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 -f::
 108 --force::
 109         An alias for `--discard-changes`.
 110
 111 --discard-changes::
 112         Proceed even if the index or the working tree differs from
 113         `HEAD`. Both the index and working tree are restored to match
 114         the switching target. If `--recurse-submodules` is specified,
 115         submodule content is also restored to match the switching
 116         target. This is used to throw away local changes.
 117
 118 -m::
 119 --merge::
 120         If you have local modifications to one or more files that are
 121         different between the current branch and the branch to which
 122         you are switching, the command refuses to switch branches in
 123         order to preserve your modifications in context.  However,
 124         with this option, a three-way merge between the current
 125         branch, your working tree contents, and the new branch is
 126         done, and you will be on the new branch.
 127 +
 128 When a merge conflict happens, the index entries for conflicting
 129 paths are left unmerged, and you need to resolve the conflicts
 130 and mark the resolved paths with `git add` (or `git rm` if the merge
 131 should result in deletion of the path).
 132
 133 --conflict=<style>::
 134         The same as `--merge` option above, but changes the way the
 135         conflicting hunks are presented, overriding the
 136         `merge.conflictStyle` configuration variable.  Possible values are
 137         "merge" (default) and "diff3" (in addition to what is shown by
 138         "merge" style, shows the original contents).
 139
 140 -q::
 141 --quiet::
 142         Quiet, suppress feedback messages.
 143
 144 --progress::
 145 --no-progress::
 146         Progress status is reported on the standard error stream
 147         by default when it is attached to a terminal, unless `--quiet`
 148         is specified. This flag enables progress reporting even if not
 149         attached to a terminal, regardless of `--quiet`.
 150
 151 -t::
 152 --track::
 153         When creating a new branch, set up "upstream" configuration.
 154         `-c` is implied. See `--track` in linkgit:git-branch[1] for
 155         details.
 156 +
 157 If no `-c` option is given, the name of the new branch will be derived
 158 from the remote-tracking branch, by looking at the local part of the
 159 refspec configured for the corresponding remote, and then stripping
 160 the initial part up to the "*".  This would tell us to use `hack` as
 161 the local branch when branching off of `origin/hack` (or
 162 `remotes/origin/hack`, or even `refs/remotes/origin/hack`).  If the
 163 given name has no slash, or the above guessing results in an empty
 164 name, the guessing is aborted.  You can explicitly give a name with
 165 `-c` in such a case.
 166
 167 --no-track::
 168         Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the
 169         `branch.autoSetupMerge` configuration variable is true.
 170
 171 --orphan <new-branch>::
 172         Create a new 'orphan' branch, named `<new-branch>`. All
 173         tracked files are removed.
 174
 175 --ignore-other-worktrees::
 176         `git switch` refuses when the wanted ref is already
 177         checked out by another worktree. This option makes it check
 178         the ref out anyway. In other words, the ref can be held by
 179         more than one worktree.
 180
 181 --recurse-submodules::
 182 --no-recurse-submodules::
 183         Using `--recurse-submodules` will update the content of all
 184         initialized submodules according to the commit recorded in the
 185         superproject. If nothing (or `--no-recurse-submodules`) is
 186         used, the work trees of submodules will not be updated. Just
 187         like linkgit:git-submodule[1], this will detach `HEAD` of the
 188         submodules.
 189
 190 EXAMPLES
 191 --------
 192
 193 The following command switches to the "master" branch:
 194
 195 ------------
 196 $ git switch master
 197 ------------
 198
 199 After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct branch
 200 would be done using:
 201
 202 ------------
 203 $ git switch mytopic
 204 ------------
 205
 206 However, your "wrong" branch and correct "mytopic" branch may differ
 207 in files that you have modified locally, in which case the above
 208 switch would fail like this:
 209
 210 ------------
 211 $ git switch mytopic
 212 error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches.
 213 ------------
 214
 215 You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a three-way
 216 merge:
 217
 218 ------------
 219 $ git switch -m mytopic
 220 Auto-merging frotz
 221 ------------
 222
 223 After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_
 224 registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what
 225 changes you made since the tip of the new branch.
 226
 227 To switch back to the previous branch before we switched to mytopic
 228 (i.e. "master" branch):
 229
 230 ------------
 231 $ git switch -
 232 ------------
 233
 234 You can grow a new branch from any commit. For example, switch to
 235 "HEAD~3" and create branch "fixup":
 236
 237 ------------
 238 $ git switch -c fixup HEAD~3
 239 Switched to a new branch 'fixup'
 240 ------------
 241
 242 If you want to start a new branch from a remote branch of the same
 243 name:
 244
 245 ------------
 246 $ git switch new-topic
 247 Branch 'new-topic' set up to track remote branch 'new-topic' from 'origin'
 248 Switched to a new branch 'new-topic'
 249 ------------
 250
 251 To check out commit `HEAD~3` for temporary inspection or experiment
 252 without creating a new branch:
 253
 254 ------------
 255 $ git switch --detach HEAD~3
 256 HEAD is now at 9fc9555312 Merge branch 'cc/shared-index-permbits'
 257 ------------
 258
 259 If it turns out whatever you have done is worth keeping, you can
 260 always create a new name for it (without switching away):
 261
 262 ------------
 263 $ git switch -c good-surprises
 264 ------------
 265
 266 SEE ALSO
 267 --------
 268 linkgit:git-checkout[1],
 269 linkgit:git-branch[1]
 270
 271 GIT
 272 ---
 273 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite