git checkout command exists since the beginning of git

It is used for these things:

• creating new branch

git checkout -b new-feature upstream/main

• switching branch

git checkout main

• restoring unstaged changes

git checkout README.md

• checking out code from other branch

git checkout v1.0.0 -- README.md

git checkout command confuses everyone who start using git

Why?

Because it mixes two concepts:

• branches juggling
• restoring files

That's why new commands were added with Git 2.23 (August 2019, almost 5 years ago):

• git switch: for playing with branches
• git restore: for restoring files.

git restore can be used as a simple replacement on action on files.

the only noticeable changes between git switch and git checkout is that branch creation was done with git checkout -b name while it's now git switch -c name

Credit: https://twitter.com/_risacan_/status/1162539626373865472