Checkout the Previous Branch with git

By  on  

Command line shortcuts are can be a huge time saver, which is why I like creating bash aliases and and enjoy other tricks I've found.  I do have a list of tasks I don't yet have a shortcut for, like easy switching between my current branch and the previous branch.  I have to do this often when I update master via remote pull and then rebasing a feature branch, and since many of my branch names include a hard to remember bug number, switching between branches is a pain.

I recently found out that you can switch the the previous branch you were on using the following command:

git checkout master

# Do whatever
git pull remote master

# Go back to the previous branch
git checkout -

Using - references the previous branch name, thus allowing you to navigate branches with ease!

Recent Features

  • By
    How to Create a RetroPie on Raspberry Pi – Graphical Guide

    Today we get to play amazing games on our super powered game consoles, PCs, VR headsets, and even mobile devices.  While I enjoy playing new games these days, I do long for the retro gaming systems I had when I was a kid: the original Nintendo...

  • By
    CSS Animations Between Media Queries

    CSS animations are right up there with sliced bread. CSS animations are efficient because they can be hardware accelerated, they require no JavaScript overhead, and they are composed of very little CSS code. Quite often we add CSS transforms to elements via CSS during...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Duplicate the jQuery Homepage Tooltips Using Dojo

    The jQuery homepage has a pretty suave tooltip-like effect as seen below: Here's how to accomplish this same effect using Dojo. The XHTML The above HTML was taken directly from the jQuery homepage -- no changes. The CSS The above CSS has been slightly modified to match the CSS rules already...

  • By
    Scrolling “Agree to Terms” Component with MooTools ScrollSpy

    Remember the good old days of Windows applications forcing you to scroll down to the bottom of the "terms and conditions" pane, theoretically in an effort ensure that you actually read them? You're saying "No David, don't do it." Too late -- I've done...

Discussion

  1. Sam

    Like in the terminal:

    cd -

    To return to the previously visited directory.

  2. Also useful when you want to merge the branch that you were just working on into dev/master (or any branch really)

    git checkout master
    git merge -
    

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!