Branch Management in Git
From the Git cheat sheet · Branching · verified Jul 2026
Branch Management
Create, list, and delete branches for parallel development
bash
# List branches
git branch # Local
git branch -r # Remote
git branch -a # All
# Create and switch (modern, Git 2.23+)
git switch -c <name>
git switch <branch>
# Older equivalents
git checkout -b <name>
git checkout <branch>
# Delete branch
git branch -d <branch> # Safe (merged only)
git branch -D <branch> # Force delete💡 git switch is the modern verb for branches (Git 2.23+)
⚠️ -D force-deletes unmerged branches
✅ Delete branches after merging
⚡ Use descriptive prefixes (feature/, fix/, chore/)