Move the most recent commit(s) to a new branch with Git

 

To move the most recent commit(s) to a new branch in Git, you can follow these steps:

1. Create a New Branch: First, create a new branch from the current branch. This new branch will be the destination for the most recent commit(s). You can do this with the git branch command:

   bash

git branch new-branch-name

Switch to the New Branch: Use the git checkout command to switch to the newly created branch:

bash

git checkout new-branch-name

Apply the Commits: If you want to move only the most recent commit, you can use git cherry-pick to apply it to the new branch. If you want to move multiple commits, you can specify a range of commits using git cherry-pick. For example, to move the last three commits:

bash

git cherry-pick HEAD~3..HEAD

This will apply the last three commits from the current branch to the new branch.

Remove the Commits from the Original Branch: Optionally, if you want to remove the commits from the original branch, you can use the git reset command:

bash

4. git reset HEAD~3
   

   This will reset the original branch's HEAD to a previous commit, effectively removing the last three commits.

Here's an example that demonstrates how to move the most recent commit(s) to a new branch:

bash

# Create a new branch
git branch new-feature

# Switch to the new branch
git checkout new-feature

# Cherry-pick the last three commits from the current branch
git cherry-pick HEAD~3..HEAD

# Optionally, reset the current branch to remove the last three commits
git checkout original-branch
git reset HEAD~3

In this example, we created a new branch called new-feature, switched to it, and cherry-picked the last three commits from the original branch. The original-branch was then reset to remove those commits, effectively moving them to the new-feature branch.

Be cautious when using git reset as it rewrites history. If your commits have already been pushed to a remote repository, this can cause issues for other collaborators.