Change a branch name in a Git repo

git git-branch
Alex picture Alex · Oct 5, 2010 · Viewed 169.9k times · Source

How do I rename an existing branch in a Git repo?

I want the current branch to have a new name.

Answer

Richard Fearn picture Richard Fearn · Oct 5, 2010

Assuming you're currently on the branch you want to rename:

git branch -m newname

This is documented in the manual for git-branch, which you can view using

man git-branch

or

git help branch

Specifically, the command is

git branch (-m | -M) [<oldbranch>] <newbranch>

where the parameters are:

   <oldbranch>
       The name of an existing branch to rename.

   <newbranch>
       The new name for an existing branch. The same restrictions as for <branchname> apply.

<oldbranch> is optional, if you want to rename the current branch.

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