GIT-BRANCH(1) Git Manual GIT-BRANCH(1)NAMEgit-branch - List, create, or delete branches
SYNOPSISgit-branch [--color | --no-color] [-r | -a]
[-v [--abbrev=<length> | --no-abbrev]]
[--contains <commit>]
git-branch [--track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] <branchname> [<start-point>]
git-branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
git-branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...
DESCRIPTION
With no arguments given a list of existing branches will be shown, the
current branch will be highlighted with an asterisk. Option -r causes
the remote-tracking branches to be listed, and option -a shows both.
With --contains <commit>, shows only the branches that contains the
named commit (in other words, the branches whose tip commits are
descendant of the named commit).
In its 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.
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 sets up the
branch so that git-pull(1) will appropriately merge from the remote
branch. This behavior may be changed via the global
branch.autosetupmerge configuration flag. That setting can be
overridden by using the --track and --no-track options.
With a -m or -M option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. If
<oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match
<newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch
renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename to
happen.
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 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 git-fetch(1) was configured not
to fetch them again. See also prune subcommand of git-remote(1) for way
to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.
OPTIONS-d Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in HEAD.
-D Delete a branch irrespective of its merged status.
-l 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
branch that already exists with the same name.
-m Move/rename a branch and the corresponding reflog.
-M Move/rename a branch even if the new branchname already exists.
--color
Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote branches.
--no-color
Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives
the default to color output.
-r List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches.
-a List both remote-tracking branches and local branches.
-v, --verbose
Show sha1 and commit subject line for each head.
--abbrev=<length>
Alter minimum display length for sha1 in output listing, default
value is 7.
--no-abbrev
Display the full sha1s in output listing rather than
abbreviating them.
--track
When creating a new branch, set up 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 don't 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.
--no-track
Ignore 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-check-ref-format(1). Some of
these checks 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.
<oldbranch>
The name of an existing branch to rename.
<newbranch>
The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as
for <branchname> applies.
EXAMPLES
Start development off of a known tag
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
$ cd my2.6
$ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14 (1)
$ git checkout my2.6.14
1. This step and the next one could be combined into a single
step with "checkout -b my2.6.14 v2.6.14".
Delete unneeded branch
$ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
$ cd my.git
$ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man (1)
$ git branch -D test (2)
1. Delete remote-tracking branches "todo", "html", "man". Next
fetch or pull will create them again unless you configure them
not to. See 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
If you are creating a branch that you want to immediately checkout,
it's easier to use the git checkout command with its -b option to
create a branch and check it out with a single command.
AUTHOR
Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and Junio C Hamano
<junkio@cox.net>
DOCUMENTATION
Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
GIT
Part of the git(7) suite
Git 1.5.5.2 10/21/2008 GIT-BRANCH(1)
