In this section, we will explore the concepts of creating and switching branches in Git. Branching is a powerful feature that allows you to diverge from the main line of development and continue to work without affecting the main codebase. This is particularly useful for developing new features, fixing bugs, or experimenting with new ideas.

Before diving into creating and switching branches, let's briefly recap what branches are:

• Branch: A branch in Git is simply a lightweight movable pointer to one of these commits. The default branch name in Git is main (or master in older repositories).
• HEAD: This is a pointer that represents your current working directory. It usually points to the latest commit in your current branch.

Creating a new branch in Git is straightforward. You can use the git branch command followed by the name of the new branch.

Let's create a new branch called feature-xyz:

This command creates a new branch named feature-xyz but does not switch to it. To see the list of all branches, you can use:

The asterisk (*) indicates the current branch you are on.

To switch to a different branch, you use the git checkout command followed by the branch name.

To switch to the feature-xyz branch:

Now, any changes you make will be on the feature-xyz branch.

Git also provides a shortcut to create and switch to a new branch in one command using the -b option with git checkout.

To create and switch to a branch named feature-abc:

Let's reinforce these concepts with a practical exercise.

1. Create a new branch named feature-login:

   git branch feature-login
   

2. Switch to the feature-login branch:

   git checkout feature-login
   

3. Create and switch to a new branch named feature-signup in one step:

   git checkout -b feature-signup
   

4. List all branches to verify your current branch:

   git branch
   

1. Create a new branch:

   git branch feature-login
   

2. Switch to the new branch:

   git checkout feature-login
   

3. Create and switch to another new branch:

   git checkout -b feature-signup
   

4. List all branches:

   git branch
   

• Forgetting to switch branches: After creating a branch, remember to switch to it if you intend to work on it.
• Branch names: Use descriptive names for branches to make it clear what the branch is for (e.g., feature-login, bugfix-issue123).
• Checking branch status: Use git status to check the current branch and the status of your working directory.

In this section, we learned how to create and switch branches in Git. Branching allows you to work on different features or fixes independently, without affecting the main codebase. In the next section, we will explore how to merge branches, which is essential for integrating changes from different branches back into the main line of development.