Editing Git (section)

===Manage Branches===
====Show Branches====
Currently checked-out branch has an asterik in front of the output:
 git branch // show all local branches
 git branch --merged [--no-merged] // show all local branches which are merged into the current branch (those w/o asterik could be deleted) 
 git branch --no-merged // show all local branches which are not merged into the current branch 
 git branch -r // shows only remote branches
 git branch -a // shows all branches (local, tracking and remote)
 git branch -vv // shows tracking information for local branches in the form:
                // <BRANCH_NAME> <SHA-1> [<REMOTE BRANCH>: ahead and behind comparison] <LAST_COMMIT_MESSAGE>
 git remote show origin // full picture about tracked branches and status

====Checkout a branch====
Checkout will not override changed files but will be aborted and show a warning:
 git checkout <BRANCH_NAME> // in new git versions it will if the the branch does not exist locally get the remote one (-t)
 git checkout -b <BRANCH_NAME> // creates a branch and checks it out, short of git branch <BRANCH_NAME> and git checkout <BRANCH_NAME>
 git checkout --track origin/<BRANCH_NAME> // create a local branch based on remote branch and checks it out
 git checkout -t origin/<BRANCH_NAME> // s.a.

====Merge Branches====
A merge of a branch into the master branch (s. [https://git-scm.com/book/de/v1/Git-Branching-Einfaches-Branching-und-Merging here]):
 git merge <BRANCHNAME> // <BRANCHNAME> => <CURRENT_BRANCH>, checkout the branch in which the merge should be performed before
 
 git checkout master 
 git merge origin/master
 git checkout Branch1
 git merge master // merge master into Branch1

====Compare Branches====
 git diff <BRANCH> <BRANCH> [--name-only] // e.g. git diff Branch1 master 
 git diff master origin/master  // compare local with remote branch, output for each file is
 diff --git <FILE VERSION A> <FILE VERSION B>
 ...
 --- <FILE VERSION A>
 +++ <FILE VERSION B>
 - <CONTENT FILE A>
 + <CONTENT FILE B>

====Track a branch====
 git branch -u origin/<BRANCH_NAME> // sets the remote branch as upstream branch
 git checkout -b <NEW_BRANCH_NAME> <REMOTE>/<REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME> // creates a new branch as tracking branch
 git checkout --track <REMOTE>/<REMOTE_BRANCH_NAME> // does the same

====Delete a branch====
 git branch -d <BRANCH_NAME> // deletes a local branch, but only if it was fully merged before, otherwise use -D option
 git branch -D <BRANCH_NAME> // deletes a local branch, regardless whether it has been merged before
 git push origin :<BRANCH_NAME> // delete a remote branch