Copy a File from Another Branch

Introduction

In Git, branches are used to isolate development work without affecting other branches in the repository. Sometimes, you may need to copy a file from another branch to the current branch. This lab will test your ability to copy a file from another branch using Git.

Copy a File from Another Branch

You are working on a project in a Git repository named https://github.com/labex-labs/git-playground.git. You have two branches named feature-1 and feature-2. You need to copy the file hello.txt from feature-1 branch to feature-2 branch.

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/labex-labs/git-playground.git

2. Navigate to the directory and configure the identity:

cd git-playground
git config --global user.name "your-username"
git config --global user.email "your-email"

3. Create and switch to feature-1 branch and create a text file named hello.txt and write the string "hello,world" to it and commit the file with the message "add hello.txt":

git checkout -b feature-1
echo "hello,world" > hello.txt
git add .
git commit -m "add hello.txt"

4. Create and switch to feature-2 branch after switching to master branch:

git checkout master
git checkout -b feature-2

5. Copy the hello.txt file from the feature-1 branch to the feature-2 branch and commit it with the commit message "copy hello.txt":

git checkout feature-1 hello.txt
git commit -am "copy hello.txt"

6. Verify that the hello.txt file has been copied to feature-2 branch:

ll

You should see the hello.txt file in the list of files in the feature-2 branch:

-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 15 Jul 12 22:43 file1.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 15 Jul 12 22:43 file2.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 12 Jul 12 22:50 hello.txt
-rw-r--r-- 1 labex labex 32 Jul 12 22:43 README.md

Summary

Copying a file from another branch to the current branch is a useful Git command that allows you to reuse code from other branches without affecting the current branch. By completing this lab, you have learned how to copy a file from another branch using Git.