Git rebase on main without switching branches

Updating a feature branch with changes from main without switching between branches. While you are in the feature branch:

# you are in your feature branch
# the short form to update your feature branch
git fetch origin main:main
git rebase main

main:main is a refspec. It has the format <src>:<dst> and specifies which refs to fetch from the source <src> and which local refs to update in the destination <dst>.

# you are in your feature branch
# the alternate short form to update your feature branch
git fetch origin 
git rebase origin main 

Notice that git fetch origin in the above example will not apply changes to your local main branch – it´s just fetching the origin. Still the git rebase origin main will apply the changes from origin´s main to your local feature branch.

The above hints are from Geoff Rich: How to git rebase on main without switching branches.

# the long form to update your feature branch
git checkout main
git pull
git checkout feature
git rebase main