# Git alias for merging in dev branch

When working in a feature branch, if the feature is taking a long time to develop it's often useful to merge in the latest code from the `dev` branch. I have a git alias set up which allows me to do this very easily.

This is the alias, which you can copy into your `.gitconfig`:

```
dev = !git pull origin dev && git merge dev
``` 

The usage is very simple:

```
git dev
```

This pulls the latest code from the `dev` branch on the remote `origin`, and merges it into my current branch. (Note that it does not pull it into the local `dev` branch, so when you next switch to `dev` you will still want to run `git pull`.)