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
    9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos

    The <canvas> element has been a revelation for the visual experts among our ranks.  Canvas provides the means for incredible and efficient animations with the added bonus of no Flash; these developers can flash their awesome JavaScript skills instead.  Here are nine unbelievable canvas demos that...

  • By
    Facebook Open Graph META Tags

    It's no secret that Facebook has become a major traffic driver for all types of websites.  Nowadays even large corporations steer consumers toward their Facebook pages instead of the corporate websites directly.  And of course there are Facebook "Like" and "Recommend" widgets on every website.  One...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Implement jQuery&#8217;s hover() Method in MooTools

    jQuery offers a quick event shortcut method called hover that accepts two functions that represent mouseover and mouseout actions. Here's how to implement that for MooTools Elements. The MooTools JavaScript We implement hover() which accepts to functions; one will be called on mouseenter and the other...

  • By
    Simple Image Lazy Load and Fade

    One of the quickest and easiest website performance optimizations is decreasing image loading.  That means a variety of things, including minifying images with tools like ImageOptim and TinyPNG, using data URIs and sprites, and lazy loading images.  It's a bit jarring when you're lazy loading images and they just...

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!