Forgot to create new branch. How to transfer changes to new branch

Question

this happens to every developer time-to-time. You start coding a new feature and forget to branch first locally.

So if that happens is there a way I can say hey, transf

Answer 1

Unless you have done any changes that should not enter the feature branch after you have started work on the feature, it's as simple as creating the feature branch and rewinding the erroneously advanced master branch to the last commit that should not be part of the feature branch:

MA --- MB --- MC --- FA --- FB --- FC <- master

git checkout -b feature

MA --- MB --- MC --- FA --- FB --- FC <- feature
                                    ^
                                    |
                                  master

git branch -f master MC

MA --- MB --- MC --- FA --- FB --- FC <- feature
               ^
               |
             master

If you have actually mixed your commits, you have a much larger problem. In that case, you need to perform a rebase to unmix the commits, so that you can proceed with the steps above:

MA --- FA --- MB --- MC --- FB --- FC <- master

git rebase -i MA
#reorder the lines by moving the commit FA down after MC

MA --- MB' --- MC' --- FA' --- FB' --- FC' <- master

#proceed as above

Be aware that you are rewriting history with this: If you have already published FA, you are in trouble. In that case, others will notice that you screwed up one way or the other, and the correct solution will include significant amounts of communication between humans.