Git Checkout and Branch Switching

If we have moved away from commit `f`, then we must first recover its object name (typically by using git reflog), and then we can create a reference to it. For example, to see the last two commits to which `HEAD` referred, we can use either of these commands: ------------ $ git reflog -2 HEAD # or $ git log -g -2 HEAD ------------ ARGUMENT DISAMBIGUATION ----------------------- When there is only one argument given and it is not `--` (e.g. `git checkout abc`), and when the argument is both a valid _<tree-ish>_ (e.g. a branch `abc` exists) and a valid _<pathspec>_ (e.g. a file or a directory whose name is "abc" exists), Git would usually ask you to disambiguate. Because checking out a branch is so common an operation, however, `git checkout abc` takes "abc" as a _<tree-ish>_ in such a situation. Use `git checkout -- <pathspec>` if you want to checkout these paths out of the index. EXAMPLES -------- === 1. Paths The following sequence checks out the `master` branch, reverts the `Makefile` to two revisions back, deletes `hello.c` by mistake, and gets it back from the index. ------------ $ git checkout master <1> $ git checkout master~2 Makefile <2> $ rm -f hello.c $ git checkout hello.c <3> ------------ <1> switch branch <2> take a file out of another commit <3> restore `hello.c` from the index If you want to check out _all_ C source files out of the index, you can say ------------ $ git checkout -- '*.c' ------------ Note the quotes around `*.c`. The file `hello.c` will also be checked out, even though it is no longer in the working tree, because the file globbing is used to match entries in the index (not in the working tree by the shell). If you have an unfortunate branch that is named `hello.c`, this step would be confused as an instruction to switch to that branch. You should instead write: ------------ $ git checkout -- hello.c ------------ === 2. Merge After working in the wrong branch, switching to the correct branch would be done using: ------------ $ git checkout mytopic ------------ However, your "wrong" branch and correct `mytopic` branch may differ in files that you have modified locally, in which case the above checkout would fail like this: ------------ $ git checkout mytopic error: You have local changes to 'frotz'; not switching branches. ------------ You can give the `-m` flag to the command, which would try a three-way merge: ------------ $ git checkout -m mytopic Auto-merging frotz ------------ After this three-way merge, the local modifications are _not_ registered in your index file, so `git diff` would show you what changes you made since the tip of the new branch. === 3. Merge conflict When a merge conflict happens during switching branches with the `-m` option, you would see something like this: ------------ $ git checkout -m mytopic Auto-merging frotz ERROR: Merge conflict in frotz fatal: merge program failed ------------ At this point, `git diff` shows the changes cleanly merged as in the previous example, as well as the changes in the conflicted files. Edit and resolve the conflict and mark it resolved with `git add` as usual: ------------ $ edit frotz $ git add frotz ------------ CONFIGURATION ------------- include::includes/cmd-config-section-all.adoc[] include::config/checkout.adoc[] SEE ALSO -------- linkgit:git-switch[1], linkgit:git-restore[1] GIT --- Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite

The Git checkout command is used to switch branches, restore files, and resolve conflicts, with options to recover and manage commits, disambiguate between tree-ish and pathspec arguments, and perform three-way merges when switching branches with local modifications, as well as configure and customize checkout behavior.