What is the difference between git pull and git fetch

Both git pull and git fetch are commands in the Git version control system used to retrieve the latest changes from a remote repository, but they have key differences in behavior.

git fetch

The git fetch command retrieves all updates from the remote repository that are not present in the local repository. This includes fetching updates for all remote branches, but it does not automatically merge them into the current branch. git fetch only downloads the latest data from the remote repository to the local repository without altering the user's working state (i.e., the current working directory and branch remain unaffected). This allows users to manually inspect the changes before merging.

For example, if you want to view the changes in the remote master branch but are not ready to merge them into your local master branch, you can run:

shell
git fetch origin master

After that, you can use the git diff command to compare the differences between the local branch and the remote branch.

git pull

The git pull command is essentially equivalent to running git fetch followed by git merge. When executing git pull, Git retrieves the latest changes for the current branch from the remote repository and attempts to automatically merge them into the corresponding local branch. This means that if you run git pull on the master branch, Git will automatically download the latest updates from the remote master branch and merge them into your local master branch.

For example, to update your local master branch, you can run:

shell
git pull origin master

This retrieves the latest updates from the remote master branch and attempts to merge them into your local master branch.

Summary

git fetch is a safer and more granular approach to updating, as it allows users to inspect remote changes without affecting the current working state. git pull is a more convenient approach, as it automatically downloads and merges changes, but if merge conflicts arise, users must resolve them manually.

In practice, you might use git fetch to ensure thorough understanding and review of changes in the remote repository before deciding whether to merge them using git merge or rebase your local commit history using git rebase. On the other hand, git pull is suitable when you trust the remote changes and want to quickly update your local branch.