Creating Branches in Git

Creating a branch means creating a new branch reference that starts from the current commit.

A → B → C
         ↑
        main

If you create a new branch at commit C, both branches initially point to C.

The basic command for creating a branch is:

git branch branch-name

For example:

git branch feature-login

Suppose you want to develop a login feature. You can create:

git branch feature-login

This creates the branch but keeps you on your current branch.

A separate branch can be created for fixing a bug:

git branch fix-login-error

The branch name describes the purpose of the work.

After creating a branch, use:

git branch

Example:

* main
  feature-login

The asterisk shows that you are still on main.

Modern Git provides a convenient command to create and switch to a branch at the same time:

git switch -c feature-login

The -c option means create a new branch.

When you create a branch, it starts from the commit currently checked out.

A → B → C
         ↑
        main

git branch feature

A → B → C
         ↑
       main
         ↑
      feature

You can create a branch starting from a specific commit:

git branch feature-login 8f32abc

Here, 8f32abc represents the commit from which the branch should start.

A branch can also be created from another branch:

git branch feature-login develop

The new branch starts from the commit currently referenced by develop.

A common workflow is:

git switch -c feature-login

After this command, Git creates the branch and changes the current branch to feature-login.

After switching to the new branch, check the current branch:

git branch --show-current

Example output:

feature-login

You can also use:

git status

Example:

On branch feature-login
nothing to commit, working tree clean

git switch main

git switch -c feature-dashboard

You can now work on the dashboard feature without making the feature commits directly on the main branch.

git switch main

git switch -c fix-navbar

You can now make and commit the navbar fix on the new branch.

After switching to the new branch, work normally:

git add .
git commit -m "Add dashboard feature"

The new commit advances the branch you are currently on.

          D → E
         /
A → B → C
         \
          F → G

After branches are created, they can contain different commits and develop independently.

You can create multiple branches in the same repository.

git branch feature-login
git branch feature-dashboard
git branch fix-navbar

List them using:

git branch

Good branch names should communicate the purpose of the work.

feature-login
feature-payment
fix-navbar
fix-login-error
update-homepage

Clear names make repositories easier to understand.

Suppose your history is:

A → B → C → D

You can create a branch from commit B:

git branch old-version B

The new branch will point to commit B.

You can explicitly create a branch from the current HEAD:

git branch feature-login HEAD

In normal usage, the commit argument can be omitted because a new branch is created from the current commit by default.

A local branch can be created from a remote-tracking branch:

git branch feature-login origin/main

This creates a local branch starting at the commit referenced by origin/main.

A branch is a reference to a commit. Creating a branch does not create a separate physical copy of the entire project directory.

git branch feature-login

Git stores repository objects efficiently and branches simply point to commits.

git add .
git commit -m "Add homepage"

git switch -c feature-contact

The new branch starts from the commit containing the homepage changes.

A common development workflow is to create a feature branch before starting the feature:

git switch main
git pull
git switch -c feature-contact

This keeps the new work separate from the main branch.

• Creating a branch from the wrong starting commit.
• Forgetting that git branch does not switch branches.
• Using unclear branch names.
• Starting feature work on the wrong branch.
• Forgetting to check the current branch.
• Creating unnecessary branches without a clear purpose.

git branch
git branch feature-login
git switch feature-login
git switch -c feature-login
git branch feature-login 8f32abc
git branch feature-login develop
git branch --show-current
git status

# Check current branch
git branch

# Switch to main
git switch main

# Create and switch to feature branch
git switch -c feature-login

# Check current branch
git branch --show-current

# Make changes
git add .

# Commit changes
git commit -m "Add login feature"

git init

git add .
git commit -m "Initial project"

git branch feature-about

git branch

git switch feature-about

git add .
git commit -m "Add about page"

git status

Here, feature-about is created from the initial project commit and then used for developing the About page.

Creating branches is one of the most important Git workflows. A branch gives you a separate development path from a starting commit.

git branch feature-name

git switch -c feature-name


Use git branch when you only want to create a branch.
Use git switch -c when you want to create and switch to
the branch immediately.