Courses | Arish – Full Stack Ruby on Rails & React Developer

Renaming Branches

Sometimes you need to rename a branch - maybe there's a typo, or you want to follow a naming convention.

Rename Current Branch

Using -m Flag

bash

1# First, switch to the branch you want to rename
2git checkout old-branch-name
3
4# Rename the current branch
5git branch -m new-branch-name

Example

bash

1# You're on 'feture-login' (typo!)
2git branch
3# * feture-login
4
5# Rename to fix the typo
6git branch -m feature-login
7
8# Verify
9git branch
10# * feature-login

Rename a Different Branch

You can rename a branch you're not currently on:

bash

1# Rename any branch (don't need to be on it)
2git branch -m old-name new-name

Example

bash

1# You're on main, want to rename feature-1
2git branch
3# * main
4#   feature-1
5
6# Rename feature-1 to feature-user-auth
7git branch -m feature-1 feature-user-auth
8
9# Verify
10git branch
11# * main
12#   feature-user-auth

Force Rename

If a branch with the new name already exists, use -M (uppercase):

bash

1# Force rename (overwrites existing branch)
2git branch -M old-name new-name

⚠️ Warning: This deletes the existing branch with that name!

Rename Remote Branches

Renaming a remote branch requires a few steps:

Step 1: Rename Local Branch

bash

1# Rename the local branch
2git branch -m old-name new-name

Step 2: Delete Old Remote Branch

bash

1# Delete the old branch on remote
2git push origin --delete old-name

Step 3: Push New Branch

bash

1# Push the renamed branch
2git push origin new-name
3
4# Set upstream
5git push -u origin new-name

Complete Example

bash

1# Rename local branch
2git branch -m feature-old feature-new
3
4# Delete old branch from GitHub
5git push origin --delete feature-old
6
7# Push new branch to GitHub
8git push -u origin feature-new

Rename main/master Branch

To rename the default branch:

Local Rename

bash

1# Rename master to main
2git branch -m master main

Update Remote

bash

1# Push the new main branch
2git push -u origin main
3
4# Delete the old master branch
5git push origin --delete master

Update Default on GitHub

Go to repository Settings
Click on Branches
Change default branch to main
Then delete master

Verify the Rename

After renaming, verify everything is correct:

bash

1# Check local branches
2git branch
3
4# Check remote branches
5git branch -r
6
7# Check tracking
8git branch -vv

Common Scenarios

Fix a Typo

bash

1# Wrong: feture-login → Right: feature-login
2git branch -m feture-login feature-login

Follow Naming Convention

bash

1# Add prefix for consistency
2git branch -m user-auth feature/user-auth

Rename to Add Ticket Number

bash

1# Add JIRA ticket reference
2git branch -m user-auth JIRA-123-user-auth

Summary

Renaming branches:

Local current: git branch -m new-name
Local other: git branch -m old-name new-name
Force rename: git branch -M old-name new-name
Remote: Rename local, delete old remote, push new

Practice this in the next exercise!