Documentation/git-switch.txt

   1 git-switch(1)
   2 =============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-switch - Switch branches
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git switch' [<options>] [--no-guess] <branch>
  12 'git switch' [<options>] --detach [<start-point>]
  13 'git switch' [<options>] (-c|-C) <new-branch> [<start-point>]
  14 'git switch' [<options>] --orphan <new-branch>
  15
  16 DESCRIPTION
  17 -----------
  18 Switch to a specified branch. The working tree and the index are
  19 updated to match the branch. All new commits will be added to the tip
  20 of this branch.
  21
  22 Optionally a new branch could be created with either `-c`, `-C`,
  23 automatically from a remote branch of same name (see `--guess`), or
  24 detach the working tree from any branch with `--detach`, along with
  25 switching.
  26
  27 Switching branches does not require a clean index and working tree
  28 (i.e. no differences compared to `HEAD`). The operation is aborted
  29 however if the operation leads to loss of local changes, unless told
  30 otherwise with `--discard-changes` or `--merge`.
  31
  32 THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. THE BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE.
  33
  34 OPTIONS
  35 -------
  36 <branch>::
  37         Branch to switch to.
  38
  39 <new-branch>::
  40         Name for the new branch.
  41
  42 <start-point>::
  43         The starting point for the new branch. Specifying a
  44         `<start-point>` allows you to create a branch based on some
  45         other point in history than where HEAD currently points. (Or,
  46         in the case of `--detach`, allows you to inspect and detach
  47         from some other point.)
  48 +
  49 You can use the `@{-N}` syntax to refer to the N-th last
  50 branch/commit switched to using "git switch" or "git checkout"
  51 operation. You may also specify `-` which is synonymous to `@{-1}`.
  52 This is often used to switch quickly between two branches, or to undo
  53 a branch switch by mistake.
  54 +
  55 As a special case, you may use `A...B` as a shortcut for the merge
  56 base of `A` and `B` if there is exactly one merge base. You can leave
  57 out at most one of `A` and `B`, in which case it defaults to `HEAD`.
  58
  59 -c <new-branch>::
  60 --create <new-branch>::
  61         Create a new branch named `<new-branch>` starting at
  62         `<start-point>` before switching to the branch. This is a
  63         convenient shortcut for:
  64 +
  65 ------------
  66 $ git branch <new-branch>
  67 $ git switch <new-branch>
  68 ------------
  69
  70 -C <new-branch>::
  71 --force-create <new-branch>::
  72         Similar to `--create` except that if `<new-branch>` already
  73         exists, it will be reset to `<start-point>`. This is a
  74         convenient shortcut for:
  75 +
  76 ------------
  77 $ git branch -f <new-branch>
  78 $ git switch <new-branch>
  79 ------------
  80
  81 -d::
  82 --detach::
  83         Switch to a commit for inspection and discardable
  84         experiments. See the "DETACHED HEAD" section in
  85         linkgit:git-checkout[1] for details.
  86
  87 --guess::
  88 --no-guess::
  89         If `<branch>` is not found but there does exist a tracking
  90         branch in exactly one remote (call it `<remote>`) with a
  91         matching name, treat as equivalent to
  92 +
  93 ------------
  94 $ git switch -c <branch> --track <remote>/<branch>
  95 ------------
  96 +
  97 If the branch exists in multiple remotes and one of them is named by
  98 the `checkout.defaultRemote` configuration variable, we'll use that
  99 one for the purposes of disambiguation, even if the `<branch>` isn't
 100 unique across all remotes. Set it to e.g. `checkout.defaultRemote=origin`
 101 to always checkout remote branches from there if `<branch>` is
 102 ambiguous but exists on the 'origin' remote. See also
 103 `checkout.defaultRemote` in linkgit:git-config[1].
 104 +
 105 `--guess` is the default behavior. Use `--no-guess` to disable it.
 106 +
 107 The default behavior can be set via the `checkout.guess` configuration
 108 variable.
 109
 110 -f::
 111 --force::
 112         An alias for `--discard-changes`.
 113
 114 --discard-changes::
 115         Proceed even if the index or the working tree differs from
 116         `HEAD`. Both the index and working tree are restored to match
 117         the switching target. If `--recurse-submodules` is specified,
 118         submodule content is also restored to match the switching
 119         target. This is used to throw away local changes.
 120
 121 -m::
 122 --merge::
 123         If you have local modifications to one or more files that are
 124         different between the current branch and the branch to which
 125         you are switching, the command refuses to switch branches in
 126         order to preserve your modifications in context.  However,
 127         with this option, a three-way merge between the current
 128         branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch is
 129         done, and you will be on the new branch.
 130 +
 131 When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
 132 paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
 133 and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
 134 should result in deletion of the path).
 135
 136 --conflict=<style>::
 137         The same as `--merge` option above, but changes the way the
 138         conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
 139         `merge.conflictStyle` configuration variable.  Possible values are
 140         "merge" (default) and "diff3" (in addition to what is shown by
 141         "merge" style, shows the original contents).
 142
 143 -q::
 144 --quiet::
 145         Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 146
 147 --progress::
 148 --no-progress::
 149         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 150         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 151         is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 152         attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
 153
 154 -t::
 155 --track::
 156         When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration.
 157         `-c` is implied. See `--track` in linkgit:git-branch[1] for
 158         details.
 159 +
 160 If no `-c` option is given, the name of the new branch will be derived
 161 from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of the
 162 refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 163 the initial part up to the "*".  This would tell us to use `hack` as
 164 the local branch when branching off of `origin/hack` (or
 165 `remotes/origin/hack`, or even `refs/remotes/origin/hack`).  If the
 166 given name has no slash, or the above guessing results in an empty
 167 name, the guessing is aborted.  You can explicitly give a name with
 168 `-c` in such a case.
 169
 170 --no-track::
 171         Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 172         `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
 173
 174 --orphan <new-branch>::
 175         Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new-branch>`. All
 176         tracked files are removed.
 177
 178 --ignore-other-worktrees::
 179         `git switch` refuses when the wanted ref is already
 180         checked out by another worktree. This option makes it check
 181         the ref out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by
 182         more than one worktree.
 183
 184 --recurse-submodules::
 185 --no-recurse-submodules::
 186         Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all
 187         active submodules according to the commit recorded in the
 188         superproject. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`) is
 189         used, submodules working trees will not be updated. Just
 190         like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
 191         submodules.
 192
 193 EXAMPLES
 194 --------
 195
 196 The following command switches to the "master" branch:
 197
 198 ------------
 199 $ git switch master
 200 ------------
 201
 202 After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct branch
 203 would be done using:
 204
 205 ------------
 206 $ git switch mytopic
 207 ------------
 208
 209 However, your "wrong" branch and correct "mytopic" branch may differ
 210 in files that you have modified locally, in which case the above
 211 switch would fail like this:
 212
 213 ------------
 214 $ git switch mytopic
 215 error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
 216 ------------
 217
 218 You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a three-way
 219 merge:
 220
 221 ------------
 222 $ git switch -m mytopic
 223 Auto-merging frotz
 224 ------------
 225
 226 After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 227 registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 228 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
 229
 230 To switch back to the previous branch before we switched to mytopic
 231 (i.e. "master" branch):
 232
 233 ------------
 234 $ git switch -
 235 ------------
 236
 237 You can grow a new branch from any commit. For example, switch to
 238 "HEAD~3" and create branch "fixup":
 239
 240 ------------
 241 $ git switch -c fixup HEAD~3
 242 Switched to a new branch 'fixup'
 243 ------------
 244
 245 If you want to start a new branch from a remote branch of the same
 246 name:
 247
 248 ------------
 249 $ git switch new-topic
 250 Branch 'new-topic' set up to track remote branch 'new-topic' from 'origin'
 251 Switched to a new branch 'new-topic'
 252 ------------
 253
 254 To check out commit `HEAD~3` for temporary inspection or experiment
 255 without creating a new branch:
 256
 257 ------------
 258 $ git switch --detach HEAD~3
 259 HEAD is now at 9fc9555312 Merge branch 'cc/shared-index-permbits'
 260 ------------
 261
 262 If it turns out whatever you have done is worth keeping, you can
 263 always create a new name for it (without switching away):
 264
 265 ------------
 266 $ git switch -c good-surprises
 267 ------------
 268
 269 SEE ALSO
 270 --------
 271 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
 272 linkgit:git-branch[1]
 273
 274 GIT
 275 ---
 276 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite