Cherry-Picking
The git cherry-pick command allows you to apply one or more commits from any other branch in the repository to the HEAD of the current branch.
Cherry-picking is useful when you do not wish to apply all commits on a source branch to the current branch.
If you aim to merge all commits from a source branch into the current branch, you should instead use Merge or Rebase.
In the example below, we want to cherry-pick commit C from the branch a-branch into the HEAD of the current (target) main branch.
git checkout main # Set the current branch as the target branch
git cherry-pick C #
This will append a new commit C', equivalent to C, onto the main branch.
o o C' [> main]
| |
o [> main] A o A
| |
| o [a-branch] | o [a-branch]
| | | |
o | B o | B
| | | |
| o C (selected) | o C
| | | |
o | D ===> o | D
| / cherry-pick C | /
| / | /
o o
Note
Cherry-picking commits should be done carefully.
In the above example, after cherry-picking C, a future attempt to merge a-branch into main could result in merge-conflicts because C and C' may conflict.
If a conflict occurs during cherry-picking, the working tree will enter ‘Cherry-Picking’ status.
You’ll either need to resolve the conflict (e.g., using the SmartGit Conflict Resolver) and complete the cherry-pick or abort the cherry-pick attempt.