NAME

       git-branch - List, create, or delete branches

SYNOPSIS

       git branch [--color[=<when>] | --no-color] [--show-current]
               [-v [--abbrev=<n> | --no-abbrev]]
               [--column[=<options>] | --no-column] [--sort=<key>]
               [--merged [<commit>]] [--no-merged [<commit>]]
               [--contains [<commit>]] [--no-contains [<commit>]]
               [--points-at <object>] [--format=<format>]
               [(-r | --remotes) | (-a | --all)]
               [--list] [<pattern>...]
       git branch [--track[=(direct|inherit)] | --no-track] [-f]
               [--recurse-submodules] <branchname> [<start-point>]
       git branch (--set-upstream-to=<upstream> | -u <upstream>) [<branchname>]
       git branch --unset-upstream [<branchname>]
       git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
       git branch (-c | -C) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>
       git branch (-d | -D) [-r] <branchname>...
       git branch --edit-description [<branchname>]

DESCRIPTION

       If --list is given, or if there are no non-option arguments, existing branches are listed;
       the current branch will be highlighted in green and marked with an asterisk. Any branches
       checked out in linked worktrees will be highlighted in cyan and marked with a plus sign.
       Option -r causes the remote-tracking branches to be listed, and option -a shows both local
       and remote branches.

       If a <pattern> is given, it is used as a shell wildcard to restrict the output to matching
       branches. If multiple patterns are given, a branch is shown if it matches any of the
       patterns.

       Note that when providing a <pattern>, you must use --list; otherwise the command may be
       interpreted as branch creation.

       With --contains, shows only the branches that contain the named commit (in other words,
       the branches whose tip commits are descendants of the named commit), --no-contains inverts
       it. With --merged, only branches merged into the named commit (i.e. the branches whose tip
       commits are reachable from the named commit) will be listed. With --no-merged only
       branches not merged into the named commit will be listed. If the <commit> argument is
       missing it defaults to HEAD (i.e. the tip of the current branch).

       The command’s second form creates a new branch head named <branchname> which points to the
       current HEAD, or <start-point> if given. As a special case, for <start-point>, you may use
       "A...B" as a shortcut for the merge base of A and B if there is exactly one merge base.
       You can leave out at most one of A and B, in which case it defaults to HEAD.

       Note that this will create the new branch, but it will not switch the working tree to it;
       use "git switch <newbranch>" to switch to the new branch.

       When a local branch is started off a remote-tracking branch, Git sets up the branch
       (specifically the branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge configuration entries) so
       that git pull will appropriately merge from the remote-tracking branch. This behavior may
       be changed via the global branch.autoSetupMerge configuration flag. That setting can be
       overridden by using the --track and --no-track options, and changed later using git branch
       --set-upstream-to.

       With a -m or -M option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. If <oldbranch> had a
       corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match <newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to
       remember the branch renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename
       to happen.

       The -c and -C options have the exact same semantics as -m and -M, except instead of the
       branch being renamed, it will be copied to a new name, along with its config and reflog.

       With a -d or -D option, <branchname> will be deleted. You may specify more than one branch
       for deletion. If the branch currently has a reflog then the reflog will also be deleted.

       Use -r together with -d to delete remote-tracking branches. Note, that it only makes sense
       to delete remote-tracking branches if they no longer exist in the remote repository or if
       git fetch was configured not to fetch them again. See also the prune subcommand of git-
       remote(1) for a way to clean up all obsolete remote-tracking branches.

OPTIONS

       -d, --delete
           Delete a branch. The branch must be fully merged in its upstream branch, or in HEAD if
           no upstream was set with --track or --set-upstream-to.

       -D
           Shortcut for --delete --force.

       --create-reflog
           Create the branch’s reflog. This activates recording of all changes made to the branch
           ref, enabling use of date based sha1 expressions such as "<branchname>@{yesterday}".
           Note that in non-bare repositories, reflogs are usually enabled by default by the
           core.logAllRefUpdates config option. The negated form --no-create-reflog only
           overrides an earlier --create-reflog, but currently does not negate the setting of
           core.logAllRefUpdates.

       -f, --force
           Reset <branchname> to <startpoint>, even if <branchname> exists already. Without -f,
           git branch refuses to change an existing branch. In combination with -d (or --delete),
           allow deleting the branch irrespective of its merged status, or whether it even points
           to a valid commit. In combination with -m (or --move), allow renaming the branch even
           if the new branch name already exists, the same applies for -c (or --copy).

       -m, --move
           Move/rename a branch, together with its config and reflog.

       -M
           Shortcut for --move --force.

       -c, --copy
           Copy a branch, together with its config and reflog.

       -C
           Shortcut for --copy --force.

       --color[=<when>]
           Color branches to highlight current, local, and remote-tracking branches. The value
           must be always (the default), never, or auto.

       --no-color
           Turn off branch colors, even when the configuration file gives the default to color
           output. Same as --color=never.

       -i, --ignore-case
           Sorting and filtering branches are case insensitive.

       --column[=<options>], --no-column
           Display branch listing in columns. See configuration variable column.branch for option
           syntax.  --column and --no-column without options are equivalent to always and never
           respectively.

           This option is only applicable in non-verbose mode.

       -r, --remotes
           List or delete (if used with -d) the remote-tracking branches. Combine with --list to
           match the optional pattern(s).

       -a, --all
           List both remote-tracking branches and local branches. Combine with --list to match
           optional pattern(s).

       -l, --list
           List branches. With optional <pattern>..., e.g.  git branch --list 'maint-*', list
           only the branches that match the pattern(s).

       --show-current
           Print the name of the current branch. In detached HEAD state, nothing is printed.

       -v, -vv, --verbose
           When in list mode, show sha1 and commit subject line for each head, along with
           relationship to upstream branch (if any). If given twice, print the path of the linked
           worktree (if any) and the name of the upstream branch, as well (see also git remote
           show <remote>). Note that the current worktree’s HEAD will not have its path printed
           (it will always be your current directory).

       -q, --quiet
           Be more quiet when creating or deleting a branch, suppressing non-error messages.

       --abbrev=<n>
           In the verbose listing that show the commit object name, show the shortest prefix that
           is at least <n> hexdigits long that uniquely refers the object. The default value is 7
           and can be overridden by the core.abbrev config option.

       --no-abbrev
           Display the full sha1s in the output listing rather than abbreviating them.

       -t, --track[=(direct|inherit)]
           When creating a new branch, set up branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge
           configuration entries to set "upstream" tracking configuration for the new branch.
           This configuration will tell git to show the relationship between the two branches in
           git status and git branch -v. Furthermore, it directs git pull without arguments to
           pull from the upstream when the new branch is checked out.

           The exact upstream branch is chosen depending on the optional argument: -t, --track,
           or --track=direct means to use the start-point branch itself as the upstream;
           --track=inherit means to copy the upstream configuration of the start-point branch.

           The branch.autoSetupMerge configuration variable specifies how git switch, git
           checkout and git branch should behave when neither --track nor --no-track are
           specified:

           The default option, true, behaves as though --track=direct were given whenever the
           start-point is a remote-tracking branch.  false behaves as if --no-track were given.
           always behaves as though --track=direct were given.  inherit behaves as though
           --track=inherit were given.  simple behaves as though --track=direct were given only
           when the start-point is a remote-tracking branch and the new branch has the same name
           as the remote branch.

           See git-pull(1) and git-config(1) for additional discussion on how the
           branch.<name>.remote and branch.<name>.merge options are used.

       --no-track
           Do not set up "upstream" configuration, even if the branch.autoSetupMerge
           configuration variable is set.

       --recurse-submodules
           THIS OPTION IS EXPERIMENTAL! Causes the current command to recurse into submodules if
           submodule.propagateBranches is enabled. See submodule.propagateBranches in git-
           config(1). Currently, only branch creation is supported.

           When used in branch creation, a new branch <branchname> will be created in the
           superproject and all of the submodules in the superproject’s <start-point>. In
           submodules, the branch will point to the submodule commit in the superproject’s
           <start-point> but the branch’s tracking information will be set up based on the
           submodule’s branches and remotes e.g.  git branch --recurse-submodules topic
           origin/main will create the submodule branch "topic" that points to the submodule
           commit in the superproject’s "origin/main", but tracks the submodule’s "origin/main".

       --set-upstream
           As this option had confusing syntax, it is no longer supported. Please use --track or
           --set-upstream-to instead.

       -u <upstream>, --set-upstream-to=<upstream>
           Set up <branchname>'s tracking information so <upstream> is considered <branchname>'s
           upstream branch. If no <branchname> is specified, then it defaults to the current
           branch.

       --unset-upstream
           Remove the upstream information for <branchname>. If no branch is specified it
           defaults to the current branch.

       --edit-description
           Open an editor and edit the text to explain what the branch is for, to be used by
           various other commands (e.g.  format-patch, request-pull, and merge (if enabled)).
           Multi-line explanations may be used.

       --contains [<commit>]
           Only list branches which contain the specified commit (HEAD if not specified). Implies
           --list.

       --no-contains [<commit>]
           Only list branches which don’t contain the specified commit (HEAD if not specified).
           Implies --list.

       --merged [<commit>]
           Only list branches whose tips are reachable from the specified commit (HEAD if not
           specified). Implies --list.

       --no-merged [<commit>]
           Only list branches whose tips are not reachable from the specified commit (HEAD if not
           specified). Implies --list.

       <branchname>
           The name of the branch to create or delete. The new branch name must pass all checks
           defined by git-check-ref-format(1). Some of these checks may restrict the characters
           allowed in a branch name.

       <start-point>
           The new branch head will point to this commit. It may be given as a branch name, a
           commit-id, or a tag. If this option is omitted, the current HEAD will be used instead.

       <oldbranch>
           The name of an existing branch to rename.

       <newbranch>
           The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for <branchname> apply.

       --sort=<key>
           Sort based on the key given. Prefix - to sort in descending order of the value. You
           may use the --sort=<key> option multiple times, in which case the last key becomes the
           primary key. The keys supported are the same as those in git for-each-ref. Sort order
           defaults to the value configured for the branch.sort variable if exists, or to sorting
           based on the full refname (including refs/...  prefix). This lists detached HEAD (if
           present) first, then local branches and finally remote-tracking branches. See git-
           config(1).

       --points-at <object>
           Only list branches of the given object.

       --format <format>
           A string that interpolates %(fieldname) from a branch ref being shown and the object
           it points at. The format is the same as that of git-for-each-ref(1).

CONFIGURATION

       pager.branch is only respected when listing branches, i.e., when --list is used or
       implied. The default is to use a pager. See git-config(1).

EXAMPLES

       Start development from a known tag

               $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/.../linux-2.6 my2.6
               $ cd my2.6
               $ git branch my2.6.14 v2.6.14   (1)
               $ git switch my2.6.14

           1. This step and the next one could be combined into a single step with "checkout -b
           my2.6.14 v2.6.14".

       Delete an unneeded branch

               $ git clone git://git.kernel.org/.../git.git my.git
               $ cd my.git
               $ git branch -d -r origin/todo origin/html origin/man   (1)
               $ git branch -D test                                    (2)

           1. Delete the remote-tracking branches "todo", "html" and "man". The next fetch or
           pull will create them again unless you configure them not to. See git-fetch(1).
           2. Delete the "test" branch even if the "master" branch (or whichever branch is
           currently checked out) does not have all commits from the test branch.

       Listing branches from a specific remote

               $ git branch -r -l '<remote>/<pattern>'                 (1)
               $ git for-each-ref 'refs/remotes/<remote>/<pattern>'    (2)

           1. Using -a would conflate <remote> with any local branches you happen to have been
           prefixed with the same <remote> pattern.
           2. for-each-ref can take a wide range of options. See git-for-each-ref(1)

       Patterns will normally need quoting.

NOTES

       If you are creating a branch that you want to switch to immediately, it is easier to use
       the "git switch" command with its -c option to do the same thing with a single command.

       The options --contains, --no-contains, --merged and --no-merged serve four related but
       different purposes:

       •   --contains <commit> is used to find all branches which will need special attention if
           <commit> were to be rebased or amended, since those branches contain the specified
           <commit>.

       •   --no-contains <commit> is the inverse of that, i.e. branches that don’t contain the
           specified <commit>.

       •   --merged is used to find all branches which can be safely deleted, since those
           branches are fully contained by HEAD.

       •   --no-merged is used to find branches which are candidates for merging into HEAD, since
           those branches are not fully contained by HEAD.

       When combining multiple --contains and --no-contains filters, only references that contain
       at least one of the --contains commits and contain none of the --no-contains commits are
       shown.

       When combining multiple --merged and --no-merged filters, only references that are
       reachable from at least one of the --merged commits and from none of the --no-merged
       commits are shown.

SEE ALSO

       git-check-ref-format(1), git-fetch(1), git-remote(1), “Understanding history: What is a
       branch?”[1] in the Git User’s Manual.

GIT

       Part of the git(1) suite

NOTES

        1. “Understanding history: What is a branch?”
           file:///usr/share/doc/git/html/user-manual.html#what-is-a-branch