Git & GitHub · Quick Reference

Lesson 4 — Branches & Merging Cheat Sheet

Git & GitHub

In one line: A branch is a parallel timeline of your project. The default branch is called main (or master in older repos). When you create a new branch, you get an independent copy of the h...

Key Ideas

1What is a Branch?. A branch is a parallel timeline of your project. The default branch is called main (or master in older repos). When you create a new branch, you get an independent cop...

2Branch Commands. You only need a handful of commands to work with branches effectively. Here are all the essential ones:

3Merging Branches. When your feature is complete and tested, you merge it back into main. Git performs the merge automatically in most cases.

4Merge Conflicts: What They Are & How to Resolve Them. A merge conflict happens when both branches modified the same lines of the same file. Git can't decide which version to keep — it asks you to decide manually.

5git stash — Save Work in Progress. Sometimes you're in the middle of work but need to switch branches urgently (to fix a bug, help a colleague). git stash temporarily shelves your changes without commit...

Code Examples

# List all local branches (* = current branch)
git branch

# List all branches including remote
git branch -a

# Create a new branch
git branch feat/user-auth

# Switch to a branch (modern syntax)
git switch feat/user-auth

# Old syntax (still works)
git ch...

# 1. Switch to the branch you want to merge INTO
git switch main

# 2. Merge the feature branch into main
git merge feat/user-auth

# 3. Delete the feature branch (optional, keeps things clean)
git branch -d feat/user-auth

# Git puts conflict markers in the file:

<<<<<<< HEAD
const greeting = "Hello";   # Your version (main)
=======
const greeting = "Hi there"; # Their version (feature branch)
>>>>>>> feat/update-greeting

# TO RESOL...