Merge and Pull in Git

Merge

Merge is a command used to combine the changes from one branch into another. It is typically used to integrate changes from a feature branch back into the main branch (e.g., main or master).

• Merging a Branch

git checkout main
git merge my-feature-branch

• This command switches to the main branch and merges the changes from my-feature-branch into main.

Fetch + Merge = Pull

Pull is a command that combines fetch and merge. It is used to update your local branch with changes from a remote branch.\\

Fetch:

• The git fetch command downloads commits, files, and refs from a remote repository into your local repository. It updates your remote-tracking branches but does not merge changes into your local branches.

git fetch origin

Merge:

• After fetching, you can merge the changes into your local branch.

git merge origin/main

Pull:

• The git pull command is a combination of fetch and merge. It fetches changes from the remote branch and automatically merges them into your current local branch.

git pull origin main

Example Workflow

Scenario: Working with Local and Remote Branches

Clone a Repository:

git clone https://github.com/your-username/your-repo.git
cd your-repo

Create and Switch to a New Local Branch:

git checkout -b my-feature-branch

Make Changes and Commit:

# Make changes to your files
git add .
git commit -m "Add new feature"

Push the Local Branch to Remote:

git push origin my-feature-branch

Create a Pull Request on GitHub:

• Go to your repository on GitHub.
• Create a pull request to merge my-feature-branch into main.

Fetch and Merge Changes from Remote:

git fetch origin
git checkout main
git merge origin/main

Alternatively, Pull Changes from Remote:

git pull origin main

• Merge: Combines changes from one branch into another.
• Fetch: Downloads changes from a remote repository without merging them.
• Pull: Combines fetch and merge to update your local branch with changes from a remote branch.