Git: Can I commit my working directory to a new branch without committing it to a current branch?

Question

I am working on a project, and had all of my tests passing on the master branch. I then made some changes, and when everything started failing, I realized that maybe I should have made those changes on a different branch. Is there a way I can commit the changes to a new branch without committing them to my master branch, so that the master still has my passing tests?

Answer 1

Yes, just create the new branch and check it out:

$ git checkout -b new-branch

Then commit any changes you have. They'll be applied to the new, checked-out branch.

Answer 2

You can stash your current changes (git stash), switch to the new branch and then apply the changes to the new branch using

git stash pop