the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is missing it
defaults to 'HEAD' (i.e. the tip of the current branch).
-In the command's second form, a new branch named <branchname> will be created.
-It will start out with a head equal to the one given as <start-point>.
-If no <start-point> is given, the branch will be created with a head
-equal to that of the currently checked out branch.
+The command's second form creates a new branch head named <branchname>
+which points to the current 'HEAD', or <start-point> if given.
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
based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@\{yesterday}".
-f::
+--force::
Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists
already. Without `-f` 'git-branch' refuses to change an existing branch.
--no-abbrev::
Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them.
+-t::
--track::
When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the
start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This
--contains <commit>::
Only list branches which contain the specified commit.
---merged::
- Only list branches which are fully contained by HEAD.
+--merged [<commit>]::
+ Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the
+ specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
---no-merged::
- Do not list branches which are fully contained by HEAD.
+--no-merged [<commit>]::
+ Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the
+ specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
<branchname>::
The name of the branch to create or delete.
may restrict the characters allowed in a branch name.
<start-point>::
- The new branch will be created with a HEAD equal to this. It may
- be given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this option
- is omitted, the current branch is assumed.
+ The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be
+ given as a branch name, a commit-id, or a tag. If this
+ option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead.
<oldbranch>::
The name of an existing branch to rename.
- `--no-merged` is used to find branches which are candidates for merging
into HEAD, since those branches are not fully contained by HEAD.
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-check-ref-format[1],
+linkgit:git-fetch[1],
+linkgit:git-remote[1],
+link:user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch[``Understanding history: What is
+a branch?''] in the Git User's Manual.
+
Author
------
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>