Learn about various operations of a Git branch

working-with-branches.md

Working with Git Branches

This document contains various operations you can use when working with Git branches such as moving commits, updating branch names, creating branches from a tag, etc.

Move a Commit to Another Branch

New Branch

git branch newbranch
git reset --hard HEAD~1
git checkout newbranch

Existing Branch

git checkout existingbranch
git merge master
git checkout master
git reset --hard HEAD~1
git checkout existingbranch

Attribution

• https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1628563/move-the-most-recent-commits-to-a-new-branch-with-git

Update Branch Name

Run the following commands to update your local repository's branch and push that change to the origin

git branch -m <OLD_BRANCH> <NEW_BRANCH>
git fetch origin
git branch -u origin/<REMOTE_BRANCH> <LOCAL_BRANCH>

Create a Branch from a Tag

git checkout -b <NEW_BRANCH_NAME> <EXISTING_TAG_NAME>

Reset Branch to Origin

git reset --hard @{u}

Replace Branch with Another Branch and Keep Commits (Non-Nucler)

This will replace the changes from one branch with another, avoid merge conflicts, and keep commit history intact.

# Assumes you want to put changes from `feature_branch` to `master`
git checkout feature_branch
git merge -s ours master
git checkout master
git rebase feature_branch

Replace a Branch with Another Branch (Nuclear)

This will delete all files and replace with the new ones, good to avoid large merge conflicts when a feature branch diverged and must now become "master".

# Be on the branch you want to replace (eg: master)
rm -r ./*
git checkout feature_branch -- .
git add .
git commit -m "chore: replace branch"