What is the difference between "git branch" and "git checkout -b"?
I used git checkout -b to create a new branch. I think that git branch does the same thing. How do these two commands differ, if they differ at all?
git checkout -b BRANCH_NAME creates a new branch and checks out the new branch while git branch BRANCH_NAME creates a new branch but leaves you on the same branch.
In other words git checkout -b BRANCH_NAME does the following for you.
git branch BRANCH_NAME # create a new branch
git switch BRANCH_NAME # then switch to the new branch
git branch creates the branch but you remain in the current branch that you have checked out.
git checkout -b creates a branch and checks it out.
It could be considered a short form of:
git branch name
git checkout name
git branch: Shows all your branches
git branch newbranch: Creates a new branch
git checkout -b newbranch: Creates a new branch and switches to that branch immediately. This is the same as git branch newbranch followed by git checkout newbranch.
Full syntax:
git checkout -b [NEW_BRANCH] [FROM_BRANCH]
The [FROM_BRANCH] is optional. If there's no FROM_BRANCH, git will use the current branch.
There is also another flag to mention, which is relative to these..
git checkout -B BRANCH_NAME
This is a very useful command that i've been using recently. This command checks out the branch you specify, and resets the branch based on the source branch.
If -B is given, <new_branch> is created if it doesn't exist; otherwise, it is reset. This is the transactional equivalent of $ git branch -f <branch> [<start point>] $ git checkout <branch>
checkout -B dangerous if the branch you're switching to is shared by others? I used this recently and it seemed to automatically merge in the changes in my other branch to the branch I switched to.
checkout -B will NOT just switch if the branch already exists, it also resets the target branch to the commit of the previous branch (or the specified commit). this can be dangerous also because rerunning checkout -B on a newer branch could reset the branch commits back to the previous branch, which will remove recent commits if the previous branch was behind.
There are forms of both commands that are similar (looking at git-scm docs Version 2.11.1):
git branch <branchname> <start-point>
and
git checkout -b <new_branch> <start_point>
The latter executing the branch command first and then adding the checkout. In that form explicitly references to git-branch's doc:
Specifying -b causes a new branch to be created as if git-branch[2] were called and then checked out
Essentially :
A-git branch lets you create a branch plain and simple.
B -git checkout -b allows you to create a branch and switch to it at the same time.
When will you use which ? 1- git branch when you want to create a branch but stay on the current branch. 2- git checkout -b when you want to create and switch. If you look at it is intuitive to create a branch and switch to it. So the choice is yours :)
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git switch -c BRANCH_NAMEalso works the same asgit checkout -b BRANCH_NAME