git checkout remote branch - How do I check out a remote Git branch?

Question

Somebody pushed a branch called test with git push origin test to a shared repository. I can see the branch with git branch -r.

Now I'm trying to check out the remote test branch.

I've tried:

• git checkout test which does nothing

• git checkout origin/test gives * (no branch). Which is confusing. How can I be on "no branch"?

How do I check out a remote Git branch?

Answer 1

For Git versions ≥ 1.6.6, with only one remote:

git fetch
git checkout test

Remember that git checkout test won’t work in modern git if you have multiple remotes. In this case use:

git checkout -b test <name of remote>/test

or use the shorthand

git checkout -t <name of remote>/test

Comments

git checkout -b test <name of remote>/test this worked for me.

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Your answer was very helpful!