Branching

• Changes to code are saved with pointers to the commit snapshots

• Allowing you to revert to a prior version

• The first branch is typically main

git branch                          # List branches
git branch [BRANCH_NAME]            # Create a new branch
git branch -d [BRANCH_NAME]         # Deletes the branch
git branch -m [NEW_BRANCH_NAME]     # Renames the branch

• -d is a “safe” operation in that Git prevents you from deleting the branch if it has unmerged changes

• Commits to branch needs git checkout followed by the usual git add, git commit, and git push.

Switch

• Moving to another branch

git switch [BRANCH_NAME] # Move to a different branch

Checkout

• To merge two branches, do:

  1. checkout

  2. git add .

  3. git commit -a

  4. git push

git branch dev                          # Made a new branch called dev
git switch dev                          # Moved branches

.....                                   # After some time.... the code is ready 

git check main                          # Switch to main bringing commit history
git add .                               # Add new files
git commit -m "merging dev / main"      # Commit message
git push                                # Push changes
git switch dev                          # Go back to dev branch