Creating & Switching Branches

Creating a branch takes milliseconds — it is just a 41-byte pointer file. Switching updates your entire working directory to reflect that branch's state. Git performs both operations with incredible speed regardless of project size.

01.Branch Naming Conventions

Use lowercase hyphenated names with descriptive prefixes: feature/ for new features (feature/user-auth), fix/ or bugfix/ for bug fixes (fix/login-crash), hotfix/ for urgent production fixes (hotfix/xss-patch), release/ for release prep (release/v2.0), chore/ for maintenance (chore/update-deps). Always be descriptive — "my-branch" tells teammates nothing.

Branch Visualization

main

feature

HEAD

02.checkout vs switch

git checkout <branch> is the classic command — it does many things (switch branches, restore files). git switch <branch> is the modern alternative added in Git 2.23 specifically for switching branches. Both work identically for this purpose. git checkout -b and git switch -c both create AND switch in one step.

Commit Timeline

a1b2c3d

init

b2c3d4e

feat

c3d4e5f

fix

d4e5f6a

HEAD

Commands

commands — click to reveal output

git branch feature/login

Create branch (stays on current branch)

git checkout feature/login

Switch to the new branch

▼ show output

git checkout -b feature/signup

Create AND switch in one command (classic)

▼ show output

git switch feature/login

Switch branches — modern syntax (Git 2.23+)

git switch -c feature/dashboard

Create AND switch — modern syntax

▼ show output

git branch -d feature/login

Delete a fully merged branch safely

▼ show output

git branch -D feature/experiment

Force-delete even if not merged (data loss warning)

git branch -m old-name new-name

Rename a branch

KNOWLEDGE CHECK

What does git checkout -b feature/x do?

Rate this lesson:

Previous Next Lesson