Git Branch

Overview

Branches let you work on features or fixes in isolation without affecting main. Git branches are lightweight pointers to commits. Create a branch, make commits, then merge or open a pull request.

Syntax / Usage

# List branches
git branch
git branch -a                 # include remotes

# Create and switch
git switch -c feature/login
# or: git checkout -b feature/login

# Switch existing branch
git switch main

# Delete branch
git branch -d feature/login     # safe delete
git branch -D feature/login     # force delete

# Rename current branch
git branch -m new-name

Examples

Typical feature workflow:

git switch main
git pull origin main
git switch -c feature/dark-mode
# ... make changes ...
git add .
git commit -m "feat(ui): add dark mode toggle"
git push -u origin feature/dark-mode

Compare branch to main:

git log main..feature/dark-mode --oneline
git diff main...feature/dark-mode

Common Mistakes

• Working directly on main for feature development
• Long-lived branches that diverge heavily from main
• Forgetting -u on first push, then wondering why upstream is missing
• Deleting a branch before merging its work

See Also

commit merge rebase remote