What does "git checkout -" do?

Question

I saw a weird type of git checkout command.

git checkout -

What does - do here?

Answer 1

It is the same as doing cd -. So you go back to the last branch. These three sequences do the same, if you start from master:

# Way 1
git checkout mybranch
git checkout master

# Way 2 (same result)
git checkout mybranch
git checkout -

# Way 3 (same result)
git checkout mybranch
git checkout @{-1}

As chepner mentioned, you can go back to the nth previously checked out branch by using @{-N}