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Manuals / Git & GitHub / Ch 3

A · DailyBeginner40 min read

3. Branches, remotes & push

Git & GitHub · 48 pages source format

Branches are cheap pointers. main stays stable. Feature branches isolate work. Remote tracks GitHub.

What you'll learn

  • branch / checkout / switch
  • push -u origin
  • pull / fetch
  • Tracking branches

Create and switch branches

git switch -c feature/login. Work. commit. main unchanged until merge.

git switch -c feature/hello
echo "hello" > hello.txt
git add hello.txt
git commit -m "feat: add hello"
git switch main
# hello.txt not here
git switch feature/hello
# hello.txt back

Do this now

Create feature branch, add file, commit, switch back to main — file gone (expected).

Clear?

Push and set upstream

git push -u origin feature/hello first time. Later git push suffices.

Do this now

Push feature branch to GitHub. Verify on github.com.

Clear?

Fetch and pull

git fetch downloads remote changes without merging. git pull = fetch + merge (or rebase with --rebase).

Do this now

Edit on GitHub web UI. fetch. pull. See local update.

Clear?

Checklist