How to Check out a Remote Branch in Git
- Steps to switching to remote branch
- The git branch Command
- The git fetch Command
- The git checkout Command
- The git reset Command
During the process of working on a shared git repository, coworkers might need access to one another’s repositories. You can solve this problem with the help of the git checkout command.
Steps to switching to remote branch¶
Here are the steps you should take to check out to remote branches:
- Fetching remotes
Your first step should be fetching all the remote branches, using the git fetch command, like this:
git fetch --all - Displaying branches
You can see the branches, that are available for checkout, calling the git branch command:
git branch -v -aWith Git versions higher than 1.6.6 with one remote branch, you can act as follows:
git fetch git checkout testIf git checkout test does not work in modern Git versions in case of multiple remotes, you should use:
git checkout -b test <name of remote>/testOr the shorthand version:
git checkout -t <name of remote>/test
The git branch Command¶
The git branch command is targeted at creating, listing and deleting branches. It doesn’t give you an option to switch between branches and put a forked history back together. Most version control systems allow branching. It is aimed at pointing to a snapshot of your changes. For summarizing the changes whenever you intend to \fix the bugs or add new properties is created a new branch.
The git fetch Command¶
The git fetch command is applied for downloading commits, references, and files from the remote repository into a local one. With it, you can see what other members of the group have been working on. The content that has been fetched, should be accurately checked out using the git checkout command.
The git checkout Command¶
Switching branches and restoring working tree files is what the git checkout command is used for. You can run it on commits, branches, as well as, files. It is especially useful for switching between several features in a single repository.
The git reset Command¶
The git reset command is a useful method for undoing changes in Git. It includes three invocation forms matching the tree internal state management systems of Git. Those systems are called three trees of Git. They include the HEAD, your staging index and, finally, the working directory.