Create a new Git branch

Git branches are used to develop features, fix bugs, and experiment with new ideas. You can easily create a new branch using the git checkout command.

Create a new branch

Creating a new branch is as simple as using git checkout -b <branch>. This command creates a new branch with the specified name and switches to it. You can also set up a remote tracking branch for the newly created branch by adding -t <remote>/<branch>.

# Syntax: git checkout -b <branch> [-t <remote>/<branch>]

git checkout -b patch-1
# Local branch, without a remote tracking branch

git checkout -b patch-2 -t origin/patch-2
# Local branch and remote tracking branch with the same name

Create an empty branch

If you want to create an empty branch without any history, you can use git checkout --orphan <branch>. This command creates a new branch with no commit history. This can be very useful for setting up branches with entirely different content or history from your main branch (e.g. gh-pages).

# Syntax: git checkout --orphan <branch>

git checkout --orphan gh-pages
# Creates a new branch named `gh-pages` with no commit history