Day 6: Mastering Git Branching: A beginner's Guide to efficient version control in 2025

Hello everyone, welcome back to ByteMotive where we are on a challenge of doing 90 days of DevOps and I am glad that we have already reached at day 6! Isn’t it amazing because we always hear that first step towards goal is the most difficult task and see we are rocking it since Day 1. Ok that was just to cheer you up, now let’s get started with today’s session which is about mastering git branching. As yesterday we have already learnt about the basics of Git and GitHub now it’s time to explore it more. Today we are going to learn about Git branching. The very first question should arise in your mind that what is Git branching and why we are learning it. I will explain you in most basic and easy words because that’s why we ByteMotive exist! 😉

What Is Git Branching and Why It Matters:

Imagine you're building a web app, and you want to add a new feature. Instead of making changes directly in the main codebase (which could break things), you create a separate branch, work on it, test it, and then merge it back safely.

Benefits of using Git Branching are:

👉 Isolated Development – Work on new features without affecting the main code.

👉Better Collaboration – Different team members can work on different features at the same time.

👉Safe Experimentation – Try new ideas without breaking the working project.

And many more… Till now we have understood the importance and usage of Git Branching now let’s move to some practical work. Open your code spaces and start trying out this codes that whether you can understand it or you need any help. You might face some trouble in starting but don’t worry we will figure it out together.

How to Create and Manage Git Branches Like A Pro😎

First let’s check that on which branch you are by typing it in your terminal git branch

I don’t know what will appear on your screen obviously I am not a spy but, on my laptop, I saw something like this which I am sharing with you -

*main

develop

feature-login

Here this * shows that the branch is active but if you are lazy then how your branch could get active 😂. So, let’s get stared by creating a new branch.

step 1: create a new branch git branch feature-xyz

step 2: Now switch to it git checkout feature-xyz

step 3: View your branch by writing git branch in terminal.

Now we have created Branch and it’s time to merging a Branch into Main. And for this you only need to do is to copy this code

git checkout main

git merge feature-xyz

(bcz I know how lazy we developers are when it comes to write a single line of code).

Deleting a Branch:

Ok you have created the branch by following all these steps but now you want to delete it for some reasons so just run this simple code in terminal and tadaa you did it!

If you no longer need a branch, delete it:

bashCopyEditgit branch -d feature-xyz

If you already merged it, great! Otherwise, to force delete:

bashCopyEditgit branch -D feature-xyz

Working with teams:

The above was for your single personal use now we will understand what if we are working with a team. I have already made it easy for you just need to follow these steps and you are ready to go!
1️⃣ Always pull the latest code before creating a new branch:

bashCopyEditgit checkout main
git pull origin main

2️⃣ Create a feature branch and work on your changes.
3️⃣ Push your branch to GitHub:

bashCopyEditgit push origin feature-xyz

4️⃣ Create a Pull Request (PR) and ask for code reviews.
5️⃣ Merge the branch only after approvals.

Some advanced Git branching commands:

🔹 Rename a branch (if you made a typo!):

bashCopyEditgit branch -m old-name new-name

🔹 Create a branch from another branch:

bashCopyEditgit checkout -b new-branch existing-branch

🔹 Check which branch is merged/unmerged:

bashCopyEditgit branch --merged
git branch --no-merged

🔹 Set default branch to main (if it's still called master):

bashCopyEditgit branch -M main

Conclusion:

Now moving towards the end of today’s session today we learnt that how important Git and GitHub are and how it makes our task easier by using it’s extraordinary tools like Branching and today we mastered it. Practice it by your own to understand this whole concept in detail and be a master's in it. We will meet in next blog till then keep practicing these commands.

If you got any issue just comment down and if you are liking the content don’t forget to follow ByteMotive.