Creates a new git branch, pushes it to a remote, and links it as the upstream branch

git-new-branch.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Creates a new branch locally and links it to the upstream in a remote (defaults to origin)

BRANCH="$1"
REMOTE="origin" # default value...can be overridden with $2

# make sure a branch name was specified
if [ "$1" == "" ]; then
    echo "Error: the branch name was not specified."
    exit 1;
fi

# if a remote was specified, use that instead of origin
if [ "$2" != "" ]; then
    REMOTE="$2"
fi

# creat the branch and the upstream
git checkout -b "$BRANCH" && git push -u "$REMOTE" "$BRANCH"