Git - git-switch Documentation (original) (raw)
NAME
git-switch - Switch branches
SYNOPSIS
git switch [] [--no-guess] git switch [] --detach [] git switch [] (-c|-C) [] git switch [] --orphan
DESCRIPTION
Switch to a specified branch. The working tree and the index are updated to match the branch. All new commits will be added to the tip of this branch.
Optionally a new branch could be created with either -c, -C, automatically from a remote branch of same name (see --guess), or detach the working tree from any branch with --detach, along with switching.
Switching branches does not require a clean index and working tree (i.e. no differences compared to HEAD). The operation is aborted however if the operation leads to loss of local changes, unless told otherwise with --discard-changes or --merge.
THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. THE BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE.
OPTIONS
Branch to switch to.
Name for the new branch.
The starting point for the new branch. Specifying a<start-point> allows you to create a branch based on some other point in history than where HEAD currently points. (Or, in the case of --detach, allows you to inspect and detach from some other point.)
You can use the @{-N} syntax to refer to the N-th last branch/commit switched to using "git switch" or "git checkout" operation. You may also specify - which is synonymous to @{-1}. This is often used to switch quickly between two branches, or to undo a branch switch by mistake.
As a special case, you may use A...B as a shortcut for the merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base. You can leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.
Create a new branch named <new-branch> starting at<start-point> before switching to the branch. This is the transactional equivalent of
$ git branch $ git switch
that is to say, the branch is not reset/created unless "git switch" is successful (e.g., when the branch is in use in another worktree, not just the current branch stays the same, but the branch is not reset to the start-point, either).
Similar to --create except that if <new-branch> already exists, it will be reset to <start-point>. This is a convenient shortcut for:
$ git branch -f $ git switch
Switch to a commit for inspection and discardable experiments. See the "DETACHED HEAD" section ingit-checkout[1] for details.
If <branch> is not found but there does exist a tracking branch in exactly one remote (call it <remote>) with a matching name, treat as equivalent to
$ git switch -c --track /
If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by the checkout.defaultRemote configuration variable, we’ll use that one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the <branch> isn’t unique across all remotes. Set it to e.g. checkout.defaultRemote=originto always checkout remote branches from there if <branch> is ambiguous but exists on the origin remote. See alsocheckout.defaultRemote in git-config[1].
--guess is the default behavior. Use --no-guess to disable it.
The default behavior can be set via the checkout.guess configuration variable.
An alias for --discard-changes.
Proceed even if the index or the working tree differs fromHEAD. Both the index and working tree are restored to match the switching target. If --recurse-submodules is specified, submodule content is also restored to match the switching target. This is used to throw away local changes.
If you have local modifications to one or more files that are different between the current branch and the branch to which you are switching, the command refuses to switch branches in order to preserve your modifications in context. However, with this option, a three-way merge between the current branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch is done, and you will be on the new branch.
When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts and mark the resolved paths with git add (or git rm if the merge should result in deletion of the path).