A typical workflow with Git branching

A distributed version control system such as Git is designed for complex and nonlinear workflows typical in interactive computing and exploratory research. A central concept is branching, which we will discuss in this recipe.

Getting ready

You need to work in a local Git repository for this recipe (see the previous recipe, Learning the basics of the distributed version control system Git).

How to do it…

1. We create a new branch named newidea:

   $ git branch newidea
   

2. We switch to this branch:

   $ git checkout newidea
   

3. We make changes to the code, for instance, by creating a new file:

   $ touch newfile.py
   

4. We add this file and commit our changes:

   $ git add newfile.py
   $ git commit -m "Testing new idea."
   

5. If we are happy with the changes, we merge the branch to the master branch (the default):

   $ git checkout master
   $ git merge newidea
   

   Otherwise, we delete the branch:

   $ git checkout master
   $ git branch -d newidea
   

Other commands of interest include:

• git status...