Git 2.23 introduces a new command git switch. After reading the documentation, it seems pretty much the same as git checkout <branchname>. What is the difference or use case?
Two new commands "git switch" and "git restore" are introduced to split "checking out a branch to work on advancing its history" and "checking out paths out of the index and/or a tree-ish to work on advancing the current history" out of the single "git checkout" command.
The switch command indeed does the same thing as checkout, but only for those usages that switch branches. It cannot restore working tree files — that is done using restore, the other command split off from checkout.
The split checkout commands, in summary:
switch — Switch to a specified branchrestore — Restore file(s) from another branch or sourceAs noted in your quote from the 2.23.0 release notes, the switch and restore commands were introduced to split the checkout command into two separate pieces:
In other words, checkout does two different things, and this release split each of those different things into its own focused command.
This dual purpose of checkout can be seen in its summary description in the documentation:
git-checkout - Switch branches or restore working tree files
The commit that added the switch command explains the rationale for the new commands in its commit message:
"git checkout" doing too many things is a source of confusion for many users (and it even bites old timers sometimes). To remedy that, the command will be split into two new ones: switch and restore. The good old "git checkout" command is still here and will be until all (or most of users) are sick of it.
From this, it's clear that the new commands were introduced to reduce confusion by having two focused commands, rather than one multi-purpose command.
Note that (as of April 2024) the new commands are still listed as experimental (switch, restore):
THIS COMMAND IS EXPERIMENTAL. THE BEHAVIOR MAY CHANGE.
I have not found a full comparison of the commands anywhere. From reading through the documentation, I think this should be a fairly complete comparison:
| previous command | new command |
|---|---|
git checkout <branch> |
git switch <branch> |
git checkout |
N/A (use git status) |
git checkout -b <new_branch> [<start_point>] |
git switch -c <new-branch> [<start-point>] |
git checkout -B <new_branch> [<start_point>] |
git switch -C <new-branch> [<start-point>] |
git checkout --orphan <new_branch> |
git switch --orphan <new-branch> |
git checkout --orphan <new_branch> <start_point> |
N/A (use git switch <start-point> then git switch --orphan <new-branch>) |
git checkout [--detach] <commit> |
git switch --detach <commit> |
git checkout --detach [<branch>] |
git switch --detach [<branch>] |
git checkout [--] <pathspec>… |
git restore [--] <pathspec>… |
git checkout --pathspec-from-file=<file> |
git restore --pathspec-from-file=<file> |
git checkout <tree-ish> [--] <pathspec>… |
git restore -s <tree> [--] <pathspec>… |
git checkout <tree-ish> --pathspec-from-file=<file> |
git restore -s <tree> --pathspec-from-file=<file> |
git checkout -p [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>…] |
git restore -p [-s <tree>] [--] [<pathspec>…] |
As shown by this comparison, some prior usages can be converted to the new commands by simply replacing the old command name (checkout) with the new one (switch, restore), whereas others require additional adjustment. Notable changes include:
-b/-B options for creating a new branch before switching are renamed to -c/-C. They also have long option variants (--create/--force-create), unlike before.--detach (or -d) is now always required when switching to a detached head, where it was previously optional for commits but required for branches.-s (or --source) option, rather than being an inline argument.--force (or -f) now fails if there are unmerged entries, rather than ignoring them. --force has also been renamed to --discard-changes, with --force being kept as an alias.