Switching Branches with git switch and git checkout -b

Creating branches is only half the battle; navigating between them is an everyday developer reflex. Over Git's history, the command for switching branches has evolved to be safer and more intuitive.

1. The Modern Command: git switch

Historically, the git checkout command was used for both switching branches AND discarding file changes. Because this dual role caused confusion and accidental data loss, Git 2.23 introduced two dedicated commands:

• git switch: Exclusively for switching and creating branches.
• git restore: Exclusively for discarding or un-staging file changes.

Switching Between Existing Branches:

Terminal output:

Creating and Switching in One Step (-c flag):

To create a brand new branch and immediately switch HEAD to it:

Terminal output:

Switch Back to the Previous Branch (-):

Just like cd - in terminal shells, you can instantly hop back to whatever branch you were on previously:

2. The Traditional Command: git checkout

Because millions of tutorials, StackOverflow answers, and CI/CD pipelines use git checkout, every developer must know its syntax:

3. What Happens in Your Working Directory When You Switch?

When you run git switch <branch>:

1. 1
   Git moves HEAD to point to the new branch pointer.
2. 2
   Git rewrites the files in your Working Directory to match the snapshot of the commit pointed to by that branch!
3. 3
   Files created in the other branch disappear from your disk, and files present in the target branch materialize instantly.

4. Preventing Switch Conflicts: Uncommitted Changes

What happens if you modified styles.css on main, forgot to commit, and try to git switch feature-payment?

• If the modified file does not conflict with changes on the target branch, Git carries the modified file over to the new branch with you.
• If the target branch has different changes to styles.css, Git will abort and protect your work:

Solution:

Either commit your changes or use git stash to shelve them temporarily before switching!