Branches in Git

The most recognized branch is the master. When you create the repository by using git init or git clone, Git creates the default branch named master.

Create a branch

To create a new branch in Git we use the git branch command. The git branch create a new branch on your local machine:

git branch testing

Switch between branches

To switch from one branch to another use git checkout:

git checkout prod-fix

We can also use git checkout -b that is a shorthand for git branch followed by git checkout. Executing the git checkout -b causes that a new branch will be created and then checked out. 

Rename a branch

To change a branch's name, use the git branch -m command in the directory your repository is stored at.

The command takes two arguments: the current name and the new name.

git branch -m old-branch-name new-branch-name

Remove a branch

To remove the local branch, use the git branch -d command in the directory your repository is stored at.

The command takes one argument: the current name of the branch you want to delete.

git branch quick-fix

Join two branches

When we finally finished working on a new feature and want to merge that changes with the main branch we can use git merge command. The git merge joins two or more development histories together.