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), "diff3", and "zdiff3".
 141
 142 -q::
 143 --quiet::
 144         Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 145
 146 --progress::
 147 --no-progress::
 148         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 149         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 150         is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 151         attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
 152
 153 -t::
 154 --track [direct|inherit]::
 155         When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration.
 156         `-c` is implied. See `--track` in linkgit:git-branch[1] for
 157         details.
 158 +
 159 If no `-c` option is given, the name of the new branch will be derived
 160 from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of the
 161 refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 162 the initial part up to the "*".  This would tell us to use `hack` as
 163 the local branch when branching off of `origin/hack` (or
 164 `remotes/origin/hack`, or even `refs/remotes/origin/hack`).  If the
 165 given name has no slash, or the above guessing results in an empty
 166 name, the guessing is aborted.  You can explicitly give a name with
 167 `-c` in such a case.
 168
 169 --no-track::
 170         Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 171         `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
 172
 173 --orphan <new-branch>::
 174         Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new-branch>`. All
 175         tracked files are removed.
 176
 177 --ignore-other-worktrees::
 178         `git switch` refuses when the wanted ref is already
 179         checked out by another worktree. This option makes it check
 180         the ref out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by
 181         more than one worktree.
 182
 183 --recurse-submodules::
 184 --no-recurse-submodules::
 185         Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all
 186         active submodules according to the commit recorded in the
 187         superproject. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`) is
 188         used, submodules working trees will not be updated. Just
 189         like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
 190         submodules.
 191
 192 EXAMPLES
 193 --------
 194
 195 The following command switches to the "master" branch:
 196
 197 ------------
 198 $ git switch master
 199 ------------
 200
 201 After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct branch
 202 would be done using:
 203
 204 ------------
 205 $ git switch mytopic
 206 ------------
 207
 208 However, your "wrong" branch and correct "mytopic" branch may differ
 209 in files that you have modified locally, in which case the above
 210 switch would fail like this:
 211
 212 ------------
 213 $ git switch mytopic
 214 error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
 215 ------------
 216
 217 You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a three-way
 218 merge:
 219
 220 ------------
 221 $ git switch -m mytopic
 222 Auto-merging frotz
 223 ------------
 224
 225 After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 226 registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 227 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
 228
 229 To switch back to the previous branch before we switched to mytopic
 230 (i.e. "master" branch):
 231
 232 ------------
 233 $ git switch -
 234 ------------
 235
 236 You can grow a new branch from any commit. For example, switch to
 237 "HEAD~3" and create branch "fixup":
 238
 239 ------------
 240 $ git switch -c fixup HEAD~3
 241 Switched to a new branch 'fixup'
 242 ------------
 243
 244 If you want to start a new branch from a remote branch of the same
 245 name:
 246
 247 ------------
 248 $ git switch new-topic
 249 Branch 'new-topic' set up to track remote branch 'new-topic' from 'origin'
 250 Switched to a new branch 'new-topic'
 251 ------------
 252
 253 To check out commit `HEAD~3` for temporary inspection or experiment
 254 without creating a new branch:
 255
 256 ------------
 257 $ git switch --detach HEAD~3
 258 HEAD is now at 9fc9555312 Merge branch 'cc/shared-index-permbits'
 259 ------------
 260
 261 If it turns out whatever you have done is worth keeping, you can
 262 always create a new name for it (without switching away):
 263
 264 ------------
 265 $ git switch -c good-surprises
 266 ------------
 267
 268 SEE ALSO
 269 --------
 270 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
 271 linkgit:git-branch[1]
 272
 273 GIT
 274 ---
 275 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite