44 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
44 lines
1.8 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Merge a branch in Git
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shortTitle: Merge branch
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type: story
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language: git
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tags: [repository,branch]
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author: chalarangelo
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cover: meteora
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excerpt: Learn how to merge a branch in Git with or without creating a merge commit, depending on your team's workflow.
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dateModified: 2023-05-26T21:10:59+03:00
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---
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Branches are Git's way to organize separate lines of development, allowing a team to work multiple features in parallel. But at some point, you'll want to **merge a branch into another branch**, usually `master` or `main`. Depending on your team's workflow, merging a branch might create a merge commit or not.
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### Merging a branch
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In order to merge a branch, you want to **switch to the target branch** first, using `git checkout`. Then, you can use `git merge` to **merge the source branch into the target branch**.
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```shell
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# Syntax:
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# git checkout <target-branch>
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# git merge <source-branch>
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git checkout master
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git merge patch-1 # Merges the `patch-1` branch into `master`
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```
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By default, Git will use [fast-forward merge](/git/s/fast-forward-merge) to merge the branch. This means that it will create a **linear history**, by placing the commits from the source branch at the tip of the target branch.
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### Creating a merge commit
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If, instead, you want to **create a merge commit**, you can use the `--no-ff` flag when merging. This will create a merge commit at the tip of the target branch, optionally referencing the source branch in the commit message. The rest of the process remains the same.
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```shell
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# Syntax:
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# git checkout <target-branch>
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# git merge --no-ff -m <message> <source-branch>
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git checkout master
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git merge --no-ff -m "Merge patch-1" patch-1
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# Merges the `patch-1` branch into `master` and creates a commit
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# with the message "Merge patch-1"
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```
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