How to rename a git branch

Introduction

This tutorial will show you how to rename a local and a remote(hosted on Github, Gitlab)

New to git & git branching? Please go through this tutorial from Attlasian

1. Renaming a local branch

To rename a git branch:

1. Switch to the branch to be renamed:

#inside your repository:
$ git checkout main
Switched to branch 'main'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

2. Use -m flag to modify the branch name:

#inside your repository:
$ git branch -m old-name your-new-branch-name

2. Rename a remote branch

This might lead to complications instead, we

• delete the old branch name
• add the new branch with a new name

To rename a remote branch:

1. Ensure the local branch has the correct new name(from above step above):

$ git branch -a
* development
  main
  remotes/origin/HEAD -> origin/main
  remotes/origin/main

2. Delete and set the new branch with the incorrect name in in the remote repository:

git push origin -u <new-name>

3. Finally, delete the old remote branch:

git push origin --delete <old-branch-name>

Note: the <new-name> should be exactly same as the new name you set for the local branch