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NAME | SYNOPSIS | DESCRIPTION | OPTIONS | CONFIGURATION | EXAMPLES | NOTES | SEE ALSO | GIT | NOTES | COLOPHON |
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GIT-BRANCH(1) Git Manual GIT-BRANCH(1)
git-branch - List, create, or delete branches
git branch [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [--show-current]
[-v [--abbrev=<n> | --no-abbrev]]
[--column[=<options>] | --no-column] [--sort=<key>]
[--merged [<commit>]] [--no-merged [<commit>]]
[--contains [<commit>]] [--no-contains [<commit>]]
[--points-at <object>] [--format=<format>]
[(-r|--remotes) | (-a|--all)]
[--list] [<pattern>...]
git branch [--track[=(direct|inherit)] | --no-track] [-f]
[--recurse-submodules] <branch-name> [<start-point>]
git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream>|-u <upstream>) [<branch-name>]
git branch --unset-upstream [<branch-name>]
git branch (-m|-M) [<old-branch>] <new-branch>
git branch (-c|-C) [<old-branch>] <new-branch>
git branch (-d|-D) [-r] <branch-name>...
git branch --edit-description [<branch-name>]
If --list is given, or if there are no non-option arguments,
existing branches are listed; the current branch will be
highlighted in green and marked with an asterisk. Any branches
checked out in linked worktrees will be highlighted in cyan and
marked with a plus sign. Option -r causes the remote-tracking
branches to be listed, and option -a shows both local and remote
branches.
If a <pattern> is given, it is used as a shell wildcard to
restrict the output to matching branches. If multiple patterns are
given, a branch is shown if it matches any of the patterns.
Note that when providing a <pattern>, you must use --list;
otherwise the command may be interpreted as branch creation.
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), --no-contains inverts it. 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 <commit> 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
<branch-name> which points to the current HEAD, or <start-point>
if given. As a special case, for <start-point>, you may use
<rev-A>...<rev-B> as a shortcut for the merge base of <rev-A> and
<rev-B> if there is exactly one merge base. You can leave out at
most one of <rev-A> and <rev-B>, in which case it defaults to
HEAD.
Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch
the working tree to it; use git switch <new-branch> 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.<name>.remote and
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, <old-branch> will be renamed to
<new-branch>. If <old-branch> had a corresponding reflog, it is
renamed to match <new-branch>, and a reflog entry is created to
remember the branch renaming. If <new-branch> exists, -M must be
used to force the rename to happen.
The -c and -C options have the exact same semantics as -m and -M,
except instead of the branch being renamed, it will be copied to a
new name, along with its config and reflog.
With a -d or -D option, <branch-name> 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.
-d, --delete
Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its
upstream branch, or in HEAD if no upstream was set with
--track or --set-upstream-to.
-D
Shortcut for --delete --force.
--create-reflog
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 <branch-name>@{yesterday}. Note that
in non-bare repositories, reflogs are usually enabled by
default by the core.logAllRefUpdates config option. The
negated form --no-create-reflog only overrides an earlier
--create-reflog, but currently does not negate the setting of
core.logAllRefUpdates.
-f, --force
Reset <branch-name> to <start-point>, even if <branch-name>
exists already. Without -f, git branch refuses to change an
existing branch. In combination with -d (or --delete), allow
deleting the branch irrespective of its merged status, or
whether it even points to a valid commit. In combination with
-m (or --move), allow renaming the branch even if the new
branch name already exists, the same applies for -c (or
--copy).
Note that git branch -f <branch-name> [<start-point>], even
with -f, refuses to change an existing branch <branch-name>
that is checked out in another worktree linked to the same
repository.
-m, --move
Move/rename a branch, together with its config and reflog.
-M
Shortcut for --move --force.
-c, --copy
Copy a branch, together with its config and reflog.
-C
Shortcut for --copy --force.
--color[=<when>]
Color branches to highlight current, local, and
remote-tracking branches. The value must be always (the
default), never, or auto.
--no-color
Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives
the default to color output. Same as --color=never.
-i, --ignore-case
Sorting and filtering branches are case insensitive.
--omit-empty
Do not print a newline after formatted refs where the format
expands to the empty string.
--column[=<options>], --no-column
Display branch listing in columns. See configuration variable
column.branch for option syntax. --column and --no-column
without options are equivalent to always and never
respectively.
This option is only applicable in non-verbose mode.
--sort=<key>
Sort based on <key>. 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(1). Sort
order defaults to the value configured for the branch.sort
variable if it exists, or 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. See git-config(1).
-r, --remotes
List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches.
Combine with --list to match the optional pattern(s).
-a, --all
List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. Combine
with --list to match optional pattern(s).
-l, --list
List branches. With optional <pattern>..., e.g. git branch
--list 'maint-*', list only the branches that match the
pattern(s).
--show-current
Print the name of the current branch. In detached HEAD state,
nothing is printed.
-v, -vv, --verbose
When in list mode, show sha1 and commit subject line for each
head, along with relationship to upstream branch (if any). If
given twice, print the path of the linked worktree (if any)
and the name of the upstream branch, as well (see also git
remote show <remote>). Note that the current worktree’s HEAD
will not have its path printed (it will always be your current
directory).
-q, --quiet
Be more quiet when creating or deleting a branch, suppressing
non-error messages.
--abbrev=<n>
In the verbose listing that show the commit object name, show
the shortest prefix that is at least <n> hexdigits long that
uniquely refers the object. The default value is 7 and can be
overridden by the core.abbrev config option.
--no-abbrev
Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than
abbreviating them.
-t, --track[=(direct|inherit)]
When creating a new branch, set up branch.<name>.remote and
branch.<name>.merge configuration entries to set "upstream"
tracking configuration for 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.
The exact upstream branch is chosen depending on the optional
argument: -t, --track, or --track=direct means to use the
start-point branch itself as the upstream; --track=inherit
means to copy the upstream configuration of the start-point
branch.
The branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable specifies how
git switch, git checkout and git branch should behave when
neither --track nor --no-track are specified:
The default option, true, behaves as though --track=direct
were given whenever the start-point is a remote-tracking
branch. false behaves as if --no-track were given. always
behaves as though --track=direct were given. inherit behaves
as though --track=inherit were given. simple behaves as
though --track=direct were given only when the <start-point>
is a remote-tracking branch and the new branch has the same
name as the remote branch.
See git-pull(1) and git-config(1) for additional discussion on
how the branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options
are used.
--no-track
Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable is set.
--recurse-submodules
THIS OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL! Cause the current command to
recurse into submodules if submodule.propagateBranches is
enabled. See submodule.propagateBranches in git-config(1).
Currently, only branch creation is supported.
When used in branch creation, a new branch <branch-name> will
be created in the superproject and all of the submodules in
the superproject’s <start-point>. In submodules, the branch
will point to the submodule commit in the superproject’s
<start-point> but the branch’s tracking information will be
set up based on the submodule’s branches and remotes e.g. git
branch --recurse-submodules topic origin/main will create the
submodule branch "topic" that points to the submodule commit
in the superproject’s "origin/main", but tracks the
submodule’s "origin/main".
--set-upstream
As this option had confusing syntax, it is no longer
supported. Please use --track or --set-upstream-to instead.
-u <upstream>, --set-upstream-to=<upstream>
Set up <branch-name>'s tracking information so <upstream> is
considered <branch-name>'s upstream branch. If no
<branch-name> is specified, then it defaults to the current
branch.
--unset-upstream
Remove the upstream information for <branch-name>. 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 [<commit>]
Only list branches which contain <commit> (HEAD if not
specified). Implies --list.
--no-contains [<commit>]
Only list branches which don’t contain <commit> (HEAD if not
specified). Implies --list.
--merged [<commit>]
Only list branches whose tips are reachable from <commit>
(HEAD if not specified). Implies --list.
--no-merged [<commit>]
Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from <commit>
(HEAD if not specified). Implies --list.
--points-at <object>
Only list branches of <object>.
--format <format>
A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a branch ref
being shown and the object it points at. <format> is the same
as that of git-for-each-ref(1).
<branch-name>
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.
<old-branch>
The name of an existing branch. If this option is omitted, the
name of the current branch will be used instead.
<new-branch>
The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as
for <branch-name> apply.
pager.branch is only respected when listing branches, i.e., when
--list is used or implied. The default is to use a pager. See
git-config(1).
Everything above this line in this section isn’t included from the
git-config(1) documentation. The content that follows is the same
as what’s found there:
branch.autoSetupMerge
Tells git branch, git switch and git checkout to set up new
branches so that git-pull(1) will appropriately merge from the
starting point branch. Note that even if this option is not
set, this behavior can be chosen per-branch using the --track
and --no-track options. This option defaults to true. The
valid settings are:
false
no automatic setup is done
true
automatic setup is done when the starting point is a
remote-tracking branch
always
automatic setup is done when the starting point is either
a local branch or remote-tracking branch
inherit
if the starting point has a tracking configuration, it is
copied to the new branch
simple
automatic setup is done only when the starting point is a
remote-tracking branch and the new branch has the same
name as the remote branch.
branch.autoSetupRebase
When a new branch is created with git branch, git switch or
git checkout that tracks another branch, this variable tells
Git to set up pull to rebase instead of merge (see
branch.<name>.rebase). The valid settings are:
never
rebase is never automatically set to true.
local
rebase is set to true for tracked branches of other local
branches.
remote
rebase is set to true for tracked branches of
remote-tracking branches.
always
rebase will be set to true for all tracking branches.
See branch.autoSetupMerge for details on how to set up a
branch to track another branch. This option defaults to never.
branch.sort
This variable controls the sort ordering of branches when
displayed by git-branch(1). Without the --sort=<value> option
provided, the value of this variable will be used as the
default. See git-for-each-ref(1) field names for valid values.
branch.<name>.remote
When on branch <name>, it tells git fetch and git push which
remote to fetch from or push to. The remote to push to may be
overridden with remote.pushDefault (for all branches). The
remote to push to, for the current branch, may be further
overridden by branch.<name>.pushRemote. If no remote is
configured, or if you are not on any branch and there is more
than one remote defined in the repository, it defaults to
origin for fetching and remote.pushDefault for pushing.
Additionally, . (a period) is the current local repository (a
dot-repository), see branch.<name>.merge's final note below.
branch.<name>.pushRemote
When on branch <name>, it overrides branch.<name>.remote for
pushing. It also overrides remote.pushDefault for pushing from
branch <name>. When you pull from one place (e.g. your
upstream) and push to another place (e.g. your own publishing
repository), you would want to set remote.pushDefault to
specify the remote to push to for all branches, and use this
option to override it for a specific branch.
branch.<name>.merge
Defines, together with branch.<name>.remote, the upstream
branch for the given branch. It tells git fetch/git pull/git
rebase which branch to merge and can also affect git push (see
push.default). When in branch <name>, it tells git fetch the
default refspec to be marked for merging in FETCH_HEAD. The
value is handled like the remote part of a refspec, and must
match a ref which is fetched from the remote given by
branch.<name>.remote. The merge information is used by git
pull (which first calls git fetch) to lookup the default
branch for merging. Without this option, git pull defaults to
merge the first refspec fetched. Specify multiple values to
get an octopus merge. If you wish to setup git pull so that it
merges into <name> from another branch in the local
repository, you can point branch.<name>.merge to the desired
branch, and use the relative path setting . (a period) for
branch.<name>.remote.
branch.<name>.mergeOptions
Sets default options for merging into branch <name>. The
syntax and supported options are the same as those of
git-merge(1), but option values containing whitespace
characters are currently not supported.
branch.<name>.rebase
When true, rebase the branch <name> on top of the fetched
branch, instead of merging the default branch from the default
remote when git pull is run. See pull.rebase for doing this in
a non branch-specific manner.
When merges (or just m), pass the --rebase-merges option to
git rebase so that the local merge commits are included in the
rebase (see git-rebase(1) for details).
When the value is interactive (or just i), the rebase is run
in interactive mode.
NOTE: this is a possibly dangerous operation; do not use it
unless you understand the implications (see git-rebase(1) for
details).
branch.<name>.description
Branch description, can be edited with git branch
--edit-description. Branch description is automatically added
to the format-patch cover letter or request-pull summary.
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 switch 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 git fetch or git 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.
Listing branches from a specific remote
$ git branch -r -l '<remote>/<pattern>' (1)
$ git for-each-ref 'refs/remotes/<remote>/<pattern>' (2)
1. Using -a would conflate <remote> with any local
branches you happen to have been prefixed with the same
<remote> pattern.
2. for-each-ref can take a wide range of options. See
git-for-each-ref(1)
Patterns will normally need quoting.
If you are creating a branch that you want to switch to
immediately, it is easier to use the git switch command with its
-c option to do the same thing with a single command.
The options --contains, --no-contains, --merged and --no-merged
serve four related but different purposes:
• --contains <commit> is used to find all branches which will
need special attention if <commit> were to be rebased or
amended, since those branches contain the specified <commit>.
• --no-contains <commit> is the inverse of that, i.e. branches
that don’t contain the specified <commit>.
• --merged is used to find all branches which can be safely
deleted, since those branches are fully contained by HEAD.
• --no-merged is used to find branches which are candidates for
merging into HEAD, since those branches are not fully
contained by HEAD.
When combining multiple --contains and --no-contains filters, only
references that contain at least one of the --contains commits and
contain none of the --no-contains commits are shown.
When combining multiple --merged and --no-merged filters, only
references that are reachable from at least one of the --merged
commits and from none of the --no-merged commits are shown.
git-check-ref-format(1), git-fetch(1), git-remote(1),
"Understanding history: What is a branch?"[1] in the Git User’s
Manual.
Part of the git(1) suite
1. "Understanding history: What is a branch?"
file:///home/mtk/share/doc/git-doc/user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch
This page is part of the git (Git distributed version control
system) project. Information about the project can be found at
⟨http://git-scm.com/⟩. If you have a bug report for this manual
page, see ⟨http://git-scm.com/community⟩. This page was obtained
from the project's upstream Git repository
⟨https://github.com/git/git.git⟩ on 2025-08-11. (At that time,
the date of the most recent commit that was found in the
repository was 2025-08-07.) If you discover any rendering
problems in this HTML version of the page, or you believe there is
a better or more up-to-date source for the page, or you have
corrections or improvements to the information in this COLOPHON
(which is not part of the original manual page), send a mail to
man-pages@man7.org
Git 2.51.0.rc1 2025-08-07 GIT-BRANCH(1)
Pages that refer to this page: git(1), git-branch(1), git-checkout(1), git-config(1), git-p4(1), git-pull(1), git-remote(1), git-replace(1), git-switch(1), git-worktree(1), giteveryday(7)
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HTML rendering created 2025-09-06 by Michael Kerrisk, author of The Linux Programming Interface. For details of in-depth Linux/UNIX system programming training courses that I teach, look here. Hosting by jambit GmbH. |
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