Managing code changes in a collaborative environment can be challenging. Ensuring your local branch is up-to-date with the remote repository while preserving your local modifications is a common task. Here's a step-by-step guide on how to safely update your branch using Git commands.

Step-by-Step Guide

1. Stash Your Changes:
   Before pulling changes from the remote branch, stash your local modifications to avoid conflicts.
   

   git stash
   

   This command saves your local changes and reverts your working directory to match the HEAD commit.

2. Pull the Latest Changes:
   Fetch and merge changes from the remote dev branch into your local branch.
   

   git pull origin dev
   

   This ensures your branch is updated with the latest changes from your team's remote repository.

3. Apply Your Stashed Changes:
   Once you've pulled the latest changes, apply your stashed changes back to your working directory.
   

   git stash pop
   

   This command re-applies your local modifications on top of the updated branch.

4. Add Your Changes to the Staging Area:
   Stage all the changes you want to commit.
   

   git add .
   

   This prepares your changes for committing.

5. Commit Your Changes:
   Commit the staged changes with a descriptive message.
   

   git commit -m "your commit message"
   

   A good commit message should briefly describe the changes you've made.

6. Push Your Changes to the Remote Repository:
   Finally, push your commit(s) to the remote dev branch.
   

   git push origin dev
   

   This updates the remote repository with your changes.

Full Command Sequence:

git stash
git pull origin dev
git stash pop
git add .
git commit -m "your commit message"
git push origin dev

Handling Conflicts

If you encounter any merge conflicts during the git stash pop step, Git will prompt you to resolve them. Resolve the conflicts using your preferred method (e.g., a merge tool or manual editing), then proceed with the git add, git commit, and git push steps.

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can ensure that your local branch is synchronized with the remote repository while safely preserving and committing your local changes. This workflow helps maintain a clean and conflict-free codebase, facilitating smoother collaboration within your development team.