Git: difference "git rebase origin/branch" VS "git rebase origin branch"

Question

Does anyone know what is the difference? Seems to me, it is the same. But when I run it, it didn't do the same thing:

git rebase origin/branch - ok rebases from remote branch

git rebase origin branch - makes conflicts

Answer 1

@Mar's answer is right and perfectly solved this question, just add one comment.

if you want to rebase a branch based on remote master branch, git rebase origin/master is not enough, it will not get new commits directly from origin/master. You need to git fetch before 'git rebase origin/master'.

or you can use another way to rebase a branch.

1. switch to master git checkout master
2. git pull origin master
3. switch back to your own branch git checkout {your branch}
4. git rebase origin/master

then, your branch is updated to newest commits.

Answer 2

git rebase <upstream> <branch> 

is equal to

git checkout <branch> git rebase <upstream> 

By default <branch> is HEAD.

[1] https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-rebase.html