Branching and Merging

What is Branching?

Branching allows developers to diverge from the main codebase to work independently. Branches are pointers to commits, enabling parallel development.

Creating and Switching Branches

You can create and switch branches in Git using the git branch and git checkout commands. The git branch command is used to create a new branch, and the git checkout command is used to switch to a branch:

git branch feature
git checkout feature

The commands above create a new branch named feature and switch to the feature branch. Replace feature with the name of the branch you want to create and switch to.

Merging Branches

You can merge branches in Git using the git merge command. The git merge command is used to combine changes from one branch into another branch:

git checkout main
git merge feature

The commands above switch to the main branch and merge changes from the feature branch into the main branch. Replace main with the name of the branch you want to merge changes into.

Resolving Merge Conflicts

Merge conflicts occur when Git is unable to automatically merge changes from different branches. You can resolve merge conflicts by editing the conflicting files, marking the conflicts as resolved, and committing the changes:

git status
# Edit conflicting files
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Resolve merge conflicts"

The commands above show how to resolve merge conflicts in Git. After editing the conflicting files, you need to add the files to the staging area and commit the changes to mark the conflicts as resolved.