git-branch

List, create, or delete branches

git branch [--color[=when] | --no-color] [-r | -a] [--list] [-v [--abbrev=length | --no-abbrev]] [--column[=options] | --no-column] [(--merged | --no-merged | --contains) []] [--sort=key] [--points-at object] [pattern]
git branch [--set-upstream | --track | --no-track] [-l] [-f] []
git branch (--set-upstream-to=upstream | -u upstream) [branchname]
git branch --unset-upstream []
git branch (-m | -M) []
git branch (-d | -D) [-r] ...
git branch --edit-description []
With --list
With -r remote-tracking branches are listed
With -a All.
> git branch -a
* master
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
  remotes/origin/da14580
  remotes/origin/driver-improvement
  remotes/origin/iota
  remotes/origin/master
  remotes/origin/patch-1
  remotes/origin/patch-2
  remotes/origin/sdk-11
  remotes/origin/v1-backports
  remotes/upstream/da14580
  remotes/upstream/driver-improvement
  remotes/upstream/iota
  remotes/upstream/master
  remotes/upstream/sdk-11
With pattern restricts the output to matching branches. If multiple patterns are given, brancha are shown if they match any patterns

With --contains, shows only the branches that contain the named commit (in other words, the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the named commit). With --merged, only branches merged into the named commit (i.e. the branches whose tip commits are reachable from the named commit) will be listed. With --no-merged only branches not merged into the named commit will be listed. If the argument is missing it defaults to HEAD (i.e. the tip of the current branch).

The command's second form creates a new branch head named branchname which points to the current HEAD, or start-point if given. Creates a 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-tracking branch, Git sets up the branch (specifically the branch..remote and var>branch.name.merge configuration entries) so that git pull will appropriately merge from the remote-tracking 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, and changed later using git branch --set-upstream-to. With a -m or -M option, will be renamed to . If had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match , and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch renaming. If exists, -M must be used to force the rename to happen. With a -d or -D option, 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 the remote repository or if git fetch was configured not to fetch them again. See also the prune subcommand of git- remote(1) for a way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches. Providing a , creates a branch

,td>-d
--delete
Delete fully merged in its upstream branch, or in HEAD if no upstream was set with --track or --set-upstream.
With --force allow deleting the branch irrespective of its merged status.
-D --delete --force.
-l
--create-reflog
Create the branch's reflog, activates recording of changes made to the branch ref, enabling use of date based sha1 expressions such as "branchname>@{yesterday}".
In non-bare repositories, reflogs are usually enabled by default by core.logallrefupdates config option.
-f
--force
Reset branchname to startpoint if branchname exists .
Without -fgit branch refuses to change an existing branch.
With --delete allow deleting the branch irrespective of its merged status.
With --move allow renaming the branch even if the new branch name exists.
-m
--move
Move a branch and the corresponding reflog.
-M --move --force.
--color[=always| never| auto] Color to highlight current, local, and remote-tracking.
--no-color Turn off colors, overrides configuration file . aka --color=never.
--column[=options]
--no-column Display in columns. configuration variable column.branch --column aka always> and --no-column aka always only in non-verbose mode.
-r
--remotes
List the remote-tracking branches.
--remotes -delete delete remote
-a
--all
List both remote-tracking and local .
--list Activate the list mode. git branch pattern creates a branch,
-v
-vv
--verbose In list mode, show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, with relationship to upstream branch
If given twice include the name of the upstream branch
-q
--quiet
Be quiet when creating or deleting
--abbrev=length Abbrevate sha1's minimum display length, default is 7 Config option core.abbrev
--no-abbrev Don't abbrevate the sha1s
-t
--track
When creating a new branch, set up branch.name.remote and branch.name.merge configuration entries 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 --verbose.
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-tracking 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-tracking branch.
no-track Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable is true.
set-upstream If specified branch does not exist yet or if
force has been given, acts exactly like --track. Otherwise sets up configuration like
track would when creating the branch, except that where branch points to is not changed. -u ,
set-upstream-to=upstream> Set up 's tracking information so is considered 's upstream branch. If no is specified, then it defaults to the current branch.
unset-upstream Remove the upstream information for . If no branch is specified it defaults to the current branch.
edit-description Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is for, to be used by various other commands (e.g. format-patch, request-pull, and merge (if enabled)). Multi-line explanations may be used.
contains [] Only list branches which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies
list.
merged [] Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the specified commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies
list.
no-merged [] Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the specified commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies
list. 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 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. newbranch The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for apply.
sort=key> Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending order of the value. You may use the
sort=key> option multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the primary key. The keys supported are the same as those in git for-each-ref. Sort order defaults to sorting based on the full refname (including refs/... prefix). This lists detached HEAD (if present) first, then local branches and finally remote-tracking branches.
points-at object Only list branches of the given object.
EXAMPLES Start development from 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 an 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 the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next fetch or pull will create them again unless you configure them not to. See git-fetch(1). 2. Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch is currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch. NOTES If you are creating a branch that you want to checkout immediately, it is easier to use the git checkout command with its -b option to create a branch and check it out with a single command. The optionscontains
--merged and --no-merged serve three related but different purposes: o contains is used to find all branches which will need special attention if were to be rebased or amended, since those branches contain the specified . o merged is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, since those branches are fully contained by HEAD. o 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 git-check-ref-format(1), git-fetch(1), git-remote(1), "Understanding history: What is a branch?"[1] in the Git User's Manual. GIT Part of the git(1) suite NOTES 1. "Understanding history: What is a branch?" git-htmldocs/user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch