Understanding Git Branch Management: Beyond the Mythical 'git show-branch'

1. git branch
   This is a valid command in Git used for managing branches. You can use it to list existing branches, create new ones, delete them, and switch between them.

2. git show
   This is another separate command used to display information about specific commits in your Git repository. By default, it shows details about the commit pointed to by the HEAD reference (typically the latest commit on your current branch).

It's possible you might have come across a reference to a custom script or alias named "git show-branch" that combines functionalities, but it's not a standard Git command.

• Show details of a specific commit
  Use git show <commit-hash>.
• Show details of the current branch
  Use git branch (shows all branches, current one marked with an asterisk) or git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD (shows only the current branch name).
• List all branches
  Use git branch

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git branch

This will display a list of all local branches in your repository. The currently checked-out branch will be marked with an asterisk (*).

Creating a new branch

git branch new-branch-name

This creates a new branch named "new-branch-name" starting from your current HEAD commit.

Switching to a different branch

git checkout branch-name

This switches you to the branch named "branch-name".

Showing details of the current branch (including commit hash)

git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD

This command shows only the name of the currently checked-out branch.

git show commit-hash

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Listing all branches

• Use git branch
  This is the most straightforward way to list all local branches in your repository. The currently checked-out branch will be marked with an asterisk (*).

Showing details of the current branch

• Use git symbolic-ref --short -q HEAD (shows only the current branch name)
  This command provides only the name of the currently checked-out branch.

• Use git branch (shows all branches, current one marked with an asterisk)
  This displays a list of all branches, with the current branch highlighted.

Showing details of a specific commit

• Use git show commit-hash
  Replace commit-hash with the actual commit hash you want to see details about (e.g., obtained from git log). This will display information like commit message, author, date, and code changes for that specific commit.

Comparing branches

• Use git log --graph --oneline --decorate branch1 branch2
  This provides a more visual representation of the commit history, including the relationship between the two branches.

• Use git diff branch1 branch2
  Replace branch1 and branch2 with the names of the branches you want to compare. This will show the differences in the files between the two branches.

Visualizing branch structure

• Use gitk
  This is a graphical tool included in some Git distributions that allows you to visualize the branch structure and history of your repository.