Git checkout another branch

git branch git-checkout
NoBugs picture NoBugs · Aug 2, 2012 · Viewed 97k times · Source

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?

Answer

knittl picture knittl · Aug 2, 2012

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.

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