in Command-line Interface

Switch to previous checked out git branch

I jump between git branches pretty regularly, doing so from the command-line pretty exclusively. When I need to switch to another branch, I've always just checked it out. I even have a nice little alias, gco to save from needing to type out git checkout.

Don't really remember what I was researching at the time, but in my travels I found out about the git switch command. The command accepts a final argument that could be a branch name, or a dash.

Similar to how cd can accept a - and jump to the previous directory, the switch command can do the same for branches:

% git switch -

Doing so takes you back to the previous branch you were on.

The bigger thing that I learned is that git checkout can ALSO accept the dash and check out the previously checked out branch:

% git checkout -
# with a cool alias
% gco -

Doing it this way allows me to not disrupt my existing workflow and muscle memory.