Create new branch based on current branch to work on a new feature

Question

How do I create a new branch in git to begin work on a new feature?

I want the new branch to be a duplicate of the current branch (ie, the new branch's HEAD should be the same as the current HEAD).

Question differentiation:

Create a branch in Git from another branch seems related but is actually about why a branch is fast-forward merged.
How do you create a remote Git branch? is about creating a new branch on a remote.

Reopen queue reviewers: you may wish to read the meta.so discussion of this question [here](https://meta.stackoverflow.com/q/373487/5353461). — Tom Hale, Sep 01 '18 at 10:15
(Nitpick) I think you're having the wrong links for the "question differentiation" section. There are 4 links but only 2 questions. — user202729, Sep 01 '18 at 16:32
@user202729 The bottom two links were initially marked as duplicates as mentioned in the meta discussion linked in my previous comment. I'll edit the differentiation to make that more obvious. — Tom Hale, Sep 02 '18 at 04:43

Tom Hale · Accepted Answer · 2018-09-01T10:12:51.643

TL;DR:

To create and start work on a new branch called FEATURE, you do:

git checkout -b FEATURE

Detailed explanation

To create a branch called FEATURE:

git branch FEATURE

However, this does not change your current branch.

You can then checkout the newly created branch (which means make to it the branch you're currently working on:

git checkout FEATURE

(You can see the current branch marked with a * in the output of git branch --list.)

Generally you want to start working in the branch you have just created, so the shortcut equivalent for both commands is git checkout -b FEATURE, which creates a new branch, then does checkout on it.

score 38 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 24 '20 at 19:55

38

If you say

$ git checkout -b myFeatureBranch anotherBranch

It'll create myFeatureBranch off of anotherBranch. But if you say

$ git checkout -b myFeatureBranch

It'll create myFeatureBranch off of the current branch.

answered Sep 24 '20 at 19:55

doctorram

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and how do we push this new branch to the remote repository – Mustafa May 31 '22 at 22:57
4

In my opinion, this answer was clearer than the accepted one - kudos to @doctorram – AJM Jul 19 '22 at 16:47
@mustafa In case somebody needs a quick reference if you have a remote called origin "git push -u origin myFeatureBranch". – Agricola Sep 01 '23 at 19:51

Create new branch based on current branch to work on a new feature

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