next 'fetch' or
+'pull' will create them again unless you configure them not to. See
+gitlink:git-fetch[1].
+<2> Delete "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch is
+currently checked out) does not have all commits from test branch.
Notes