Fast Forward Merge — Free Git & GitHub Tutorial
Learn Fast Forward Merge in Git & GitHub with a free, beginner-friendly tutorial, examples and practice for Indian students on Syllab.in.
TL;DR: Learn Fast Forward Merge in Git & GitHub with a free, beginner-friendly tutorial, examples and practice for Indian students on Syllab.in.
Written & reviewed by the Syllab.in Academic Team (CBSE/NCERT subject experts) · Updated
Fast Forward Merge in Git & GitHub
A fast-forward merge happens when the main branch hasn't changed since you created your feature branch. Git simply moves the main pointer to your branch's latest commit — no merge commit needed. It's the simplest merge.
In contrast, a "merge commit" (non-fast-forward) creates a new commit that explicitly shows a merge happened. This preserves the branch history.
Priya works on a feature for 2 days. Meanwhile, Arjun doesn't commit anything to main. When Priya's done, Git does a fast-forward merge because main is "behind" the feature branch.
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