Moving Between Branches and Deleting Them

Creating and Switching to a New Branch

To switch to an existing branch, use the git checkout command. However, since creating a new branch and switching to it immediately is a common action, Git provides a convenient option for it.

Use the same git checkout command with the -b flag:

git checkout -b <new_branch_name>

Deleting Branches

To delete a branch, use the -d flag (which stands for delete). This deletes the branch only if its changes are already merged into the current branch:

git branch -d <branch_name>

Where <branch_name> is the name of the branch you want to delete.

Everything will become clear with an example.

Example Workflow

First, check the status of the working tree and staging area:

As you can see, the working tree and staging area are empty, and you are currently on the testing/some-tests branch. Now create a new branch named feature/new-feature, immediately switch to it, and then list all branches:

The HEAD now points to the new branch, so display the two most recent commits:

The new branch and the testing/some-tests branch both point to the same latest commit. Since you are now on the new branch, you can safely delete the testing/some-tests branch:

The deletion was successful.
Now review the two most recent commits and list all existing branches:

The branch was successfully deleted, leaving only two branches. The new branch points to the latest commit, while the master branch remains one commit behind.