init: git branch

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This video we'll learn how to use git branch.

Branching is something that is super lightweight in Git.

By default, every Git repository creates a branch named master.

We can see this in my command prompt, but also by running git status.

In addition, we can verify this by running:

git branch ––list

This outputs all of our local branches and highlight the branch we are currently on with an asterisk.

Let's create a few branches to build up our branch list.

We can do so by running git branch and passing it a name for the branch.

While there are only a few restrictions on branch names, I prefer to keep it simply and only use lowercase letters, numbers, and dashes.

In this case, I'll create branch-1 by running:

git branch branch-1

We can list the branches again to verify that this was created. This time we'll drop the –-list option as this is the default behavior.

So, we'll just run: git branch

We can remove a branch by using the -d option.

First, let's create a branch to remove, so I'll run

git branch remove-me

We'll verify the branch was created by running git branch.

And now I'll remove it by running:

git branch -d remove–me

We'll verify the branch was removed by running git branch.

git branch is a command you probably won't use very often. However, you will use branches often.

So I recommend continuing onto Master: git branch to learn more about what a branch is.