Since Git 2.23, git switch and git restore have been added to the version control arsenal to switch between branches and restore changes, respectively. This movement aims to put the almighty command git checkout on the shelf.
git checkout is probably one of the first commands that one should comprehend when getting started with the version control system. However, git checkout has a big design flaw within: it does NOT do exactly one thing.
Make each program do one thing well. To do a new job, build afresh rather than complicate old programs by adding new features.
– UNIX Philosophy by Doug McIlroy
Let’s take a look at the synopsis of git checkout.
NAME
git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files
SYNOPSIS
git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [<branch>]
git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] --detach [<branch>]
git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [--detach] <commit>
git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>]
git checkout [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
git checkout [-f|--ours|--theirs|-m|--conflict=<style>] [<tree-ish>] --pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]
git checkout (-p|--patch) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
git checkout does two very different things, and accepts very different forms of parameters when doing them. It creates confusions, dysfunctions, and frustrations. To address this problem, the two main functionalities of git checkout is now splitted into two: git switch and git restore. git checkout will be, on the other hand, put to euthanasia in the foreseeable future.
And how do we use the git switch command? The most used actions are definitely switching to and creating a branch.
git switch my-branchreplacesgit checkout my-branchgit switch -c new-branchreplacesgit checkout -b new-branch
Another action simplified by the addition of git switch is creating a local branch that tracks a remote branch. Before git switch, one needs to go through the mess of
git checkout --track origin/remote_branch,
or even
git checkout --track -b remote_branch origin/remote_branch
in earlier git versions. After the update, git switch remote_branch will do the job simple and elegant (all commands above creates a local branch named remote_branch which tracks the remote branch named remote_branch).