How do I rename a local Git branch?

git branch -m old_branch_name new_branch_name

The above command will change your branch name, but you have to be very careful using the renamed branch, because it will still refer to the old upstream branch associated with it, if any.

If you want to push some changes into master after your local branch is renamed into new_branch_name (example name):

git push origin new_branch_name:master (now changes will go to master branch but your local branch name is new_branch_name)

For more details, see "How to rename your local branch name in Git."

To rename your current branch:

git branch -m <newname>

Here are the steps to rename the branch:

1. switch to branch which needs to be renamed
2. git branch -m <new_name>
3. git push origin :<old_name>
4. git push origin <new_name>:refs/heads/<new_name>

EDIT(12/01/2017) : Make sure you run command git status and check that newly created branch is pointing to its own ref and not older one. If you find the reference to older branch, you need to unset the upstream using:

git branch --unset-upstream

The answers so far have been correct but here is some additional info: One can rename a branch with '-m' (move), but one has to be careful, because '-M' forces the rename, even if there is an existing branch with the same name already. Here is the excerpt from the 'git-branch' man page:

With a -m or -M option, <oldbranch> will be renamed to <newbranch>. If <oldbranch> had a corresponding reflog, it is renamed to match <newbranch>, and a reflog entry is created to remember the branch renaming. If <newbranch> exists, -M must be used to force the rename to happen.

I foolishly named a branch starting with a hyphen, and then checked out master. I didn't want to delete my branch, I had work in it.

Neither of these worked:

git checkout -dumb-name

git checkout -- -dumb-name

"s, 's and \s didn't help either. git branch -m doesn't work.

Here's how I finally fixed it. Go into your working copy's .git/refs/heads, find the filename "-dumb-name", get the hash of the branch. Then this will check it out, make a new branch with a sane name, and delete the old one.

git checkout {hash}
git checkout -b brilliant-name
git branch -d -- -dumb-name

To rename a branch locally:

git branch -m [old-branch] [new-branch]

Now you'll have to propagate these changes on your remote server as well.

To push changes of the deleted old branch:

git push origin :[old-branch]

To push changes of creation of new branch:

git push origin [new-branch]

• If it is your current branch, just do

  git branch -m new_name
  

• If it is another branch you want to rename

  git branch -m old_name new_name
  

• If your branch was pushed, then after renaming you need to delete it from the remote Git repository and ask your new local to track a new remote branch:

  git push origin :old_name
  git push --set-upstream origin new_name
  

Rename the branch will be useful once your branch is finished. Then new stuff is coming, and you want to develop in the same branch instead of deleting it and create the new one.

From my experience, to rename a local and remote branch in Git you should do the following steps.

Quoting from Multiple States - Rename a local and remote branch in git

1. Rename your local branch

If you are on the branch you want to rename:

git branch -m new-name

If you are on a different branch:

git branch -m old-name new-name

2. Delete the old-name remote branch and push the new-name local branch

git push origin :old-name new-name

3. Reset the upstream branch for the new-name local branch

git push origin -u new-name

Rename the branch using this command:

git branch -m [old_branch_name] [new_branch_name]

-m: It renames/moves the branch. If there is already a branch, you will get an error.

If there is already a branch and you want to rename with that branch, use:

 git rename -M [old_branch_name] [new_branch_name]

For more information about help, use this command in the terminal:

git branch --help

or

man git branch

Advanced Git users can rename manually:

Rename the old branch under .git/refs/heads to the new name

Rename the old branch under .git/logs/refs/heads to the new name

Update the .git/HEAD to point to yout new branch name

Trying to answer specifically to the question (at least the title).

You can also rename local branch, but keeps tracking the old name on the remote.

git branch -m old_branch new_branch
git push --set-upstream origin new_branch:old_branch

Now, when you run git push, the remote old_branch ref is updated with your local new_branch.

You have to know and remember this configuration. But it can be useful if you don't have the choice for the remote branch name, but you don't like it (oh, I mean, you've got a very good reason not to like it !) and prefer a clearer name for your local branch.

Playing with the fetch configuration, you can even rename the local remote-reference. i.e, having a refs/remote/origin/new_branch ref pointer to the branch, that is in fact the old_branch on origin. However, I highly discourage this, for the safety of your mind.

Another option is not to use the command line at all. Git GUI clients such as SourceTree take away much of the syntactical learning curve / pain that causes questions such as this one to be amongst the most viewed on Stack Overflow.

In SourceTree, right click on any local branch in the "Branches" pane on the left and select "Rename ...".

Probably as mentioned by others, this will be a case mismatch in branch naming.

If you have such a situation, I can guess that you're on Windows which will also lead you to:

$ git branch -m CaseSensitive casesensitive
fatal: A branch named 'casesensitive' already exists.

Then you have to do an intermediate step:

$ git branch -m temporary
$ git branch -m casesensitive

Nothing more.

To rename current branch (except for detached HEAD state) you can also use this alias:

[alias]
    mvh = !sh -c 'git branch -m `git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD` $1'

Here are three steps: A command that you can call inside your terminal and change branch name.

git branch -m old_branch new_branch         # Rename branch locally
git push origin :old_branch                 # Delete the old branch
git push --set-upstream origin new_branch   # Push the new branch, set local branch to track the new remote

If you need more: step-by-step, How To Change Git Branch Name is a good article about that.

Since you do not want to push the branch to a remote server, this example will be useful:

Let's say you have an existing branch called "my-hot-feature," and you want to rename it to "feature-15."

First, you want to change your local branch. This couldn't be easier:

git branch -m my-hot-feature feature-15

For more information, you can visit Locally and Remotely Renaming a Branch in Git.

git version 2.9.2

If you want to change the name of the local branch you are on:

git branch -m new_name

If you want to change the name of a different branch:

git branch -m old_name new_name

If you want to change the name of a different branch to a name that already exists:

git branch -M old_name new_name_that_already_exists

Note: The last command is destructive and will rename your branch, but you will lose the old branch with that name and those commits because branch names must be unique.

If you want to change the name of the current branch, run:

git branch -m [old_branch] [new_branch]

If you want to delete the old remote branch, run:

git push origin :[old_branch]

If you want to delete the old remote branch and create a new remote branch, run:

git push origin :old_branch new_branch