Branches and merging · Lesson 5 of 15

Branches and HEAD

A branch is a movable name, and HEAD says where you are.

10 minutes2 games

A branch is not a full copy of your files; it is a lightweight name pointing to a commit. Every new commit advances the current branch. HEAD normally points to that branch, telling Git which name should move.

A: start

B: login ← main

C: tests ← feature ← HEAD

Branches are names on commits; the commits are shared.

Git

git init -q -b main
echo "base" > app.txt
git add app.txt
git commit -q -m "Base"
git switch -q -c feature
echo "feature" >> app.txt
git commit -q -am "Build feature"
git branch -v

git switch -c feature creates a branch at the current commit and moves HEAD to it. git switch main updates files to match main's snapshot. Commit or stash first if local edits would conflict.

Quick question

What moves when you commit on feature?

Exercise

Start with a commit on main, create and switch to feature, then list branches.

Expected output:

* feature
main

Git

git init -q -b main
echo "base" > app.txt
git add app.txt
git commit -q -m "Base"
git branch

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