GIT-BRANCH(1) Git Manual GIT-BRANCH(1)

NAME

git-branch - List, create, or delete branches

SYNOPSIS

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] <branchname> [<start-point>]
git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>]
git branch --unset-upstream [<branchname>]
git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
git branch (-c | -C) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
git branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...
git branch --edit-description [<branchname>]

DESCRIPTION

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
<branchname> which points to the current HEAD, or <start-point> if
given. As a special case, for <start-point>, 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.

Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the
working tree to it; use "git switch <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.<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, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>.
If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match
<newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch
renaming. If <newbranch> 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, <branchname> 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.

OPTIONS

-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 "<branchname>@{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 <branchname> to <start-point>, even if <branchname> 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 <branchname> [<start-point>], even with
-f, refuses to change an existing branch <branchname> 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.

-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! Causes 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 <branchname> 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 <branchname>'s tracking information so <upstream> is
considered <branchname>'s upstream branch. If no <branchname> is
specified, then it defaults to the current branch.

--unset-upstream
Remove the upstream information for <branchname>. 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 the specified commit (HEAD if
not specified). Implies --list.

--no-contains [<commit>]
Only list branches which don't contain the specified commit (HEAD
if not specified). Implies --list.

--merged [<commit>]
Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the specified
commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies --list.

--no-merged [<commit>]
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. If this option is omitted, the
name of the current branch will be used instead.

<newbranch>
The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for
<branchname> 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 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).

--points-at <object>
Only list branches of the given object.

--format <format>
A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a branch ref being
shown and the object it points at. The format is the same as that
of git-for-each-ref(1).

CONFIGURATION

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. 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. This option defaults to true.

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"). When never, rebase is never
automatically set to true. When local, rebase is set to true for
tracked branches of other local branches. When remote, rebase is
set to true for tracked branches of remote-tracking branches.
When 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.

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 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 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.

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.

NOTES

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:

+o --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>.

+o --no-contains <commit> is the inverse of that, i.e. branches that
don't contain the specified <commit>.

+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.

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.

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

Git 2.48.1 2025-01-13 GIT-BRANCH(1)