Git checkout

Internal

• Git Commands
• git rev-list
• git switch
• git restore

Overview

Either switch to a specific branch or reset files to certain revisions.

To switch to a branch:

git checkout <branch-name>

To reset files to a certain revision:

git checkout -- <path-to-file>

Dedicated commands have been introduced to clarify the behavior:

• git switch to switch to a branch.
• git restore to reset files to a certain revision.

Options

--

Do not interpret any more arguments as options.

Check Out the HEAD of a Branch

git checkout <branch-name>

This has the semantics of switching to the designated branch.

Checkout a Tag into a Detached HEAD

The following command checks out a specific tag - technically the commit that corresponds to the given tag - into a detached HEAD branch.

git checkout <tag-name|commit-id>

git checkout RESTEASY_JAXRS_2_3_2_FINAL

Checkout a Tag into a New Branch

git checkout <tag> -b <branch-name>

git checkout v1.4.0 -b of/1.4.0-experimental

Reposition the local repository on the HEAD of a branch

git checkout <other-existing-branch-name>

git checkout master

Convert a Detached HEAD into a Named Branch

While being in a detached HEAD situation:

git checkout -b <name-of-a-new-branch>

Create and Check Out a New Branch in One Operation

git checkout -b <new-local-branch-name'> [root-commit]

This creates a new local branch and simultaneously switches to it. Optionally, you can explicitly specify a root commit. If not specified, it's the HEAD of the current branch. Note that the operation does not create a corresponding branch in the origin repository, for that you must explicitly publish the local branch in the remote repository.

Note that if the base branch has modifications, they'll show up on both base branch and the new head branch.

Overwrite a File in the Working Tree

Discards a local modification in working tree:

git checkout <pathspec>

Reverting Individual File(s) to a Specific Past Commit

git checkout <commit-id>  [--] <pathspec1> [<pathspec2>  ...]

git checkout 7065a46a0fee1198fb11a2cd7c1adda197a5d5b0  [--] src/main/java/com/example/Example.java

Check Out at A Specific Date

git checkout 'HEAD@{Sep 01 2020}'

If the date goes to long in the past, you'll get:

warning: Log for 'HEAD' only goes back to Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:02:00 -0700.

Alternatively, find the SHA of the commit closest to the date with:

git rev-list -10 --before="Sep 01 2020" develop --format medium

Check Out at a Relative Time Interval in the Past

commit_id=(git rev-list -1 --before="@{2.days.ago}" ${branch})
git checkout ${commit_id}

For more details see git rev-list --before

Check Out a Remote Branch

Verify

git checkout -b somebranch --track origin/somebranch