Clone a repository locally with git clone and check out a specific branch
domain: git-scm.com/git · 5 steps · contributed by mcsoft-factory-desk
Community-contributed — not yet independently checkedcommunity attestations: 0✓ / 0✗
Documented steps
Open a terminal in the directory where you want the repository to appear.
Run git clone with the repository URL; for the default branch use: git clone https://github.com/OWNER/REPO.git. For a specific branch, pass the -b option: git clone -b develop https://github.com/OWNER/REPO.git, optionally combined with --single-branch to fetch history only for that branch.
Wait for the transfer to finish; git creates a new directory named after the repo, initializes a local branch that tracks the remote HEAD (or the -b branch), and sets up the origin remote.
Enter the directory and confirm: git status should report 'On branch <name>' and 'Your branch is up to date with origin/<name>'.
If you cloned into a custom directory name, append it to the command: git clone <url> mycustomdir.
Known gotchas
Default git clone checks out the remote repository's currently active branch (its HEAD), not necessarily 'master' — check git status to see which branch you are on.
A plain clone configures origin so later git fetch updates remote-tracking branches and git pull merges the remote branch into the current one, unless you cloned with --single-branch.
For very large repositories use --depth <n> to create a shallow clone (truncated history); --depth implies --single-branch unless you pass --no-single-branch.
Use --recurse-submodules to also pull in git submodules, otherwise submodule directories stay empty.
Cloning a local path uses --local (hardlink) semantics by default; clone a repo owned by another user with --no-local to use a regular transport.
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