How do I rename a local Git branch

Question

I don t want to rename a remote branch  as described in Rename master branch for both local and remote Git repositories   How can I rename a local branch which hasn t been pushed to a remote branch   In case you need to rename remote branch as well  How do I rename both a Git local and remote branch name

User · Answer

For Locally

at first change your current branch from the branch you want to update name for example I have 3 branch branch1 , branch2 , branch3

check current branch

git branch --show-current

output may : branch1

then you can update name of branch2 and branch3 not the current one

git branch -m old_branchname new_branchname

For remote

Just three steps to replicate change in name on remote as well as on GitHub:

git branch -m old_branchname new_branchname
git push origin :old_branchname new_branchname
git push --set-upstream origin new_branchname

User · Answer

To rename your current branch   git branch -m  lt newname gt

User · Answer

To rename a branch locally   git branch -m  old-branch   new-branch    Now you ll have to propagate these changes on your remote server as well   To push changes of the deleted old branch   git push origin   old-branch    To push changes of creation of new branch   git push origin  new-branch

User · Answer

Git version 2 9 2  If you want to change the name of the local branch you are on   git branch -m new name   If you want to change the name of a different branch   git branch -m old name new name   If you want to change the name of a different branch to a name that already exists   git branch -M old name new name that already exists   Note  The last command is destructive and will rename your branch  but you will lose the old branch with that name and those commits because branch names must be unique

User · Answer

Trying to answer specifically to the question  at least the title    You can also rename local branch  but keeps tracking the old name on the remote   git branch -m old branch new branch git push --set-upstream origin new branch old branch   Now  when you run git push  the remote old branch ref is updated with your local new branch   You have to know and remember this configuration  But it can be useful if you don t have the choice for the remote branch name  but you don t like it  oh  I mean  you ve got a very good reason not to like it    and prefer a clearer name for your local branch   Playing with the fetch configuration  you can even rename the local remote-reference  i e  having a refs remote origin new branch ref pointer to the branch  that is in fact the old branch on origin  However  I highly discourage this  for the safety of your mind

User · Answer

git branch -m  old-branch   new-branch    -m means move all from  old-branch  to  new-branch  and remember you can use -M for other file systems

User · Answer

In PhpStorm    VCS   Git   Branches      Local Branches    your branch    Rename

User · Answer

All you have to do are the three steps    Give the old branch under  git refs heads the new name Give the old branch under  git logs refs heads the new name Update the  git HEAD to lead to your new branch name

User · Answer

Probably as mentioned by others  this will be a case mismatch in branch naming   If you have such a situation  I can guess that you re on Windows which will also lead you to     git branch -m CaseSensitive casesensitive fatal  A branch named  casesensitive  already exists    Then you have to do an intermediate step     git branch -m temporary   git branch -m casesensitive   Nothing more

User · Answer

Since you do not want to push the branch to a remote server  this example will be useful   Let s say you have an existing branch called  my-hot-feature   and you want to rename it to  feature-15    First  you want to change your local branch  This couldn t be easier   git branch -m my-hot-feature feature-15   For more information  you can visit Locally and Remotely Renaming a Branch in Git

User · Answer

A simple way to do it   git branch -m old branch new branch           Rename branch locally git push origin  old branch                   Delete the old branch git push --set-upstream origin new branch     Push the new branch  set local branch to track the new remote   For more  see this

User · Answer

Actually you have three steps because the local branch has a duplicate on the server so we have one step for local on two steps on the server   Rename local  just use the following command to rename your current branch  even you checked it out  git branch -m  lt old-branch-name gt   lt new-branch-name gt    Delete the server one  use the following command to delete the old name branch on the server  git push  lt remote-name origin by default  gt    lt old-branch-name gt    Push the new one  now it s time to push the new branch named on the server  git push -u  lt new-branch-name gt

User · Answer

If you are willing to use SourceTree  which I strongly recommend   you can right click your branch and chose  Rename

User · Answer

Rename your local branch    If you are on the branch you want to rename   git branch -m new-name   If you are on a different branch   git branch -m old-name new-name    Delete the old-name remote branch and push the new-name local branch    git push origin  old-name new-name   Reset the upstream branch for the new-name local branch  Switch to the branch and then    git push origin -u new-name  Or for a fast way to do that  you can use these 3 steps     Rename branch locally    git branch -m old branch new branch       Delete the old remote branch     git push origin  old branch       Push the new branch  set local branch to track the new remote  git push --set-upstream origin new branch      Referance  https   www w3docs com snippets git how-to-rename-git-local-and-remote-branches html

User · Answer

Advanced Git users can rename manually using   Rename the old branch under  git refs heads to the new name  Rename the old branch under  git logs refs heads to the new name  Update the  git HEAD to point to yout new branch name

User · Answer

git branch -m old branch name new branch name   The above command will change your branch name  but you have to be very careful using the renamed branch  because it will still refer to the old upstream branch associated with it  if any   If you want to push some changes into master after your local branch is renamed into new branch name  example name    git push origin new branch name master  now changes will go to master branch but your local branch name is new branch name   For more details  see  How to rename your local branch name in Git

User · Answer

If you want to rename a branch while pointed to any branch  do   git branch -m  lt oldname gt   lt newname gt    If you want to rename the current branch  you can do   git branch -m  lt newname gt    A way to remember this is -m is for  move   or mv   which is how you rename files  Adding an alias could also help  To do so  run the following   git config --global alias rename  branch -m    If you are on Windows or another case-insensitive filesystem  and there are only capitalization changes in the name  you need to use -M  otherwise  git will throw branch already exists error   git branch -M  lt newname gt

User · Answer

Before we begin  make sure you   ve selected the branch you want to rename  git checkout old-name  If you want to see all of your local branches  use the following command  git branch --list  When you   re all clear  follow these steps   Using the Git rename branch command will require you to add an -m option to your command  git branch -m new-name   You can also rename a local branch from another branch by using the following two commands  git checkout master  git branch -m old-name new-name   Lastly  this command will list all     both local and remote     branches to verify that it has been renamed  git branch -a    Although it isn   t possible to rename a remote branch directly  the process of renaming one involves these three easy steps   To start  you will need to rename a local branch by following the previous steps  2 Then delete the old branch and push the new one  You can do this easily with the following commands   git push origin --delete old-name  git push origin  old-name new-name   Reset the upstream branch for your new local branch and you will be all set  git push origin -u new-name

User · Answer

If you want to change the name of the current branch  run   git branch -m  old branch   new branch    If you want to delete the old remote branch  run   git push origin   old branch    If you want to delete the old remote branch and create a new remote branch  run   git push origin  old branch new branch

User · Answer

Rename the branch using this command   git branch -m  old branch name   new branch name    -m  It renames moves the branch  If there is already a branch  you will get an error   If there is already a branch and you want to rename with that branch  use    git rename -M  old branch name   new branch name    For more information about help  use this command in the terminal   git branch --help   or  man git branch

User · Answer

The answers so far have been correct  but here is some additional information   One can safely rename a branch with  -m   move   but one has to be careful with  -M   because it forces the rename  even if there is an existing branch with the same name already  Here is the excerpt from the  git-branch  man page      With a -m or -M option   lt oldbranch gt  will be renamed to  lt newbranch gt   If  lt oldbranch gt  had a corresponding reflog  it is renamed to match  lt newbranch gt   and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch renaming  If  lt newbranch gt  exists  -M must be used to force the rename to happen

User · Answer

Here are the steps to rename the branch    Switch to the branch which needs to be renamed git branch -m  lt new name gt  git push origin   lt old name gt  git push origin  lt new name gt  refs heads  lt new name gt    EDIT  12 01 2017   Make sure you run command git status and check that the newly created branch is pointing to its own ref and not the older one  If you find the reference to the older branch  you need to unset the upstream using   git branch --unset-upstream

User · Answer

Git branch rename can be done by using    git branch -m oldBranch newBranch git branch -M oldBranch ExistingBranch   The difference between -m and -M   -m  if you re trying to rename your branch with an existing branch name using -m  It will raise an error saying that the branch already exists  You need to give unique name   But   -M  this will help you to force rename with a given name  even it is exists  So an existing branch will overwrite entirely with it     Here is a Git terminal example   mohideen dev   project myapp sunithamakeup  git branch   master   master0   new master   test   test1 mohideen dev   project myapp sunithamakeup  git branch -m test1 test fatal  A branch named  test  already exists  mohideen dev   project myapp sunithamakeup  git branch -M test1 test mohideen dev   project myapp sunithamakeup  git branch   master   master0   new master   test mohideen dev   project myapp sunithamakeup

User · Answer

Here are three steps  A command that you can call inside your terminal and change branch name   git branch -m old branch new branch           Rename branch locally git push origin  old branch                   Delete the old branch git push --set-upstream origin new branch     Push the new branch  set local branch to track the new remote   If you need more  step-by-step  How To Change Git Branch Name is a good article about that

User · Answer

To rename the current branch  except for detached HEAD state  you can also use this alias    alias      mvh    sh -c  git branch -m  git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD   1

User · Answer

Rename the branch will be useful once your branch is finished  Then new stuff is coming  and you want to develop in the same branch instead of deleting it and create the new one   From my experience  to rename a local and remote branch in Git you should do the following steps      Quoting from Multiple States - Rename a local and remote branch in   git   1  Rename your local branch  If you are on the branch you want to rename   git branch -m new-name   If you are on a different branch   git branch -m old-name new-name   2  Delete the old-name remote branch and push the new-name local branch  git push origin  old-name new-name   3  Reset the upstream branch for the new-name local branch  git push origin -u new-name

User · Answer

Changing the branch locally is quite easy     If you are on the branch you want to change the name for  simply do this   git branch -m my new branch   Otherwise  if you are on master or any other branch other than the one you d like to change the name  simply do   git branch -m my old branch my new branch   Also  I create the image below to show this in action on a command line  In this case  you are on master branch  for example

User · Answer

1  Rename  If it is your current branch  just do  git branch -m new name   If it is another branch you want to rename  git branch -m old name new name     2  Track a new remote branch  - If your branch was pushed  then after renaming you need to delete it from the remote Git repository and ask your new local to track a new remote branch   git push origin  old name git push --set-upstream origin new name

User · Answer

If you want to    Rename the Git repository  run  git branch -m  lt oldname gt   lt newname gt  Delete the old branch by  git push origin  old-name new-name Commit it using  git commit  lt newname gt    and then push using  git push origin new branch name master  If you want to check the status then use  git status If you want to check out then use  git checkout

User · Answer

All of the previous answers are talking about git branch -m  Of course  it s easy to operate  but for me  it may be a little hard to remember another Git command  So I tried to get the work done by the command I was familiar with  Yeah  you may guessed it   I use git branch -b  lt new branch name gt   And if you don t want to save the old branch now you can execute git branch -D  lt old branch name gt  to remove it   I know it may be a little tedious  but it s easier to understand and remember  I hope it   s helpful for you

User · Answer

For Git GUI users it couldn t be much simpler  In Git GUI  choose the branch name from the drop down list in the  Rename Branch  dialog box created from the menu item Branch Rename  type a New Name  and click  Rename   I have highlighted where to find the drop down list

User · Answer

Another option is not to use the command line at all  Git GUI clients such as SourceTree take away much of the syntactical learning curve   pain that causes questions such as this one to be amongst the most viewed on Stack Overflow   In SourceTree  right click on any local branch in the  Branches  pane on the left and select  Rename

User · Answer

Just three steps to replicate change in name on remote as well as on GitHub   Step 1 git branch -m old branchname new branchname  Step 2 git push origin  old branchname new branchname  Step 3 git push --set-upstream origin new branchname

User · Answer

I foolishly named a branch starting with a hyphen  and then checked out master   I didn t want to delete my branch  I had work in it   Neither of these worked   git checkout -dumb-name  git checkout -- -dumb-name   s   s and  s didn t help either   git branch -m doesn t work   Here s how I finally fixed it  Go into your working copy s  git refs heads  find the filename  -dumb-name   get the hash of the branch   Then this will check it out  make a new branch with a sane name  and delete the old one   git checkout  hash  git checkout -b brilliant-name git branch -d -- -dumb-name

[git] How do I rename a local Git branch?

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