This tutorial is a comprehensive introduction to Git branches. First, we‘ll take a look at creating branches, which is like requesting a new project history. Then, we’ll see how git checkout can be used to select a branch. Finally, we'll learn how git merge can integrate the history of independent branches.
As you read, remember that Git branches aren't like SVN branches. Whereas SVN branches are only used to capture the occasional large-scale development effort, Git branches are an integral part of your everyday workflow.
A branch represents an independent line of development. Branches serve as an abstraction for the edit/stage/commit process discussed in Git Basics, the first module of this series. You can think of them as a way to request a brand new working directory, staging area, and project history. New commits are recorded in the history for the current branch, which results in a fork in the history of the project.
git branch command lets you create, list, rename, and delete branches. It doesn’t let you switch between branches or put a forked history back together again. For this reason,
git branch is tightly integrated with the
git checkout and
git merge commands.
List all of the branches in your repository.
git branch <branch>
Create a new branch called
<branch>. This does not check out the new branch.
git branch -d <branch>
Delete the specified branch. This is a “safe” operation in that Git prevents you from deleting the branch if it has unmerged changes.
git branch -D <branch>
Force delete the specified branch, even if it has unmerged changes. This is the command to use if you want to permanently throw away all of the commits associated with a particular line of development.
git branch -m <branch>
Rename the current branch to
In Git, branches are a part of your everyday development process. When you want to add a new feature or fix a bug—no matter how big or how small—you spawn a new branch to encapsulate your changes. This makes sure that unstable code is never committed to the main code base, and it gives you the chance to clean up your feature’s history before merging it into the main branch.
For example, the diagram above visualizes a repository with two isolated lines of development, one for a little feature, and one for a longer-running feature. By developing them in branches, it’s not only possible to work on both of them in parallel, but it also keeps the main
master branch free from questionable code.
The implementation behind Git branches is much more lightweight than SVN’s model. Instead of copying files from directory to directory, Git stores a branch as a reference to a commit. In this sense, a branch represents the tip of a series of commits—it's not a container for commits. The history for a branch is extrapolated through the commit relationships.
This has a dramatic impact on Git's merging model. Whereas merges in SVN are done on a file-basis, Git lets you work on the more abstract level of commits. You can actually see merges in the project history as a joining of two independent commit histories.
It's important to understand that branches are just pointers to commits. When you create a branch, all Git needs to do is create a new pointer—it doesn’t change the repository in any other way. So, if you start with a repository that looks like this:
Then, you create a branch using the following command:
git branch crazy-experiment
The repository history remains unchanged. All you get is a new pointer to the current commit:
Note that this only creates the new branch. To start adding commits to it, you need to select it with
git checkout, and then use the standard
git add and
git commit commands. Please see the
git checkout section of this module for more information.
Once you’ve finished working on a branch and have merged it into the main code base, you’re free to delete the branch without losing any history:
git branch -d crazy-experiment
However, if the branch hasn’t been merged, the above command will output an error message:
error: The branch 'crazy-experiment' is not fully merged. If you are sure you want to delete it, run 'git branch -D crazy-experiment'.
This protects you from losing your reference to those commits, which means you would effectively lose access to that entire line of development. If you really want to delete the branch (e.g., it’s a failed experiment), you can use the capital
git branch -D crazy-experiment
This deletes the branch regardless of its status and without warnings, so use it judiciously.
git checkout command lets you navigate between the branches created by
git branch. Checking out a branch updates the files in the working directory to match the version stored in that branch, and it tells Git to record all new commits on that branch. Think of it as a way to select which line of development you’re working on.
In the previous module, we saw how
git checkout can be used to view old commits. Checking out branches is similar in that the working directory is updated to match the selected branch/revision; however, new changes are saved in the project history—that is, it’s not a read-only operation.
git checkout <existing-branch>
Check out the specified branch, which should have already been created with
git branch. This makes <existing-branch> the current branch, and updates the working directory to match.
git checkout -b <new-branch>
Create and check out <new-branch>. The
-b option is a convenience flag that tells Git to run
git branch <new-branch> before running
git checkout <new-branch>.
git checkout -b <new-branch> <existing-branch>
Same as the above invocation, but base the new branch off of <existing-branch> instead of the current branch.
git checkout works hand-in-hand with
git branch. When you want to start a new feature, you create a branch with
git branch, then check it out with
git checkout. You can work on multiple features in a single repository by switching between them with
Having a dedicated branch for each new feature is a dramatic shift from the traditional SVN workflow. It makes it ridiculously easy to try new experiments without the fear of destroying existing functionality, and it makes it possible to work on many unrelated features at the same time. In addition, branches also facilitate several collaborative workflows.
Now that we’ve seen the three main uses of
git checkout we can talk about that “detached
HEAD” we encountered in the previous module.
Remember that the
HEAD is Git’s way of referring to the current snapshot. Internally, the
git checkout command simply updates the
HEAD to point to either the specified branch or commit. When it points to a branch, Git doesn't complain, but when you check out a commit, it switches into a “detached
This is a warning telling you that everything you’re doing is “detached” from the rest of your project’s development. If you were to start developing a feature while in a detached
HEAD state, there would be no branch allowing you to get back to it. When you inevitably check out another branch (e.g., to merge your feature in), there would be no way to reference your feature:
The point is, your development should always take place on a branch—never on a detached
HEAD. This makes sure you always have a reference to your new commits. However, if you’re just looking at an old commit, it doesn’t really matter if you’re in a detached
HEAD state or not.
The following example demonstrates the basic Git branching process. When you want to start working on a new feature, you create a dedicated branch and switch into it:
git branch new-feature git checkout new-feature
Then, you can commit new snapshots just like we’ve seen in previous modules:
# Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Started work on a new feature" # Repeat
All of these are recorded in
new-feature, which is completely isolated from
master. You can add as many commits here as necessary without worrying about what’s going on in the rest of your branches. When it’s time to get back to “official” code base, simply check out the
git checkout master
This shows you the state of the repository before you started your feature. From here, you have the option to merge in the completed feature, branch off a brand new, unrelated feature, or do some work with the stable version of your project.
Merging is Git's way of putting a forked history back together again. The
git merge command lets you take the independent lines of development created by
git branch and integrate them into a single branch.
Note that all of the commands presented below merge into the current branch. The current branch will be updated to reflect the merge, but the target branch will be completely unaffected. Again, this means that
git merge is often used in conjunction with
git checkout for selecting the current branch and
git branch -d for deleting the obsolete target branch.
git merge <branch>
Merge the specified branch into the current branch. Git will determine the merge algorithm automatically (discussed below).
git merge --no-ff <branch>
Merge the specified branch into the current branch, but always generate a merge commit (even if it was a fast-forward merge). This is useful for documenting all merges that occur in your repository.
Once you’ve finished developing a feature in an isolated branch, it's important to be able to get it back into the main code base. Depending on the structure of your repository, Git has several distinct algorithms to accomplish this: a fast-forward merge or a 3-way merge.
A fast-forward merge can occur when there is a linear path from the current branch tip to the target branch. Instead of “actually” merging the branches, all Git has to do to integrate the histories is move (i.e., “fast forward”) the current branch tip up to the target branch tip. This effectively combines the histories, since all of the commits reachable from the target branch are now available through the current one. For example, a fast forward merge of
master would look something like the following:
However, a fast-forward merge is not possible if the branches have diverged. When there is not a linear path to the target branch, Git has no choice but to combine them via a 3-way merge. 3-way merges use a dedicated commit to tie together the two histories. The nomenclature comes from the fact that Git uses three commits to generate the merge commit: the two branch tips and their common ancestor.
While you can use either of these merge strategies, many developers like to use fast-forward merges (facilitated through rebasing) for small features or bug fixes, while reserving 3-way merges for the integration of longer-running features. In the latter case, the resulting merge commit serves as a symbolic joining of the two branches.
If the two branches you‘re trying to merge both changed the same part of the same file, Git won’t be able to figure out which version to use. When such a situation occurs, it stops right before the merge commit so that you can resolve the conflicts manually.
The great part of Git's merging process is that it uses the familiar edit/stage/commit workflow to resolve merge conflicts. When you encounter a merge conflict, running the
git status command shows you which files need to be resolved. For example, if both branches modified the same section of
hello.py, you would see something like the following:
# On branch master # Unmerged paths: # (use "git add/rm ..." as appropriate to mark resolution) # # both modified: hello.py #
Then, you can go in and fix up the merge to your liking. When you're ready to finish the merge, all you have to do is run
git add on the conflicted file(s) to tell Git they're resolved. Then, you run a normal
git commit to generate the merge commit. It’s the exact same process as committing an ordinary snapshot, which means it’s easy for normal developers to manage their own merges.
Note that merge conflicts will only occur in the event of a 3-way merge. It’s not possible to have conflicting changes in a fast-forward merge.
Our first example demonstrates a fast-forward merge. The code below creates a new branch, adds two commits to it, then integrates it into the main line with a fast-forward merge.
# Start a new feature git checkout -b new-feature master # Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Start a feature" # Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Finish a feature" # Merge in the new-feature branch git checkout master git merge new-feature git branch -d new-feature
This is a common workflow for short-lived topic branches that are used more as an isolated development than an organizational tool for longer-running features.
Also note that Git should not complain about the
git branch -d, since
new-feature is now accessible from the master branch.
The next example is very similar, but requires a 3-way merge because
master progresses while the feature is in-progress. This is a common scenario for large features or when several developers are working on a project simultaneously.
# Start a new feature git checkout -b new-feature master # Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Start a feature" # Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Finish a feature" # Develop the master branch git checkout master # Edit some files git add <file> git commit -m "Make some super-stable changes to master" # Merge in the new-feature branch git merge new-feature git branch -d new-feature
Note that it’s impossible for Git to perform a fast-forward merge, as there is no way to move
master up to
new-feature without backtracking.
For most workflows,
new-feature would be a much larger feature that took a long time to develop, which would be why new commits would appear on
master in the meantime. If your feature branch was actually as small as the one in the above example, you would probably be better off rebasing it onto
master and doing a fast-forward merge. This prevents superfluous merge commits from cluttering up the project history.