Changes (erroneously) reflected in multiple branches

Question

• I'm in the master branch.
• I create a new branch with git checkout -b new_feature, and am now in new_feature.
• I do some file changes in new_feature.
• I switch back to master with git checkout master.
• The exact changes made in new_feature are now in master as well, without me merging the branches.

What is going here? Any idea why I no longer can do isolated changes in a branch, without them being reflected in other branches?

Answer 1

When you switch branches, the uncommitted changes will be reflected in the new branch.

In order to isolate your changes in the new_feature branch use git stash or commit your changes before switching your branch to master.