Move the most recent commit(s) to a new branch with Git

Question

I\'d like to move the last several commits I\'ve committed to master to a new branch and take master back to before those commits were made. Unfortunately, my Git-fu is not

Answer 1

In General...

The method exposed by sykora is the best option in this case. But sometimes is not the easiest and it's not a general method. For a general method use git cherry-pick:

To achieve what OP wants, its a 2-step process:

Step 1 - Note which commits from master you want on a newbranch

Execute

git checkout master
git log

Note the hashes of (say 3) commits you want on newbranch. Here I shall use:
C commit: 9aa1233
D commit: 453ac3d
E commit: 612ecb3

Note: You can use the first seven characters or the whole commit hash

Step 2 - Put them on the newbranch

git checkout newbranch
git cherry-pick 612ecb3
git cherry-pick 453ac3d
git cherry-pick 9aa1233

OR (on Git 1.7.2+, use ranges)

git checkout newbranch
git cherry-pick 612ecb3~1..9aa1233

git cherry-pick applies those three commits to newbranch.