Working with `branches`¶

Making a new branch¶

git checkout -b helloNewBranch

This creates a branch called helloNewBranch and switches to it!

You can also make a new branch in VS Code by clicking this button:

You can then create a name for it

`git add .` your changes to the new branch:¶

Make some changes and add them to the branch:

git add .

Add a message to your commit¶

git commit -am "message"

Push your changes to your new branch¶

This code creates a new branch called helloNewBranch on GitHub to push to:

git push --set-upstream origin helloNewBranch

You only need to run it when the branch DOES NOT exist on GitHub!!! After the branch is on GitHub, use only need to use git push:

git push

Updating your branch¶

Sometimes you want to make sure your branch is up to date, so you can use the following command:

git merge <branch_you_want_to_merge>

For example this command will merge content from main to the branch I am currently on:

git merge main

However!!!

What happens when a git push affects in a file that was changed locally but someone else edited on GitHub?

Refer to this medium post to learn more about git merges

Merge Conflicts!!!¶

A merge conflict occurs when one file was changed in two places. For example, Person A edits line 1 of readme.md and Person B also edits line 1 of readme.md. A git doesn’t know which changes to keep, so a person needs to take a look and manually merge them.

First, do a git pull which will check if you are behind a commit:

git pull

When your commit is behind, you may receive this message:

error: Your local changes to the following files would be overwritten by merge:
        **SOME FILE(S)**
Please commit your changes or stash them before you merge.
Aborting
Updating 6ac38e2..4dbc13c

Do a git commit:

git add .
git commit -am "message"
git push

After you try to push, this message should pop-up:

error: failed to push some refs to 'https://github.com/albertkun/23S-ASIAAM-191A-Git-Practicing.git'
hint: Updates were rejected because the tip of your current branch is behind
hint: its remote counterpart. Integrate the remote changes (e.g.
hint: 'git pull ...') before pushing again.
hint: See the 'Note about fast-forwards' in 'git push --help' for details.```

Run another git pull

git pull

If files didn’t change at the same time, then auto-merging could take place.

Then proceed to push as normal:

git push

If files did change at the same time, you have to choose which version to keep:

After choosing an option, you can can push as normal:

git push

With a better understanding of branches and merge conflicts, now we can go ahead and test some new features without worrying about blowing up our repository!

Working with branches¶