The Master Branch
In Git, the main project is completed on the master
branch. Making your first commit in a new git repository will automatically create a master
branch. Create new branches from the master
branch to develop new features for a project. These branches can be merged into master
at a later time to incorporate the new features. You can use git branch
to check what branch you’re on.
$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/ccuser/new-project/.git/
$ echo "Hello World!" >> hello.txt
$ git add hello.txt
$ git commit -m 'initial commit'
[master (root-commit) bb0e565] initial commit
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 hello.txt
$ git branch
* master
Creating a New Branch
In Git, the git branch branch-name
command is used to create a new branch called branch-name
. Branches should be named something that describes the purpose of the branch.
Note that branch names can’t contain whitespace: new-feature
and new_feature
are valid branch names, but new feature
is not.

Viewing the Current Branch
In Git, the git branch
command will display all of the branches. The current branch will display *
before its name.

Merge Conflicts
In Git, a merge conflict occurs when the same file is changed on the current branch and the branch that is being merged. An error will appear displaying: CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in [filename]
.
Git will automatically edit the file with the conflict to show where the conflict is. The current branch’s text will be between <<<<<<< HEAD
and =======
. The text from the branch that is being merged into the current branch will be between =======
and >>>>>>> branch-name
To resolve a merge conflict, edit the file with the conflict, decide which parts of each branch’s edits should be kept, then add and commit the file.
PETE PAN
<<<<<<< HEAD
Address: No 31 Kensington Hill Park, London, England
=======
Address: 113 Gloucester Rd Patchway, Bristol, England
>>>>>>> resume-edits
-------------------
Deleting a Branch
In Git, the git branch -d branch_name
command is used to delete the branch_name
branch. It’s good practice to delete a branch after it has been merged into the master
branch.

Merging Branches
In Git, the git merge branch-name
command will add the changes from branch-name
into the current branch. Use this command when you have finished building a feature in a separate branch and want to bring those changes into your current branch.
