Why can't a branch name contain the 'hash' (#) char at the begining?

Question

This one

git checkout -b #1-my-awesome-feature

creates error

error: switch `b' requires a value

escaping it with backslash or wrapping it in quotes will work

git checkout -b \#1-my-awesome-feature

but strange enough this

git branch #1-my-awesome-feature

will not produce any error and if you check if it is created with

git branch --all

there is no branch.

If hash char is not in the first position of the branch name, branch will be created.

git branch feature-#1

Executing git branch

feature-#1
* master

So my question is how hash (#) char is 'translated' in terminal and why it is not working when it is at first place?

Thanks!

Answer 1

# means a comment is starting (atleast in a linux shell). So

git checkout -b #1-my-awesome-feature

becomes:

git checkout -b

and throws error that b option requires a value.

As shown here, you can solve this by escaping the # with a \ or by putting the name in single/double quotes:

git checkout -b \#1-my-awesome-feature
git checkout -b "#1-my-awesome-feature"
git checkout -b '#1-my-awesome-feature'