Checking out a remote git branch that does not exist locally?

Question

Let's say there is a remote clone of the same git repository that my local repository is cloned from - and there is a branch on that remote clone that isn't present in my clone (not the default branch).

Is there a way to clone that remote branch into my local copy? I don't want to merge it with the current branch or anything like that. I just want to start a local copy of the remote branch. Is there a way to do this?

I would also like to know (once this is done) how to add the mentioned branch also to the default remote-copy that my local clone checks in with by default.

Answer 1

Just use next:

git fetch <remote repo name>
git checkout -b <local branch name> <remote repo name>/<remote branch name>

It was helpful in my case and this procedure is identical to automatically generated action through TortoiseGit on my Windows machine.

Answer 2

One command will do this work:

git checkout -b <local_branch_name> origin/<remote_branch_name>

Edit: If an error occurred: fatal: 'origin/<branch_name>' is not a commit and a branch '<branch_name>' cannot be created from it.

You may try:

git pull
git checkout -b <local_branch_name> origin/<remote_branch_name>