You can use git switch - to switch to the previous branch. In the following example, we see switching back and forth between branches main and my_dev_branch:

C:\git\my-repo [my_dev_branch]> git switch -
Switched to branch 'main'
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
C:\git\my-repo [main ≡]> git switch -
Switched to branch 'my_dev_branch'
C:\git\my-repo [my_dev_branch]>

Edit: Old habits die hard. Updated to use switch instead of checkout since switch has a clearer responsibility. Obviously they work exactly the same for this scenario.

    • JackbyDevEnglish
      4•1 year ago

      Checkout was one of those commands that I joking would call Turing complete because of how much you can do with it (I haven’t actually tried to see if it is, but am fully prepared for someone to be nerd sniped and tell me it actually is). I think they’re mostly the same, but switch and restore were added as more straightforward versions of checkout and reset.

    • @mvirtsEnglish
      3•1 year ago

      Well one starts with an s, the other with a c… :P

      They changed the command to clarify what it does, checkout was / is used for switching branches as well as branch creation but has connotations of doing some locking in the repo from older vcs software… I think. the new commands are switch and branch. check the docs

      Idk what the deal is with switch, I thought it wasn’t supposed to be creating branches but right in the docs there’s a flag for it???

      Im the kind of user that just deletes .git and starts over when I f up the repo, so take my git advice with a tablespoon of salt.

      • Ray GayEnglish
        3•1 year ago

        I switch to using switch since git switch auto-creates the local branch from the remote branch, if the branch doesn’t exist yet, and a remote branch with the corresponding name exists.
        Also git switch -c for auto-creating a new branch, even if there is no remote branch for it

        • Jakub Narębski
          2•1 year ago

          If I remember it correctly, git checkout also automatically creates the local branch from the remote branch (of the same name), and sets up tracking.