Git checkout second remote branch

Question

I run:

 git checkout mygithub/master

but for some reason, running 'git status' shows "not currently on any branch". Running:

 git checkout master

and then git status, says that I'm now on branch master. Now I want to switch to another branch. Running git checkout anotherbranch works, but git status says I am still on branch 'master'. What am I doing wrong?

Does `git checkout anotherbranch` produce any output? – poke Aug 02 '12 at 18:44 — poke, Aug 02 '12 at 18:44
It shows no output, no error. – NoBugs Aug 02 '12 at 18:46 — NoBugs, Aug 02 '12 at 18:46

score 40 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 02 '12 at 18:48

40

mygithub/master is a remote branch. To create a local branch based off of that remote branch, you have to use git checkout -b mymaster mygithub/master. Git tries to make this easy for you: if you write git checkout branchname, and branchname only exists in a remote, but not locally, Git will automatically set up a local branch with <remote>/branchname being its parent.

answered Aug 02 '12 at 18:48

knittl

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So why does git checkout branchname never switch to this? Branch exists on github, I just want to merge master changes to it. – NoBugs Aug 02 '12 at 18:51
@NoBugs: `git checkout -b remotemaster mygithub/master` should create a new branch off `mygithub/master` and switch to it. – knittl Aug 02 '12 at 18:54
`git checkout -b otherbranch mygithub/otherbranch` works, but `git merge mygithub/master` wants to 'fast forward' and delete files from the non-master, that I want to keep. – NoBugs Aug 02 '12 at 19:01
@NoBugs: Do you want to merge `mygithub/master` into `master`, or do you want to merge `master` into `mygithub/master`? A 'fast forward' is just a special case of a merge. – knittl Aug 02 '12 at 19:09
Creating a new branch helped, unfortunately it was unable to push back to the original branch. `error: src refspec otherbranch does not match any.` – NoBugs Aug 02 '12 at 20:03
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@NoBugs: The branch must have an upstream branch configured or a remote branch with the same name. If this isn't the case, you can always be explicit about which branch to push: `git push origin localbranch:remotebranch` (I assume in your case that's `git push mygithub otherbranch:otherbranch`) – knittl Aug 02 '12 at 20:17

score 15 · Answer 2 · edited Aug 14 '15 at 04:03

15

If you want to switch to another branch then run this command:

git checkout branch name

If you want to delete a branch then run this command:

git branch -D branch name

If you want to create a new branch then run this command:

git checkout -b branch

edited Aug 14 '15 at 04:03

Aakash

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answered Jul 24 '15 at 06:27

Viru

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score -7 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 06 '18 at 13:33

-7

If you want to checkout from master branch just run this command in your terminal

git checkout -b BRANCH_NAME

answered Oct 06 '18 at 13:33

S.m.g. baquer

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This will create a new branch. Reading the question, I do not think the poster wants to create a new branch. – ahoffer Oct 06 '18 at 19:43

Git checkout second remote branch

3 Answers3