Branch

A branch is a line of commits inside a repo. Every git repository has a main branch, usually called master or main, that branch includes all the commits that are a part of the final code of the project.

Is is usefull to create a new branch from another branch, to be able to make changes in the code withour affecting the code of the main branch, and once finalized the work you are doing in that branch, that branch (and the commits in it)can be included or merged in the main branch.

In order to create a new branch from another branch, you need to run the following:

git checkout base-branch
git branch my-new-branch
git checkout my-new-branch

git checkout base-branch moves you to the branch you want to part from.

git branch my-new-branch creates a new branch based on the branch you are, and will be exactly the same as that base branch, that means it will contain all of the commits of the base branch.

git checkout my-new-branch will take you to the branch you just created.

A usefull shortcut to create a new branch and move to it:

git checkout -b my-new-branch

Once you are done with the work in that new branch, you need to commit the changed you've made, and if everything is working fine, you include or merge that branch into the main branch.

In order to merge two branches, you move to the base branch, and run the merge command:

git checkout base-branch
git merge my-new-branch

This action will include all the commits you made in my-new-branch into the base-branch branch.

Once you branch is merged, you can delete it without any risk of losing the changes you made, since they are part of base-branch now.

To delete a branch, you use the following command:

git branch -d my-new-branch