05-branches.md

Branches

Hallihallooooo!

If you want to collaborate on the same code base, you use branches, so everyone can commit changes independently.

In the Super Mario development team, we have a current status of the published game. That's on the master branch.
The developer who wants to change the cloud, creates a cloud branch and makes his commits there.
The developer who wants to change the tube, creates a tube branch and makes his commits there.
When they are done, each developer merges his changes into the master branch.

This results in a commit history with multiple branches.

The master branch is usually the default branch.

If you want to make changes independently from the other developers, you create a branch. When you are done, these can be merged back to the master branch.

Show all branches:

git branch

Create a new branch:

git checkout -b <branch name>

If you want to create a branch called feature, you would type:

git checkout -b feature

The -b stands for "branch". This command is short for these two:

git branch feature
git checkout feature

Move into an existing branch:

git checkout <branch name>

Merge branch feature into branch master:
First, you need to be on branch master.
Then you can merge feature into master like this:

git merge feature

Delete branch feature:

git branch -d feature

You cannot delete a branch you are on. If you want to delete a branch, you need to be on a different branch.

If the branch is not fully merged yet, you get an error message. To delete the branch anyway, type:

git branch -D feature

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