More Than Switching Branches | git checkout Does Everything

Cheat Sheet

git checkout docs or git checkout --help

Checking Out Branches / Commits / Tags

Checkout branch feature-123

$ git checkout feature-123

Checkout branch feature-123, discarding changes if there is a conflict

$ git checkout -f feature-123

Checkout the last branch, tag, or commit you had checked out

$ git checkout -

Checkout commit 513ad35

$ git checkout 513ad35

Checkout tag v3.0.1

$ git checkout v3.0.1

Create a new branch named tmp if and check it out. Fails if tmp already exists.

$ git checkout -b tmp

Create a new branch named tmp if and check it out. Resets tmp if it already exists.

$ git checkout -B tmp

Checking Out Only a Subset of Files

Checkout the entire subtree from HEAD. Effectively discards all changes to tracked files in working dir.

$ git checkout .

Checkout ./src from HEAD. Effectively discards changes to src in working dir.

$ git checkout src

Checkout ./src from feature-123 and stage changes. Effectively updates your ./src to be in the same state as it is on feature-123.

$ git checkout feature-123 ./src

Resolving Conflicts

Accept all the changes from one side of a conflict.

$ git checkout --theirs .
$ git checkout --ours .