Windows custom git commands

Question

Say I want a new git command, git new, that makes a new branch that is up to date with origin/master.

Is there a way I can make this script and have it available in all repositories on Windows from powershell?

edit: To clarify I want a git script not a powershell function. The only reason I mentioned powershell is because I don't use git bash.

Answer 1

Create a batch file that contains the following commands:

git branch %1 origin/master
git checkout %1

Save it, let's say, as C:\\Scripts\\new-branch.cmd . (I never worked with PowerShell, I don't know its rules. However, it should work as well using the old Windows Command Prompt).

Test the batch file works as expected by running:

C:\Scripts\new-branch.cmd test1

It should output something along these lines:

Branch test1 set up to track remote branch master from origin by rebasing.
Switched to branch 'test1'
Your branch is up-to-date with 'origin/master'.

If you don't need the new branch to track the remote branch then you just add --no-track to the git branch command.

If everything goes well then run:

git config --global alias.new "!C:/Scripts/new-branch.cmd"

This makes the Git alias new available to your Windows profile in all repositories. If you need it only in one repository then remove --global and run the command when the current directory is in the repository where you need it.

Use it as:

git new test2

Answer 2

You can use a git alias which uses git checkout :

git config --global alias.new 'checkout origin/master -b'

This would then be used as git new new_branch .

(Which is equivolent to git checkout origin/master -b new_branch

See the git docs for checkout . I tried the command and it worked, but when I looked at the docs, I didn't find a syntax that exactly matched my form. (Closest is git checkout [-q] [-f] [-m] [[-b|-B|--orphan] <new_branch>] [<start_point>] )

Note: @axiac, I may have used the !git because it doesn't hurt, and I may have needed to do multiple commands to solve the problem, and didn't remove it when I was done.