tl;dr

git checkout is the swiss army of git commands. If you prefer a semantically more meaningful command for branch related tasks, use git switch instead.

You can use git switch since git 2.23.

Switch Branch

git branch
# * master
#   feature-branch

git switch feature-branch
git branch
#   master
# * feature-branch

git switch -
git branch
# * master
#   feature-branch

Info

For this use case you can of course also use git checkout.

Switch on a Remote Branch

git branch -a
# * master
#   remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
#   remotes/origin/remote-feature-branch

git switch remote-feature-branch
git branch -a
#   master
# * remote-feature-branch
#   remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/master
#   remotes/origin/remote-feature-branch

Info

This is also working with git checkout

Create a New Branch

git branch
# * master

git switch --create new-feature-branch
git branch
#   master
# * new-feature-branch

Hint

You can also use the short version git switch -c.

Info

git checkout -b is doing the same.

Temporary Inspection

git switch HEAD~3
# fatal: a branch is expected, got commit 'HEAD~3'

git switch --detach HEAD~3
git branch
# * (HEAD detached at git-hash)
#   master

Hint

You can also use the short version git switch -d.

Info

With git checkout you can achieve the same.

Sources

• Git - git-switch Documentation Show archive.org snapshot

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