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 the creation of a new branch even if it means deleting
- a branch that already exists with the same name.
+--force::
+ Reset <branchname> to <startpoint> if <branchname> exists
+ already. Without `-f` 'git-branch' refuses to change an existing branch.
-m::
Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog.
-v::
--verbose::
- Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head.
+ Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with
+ relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print
+ the name of the upstream branch, as well.
--abbrev=<length>::
Alter the sha1's minimum display length in the output listing.
--no-abbrev::
Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them.
+-t::
--track::
- When creating a new branch, set up the configuration so that 'git-pull'
- will automatically retrieve data from the start point, which must be
- a branch. Use this if you always pull from the same upstream branch
- into the new branch, and if you do not want to use "git pull
- <repository> <refspec>" explicitly. This behavior is the default
- when the start point is a remote branch. Set the
- branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you want
- 'git-checkout' and 'git-branch' to always behave as if '--no-track' were
- given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
- start-point is either a local or remote branch.
+ When creating a new branch, set up configuration to mark the
+ start-point branch as "upstream" from the new branch. This
+ configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the
+ two branches in `git status` and `git branch -v`. Furthermore,
+ it directs `git pull` without arguments to pull from the
+ upstream when the new branch is checked out.
++
+This behavior is the default when the start point is a remote branch.
+Set the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable to `false` if you
+want `git checkout` and `git branch` to always behave as if '--no-track'
+were given. Set it to `always` if you want this behavior when the
+start-point is either a local or remote branch.
--no-track::
- Ignore the branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable.
+ Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
+ branch.autosetupmerge configuration variable is true.
--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>