Git Cheat Sheet - Commands

GIT BASICS

git init <directory>:  Create empty Git repo in the specified directory. Run with no arguments to initialize the current directory as a git repository.

git clone <repo>: Clone repo located at <repo> onto the local machine. The original repo can be located on the local filesystem or on a remote machine via HTTP or SSH.

git config user.name <name>: Define author name to be used for all commits in the current repo. Devs commonly use --global flag to set config options for the current users.

git add <directory>: Stage all changes in <directory> for the next commit. Replace <directory> with a <file> to change a specific file.

git commit -m "<message>": Commit the staged snapshot, but instead of launching a text editor, use <message> as the commit message.

git status: List which files are staged, unstaged, and untracked.

git log: Display the entire commit history using the default format. For customization see additional options.

git diff: Show unstaged changes between your index and working directory.

UNDOING CHANGES

git revert <commit>: Create a new commit that undoes all of the changes made in <commit>, then apply it to the current branch.

git reset <file>: Remove <file> from the staging area, but leave the working directory unchanged. This unstaged a file without overwriting any changes.

git clean -n: This shows which files would be removed from the working directory. Use the -f flag in place of the -n flag to execute the clean.

REWRITING GIT HISTORY

git commit --amend: Replace the last commit with the staged changes and last commit combined. Use with nothing staged to edit the last commit’s message

git rebase <base>: Rebase the current branch onto <base>. <base> can be a commit ID, branch name, a tag, or a relative reference to HEAD.

git reflog: Show a log of changes to the local repository’s HEAD. Add --relative-date flag to show date info or --all to show all refs.

GIT BRANCHES

git branch: List all of the branches in your repo. Add a <branch> argument to create a new branch with the name <branch>.

git checkout -b <branch>: Create and check out a new branch named <branch>. Drop the -b flag to checkout an existing branch.

git merge <branch>: Merge <branch> into the current branch.

REMOTE REPOSITORIES

git remote add <name> <url>: Create a new connection to a remote repo. After adding a remote, you can use <name> as a shortcut for <url> in other commands.

git fetch <remote> <branch>: Fetches a specific <branch>, from the repo. Leave off <branch> to fetch all remote refs.

git pull <remote>: Fetch the specified remote’s copy of the current branch and immediately merge it into the local copy.

git push <remote> <branch>: Push the branch to <remote>, along with necessary commits and objects. Creates named branch in the remote repo if it doesn’t exist

GIT CONFIG

git config --global user.name <name>: Define the author name to be used for all commits by the current user.

git config --global user.email <email>: Define the author email to be used for all commits by the current user.

git config --global alias. <alias-name> <git-command>: Create a shortcut for a Git command. E.g. alias.glog “log --graph --oneline” will set ”git glog” equivalent to ”git log --graph --oneline.

git config --system core.editor <editor>: Set text editor used by commands for all users on the machine. <editor> arg should be the command that launches the desired editor (e.g., vi).

git config --global --edit: Open the global configuration file in a text editor for manual editing.

GIT LOG

git log -<limit>: Limit the number of commits by <limit>. E.g. ”git log -5” will limit to 5 commits.

git log --oneline: Condense each commit to a single line.

git log -p: Display the full diff of each commit.

git log --stat: Include which files were altered and the relative number of lines that were added or deleted from each of them.

git log --author= ”<pattern>”: Search for commits by a particular author.

git log --grep=”<pattern>”: Search for commits with a commit message that matches <pattern>.

git log <since>..<until>: Show commits that occur between <since> and <until>. Args can be a commit ID, branch name, HEAD, or any other kind of revision reference.

git log -- <file>: Only display commits that have the specified file.

git log --graph --decorate: --graph flag draws a text-based graph of commits on the left side of commit msgs. --decorate adds names of branches or tags of commits shown.

GIT DIFF

git diff HEAD: Show the difference between the working directory and the last commit.

git diff --cached: Show the difference between staged changes and last commit

GIT RESET

git reset: Reset staging area to match most recent commit, but leave the working directory unchanged.

git reset --hard: Reset staging area and working directory to match the most recent commit and overwrites all changes in the working directory

git reset <commit>: Move the current branch tip backward to <commit>, reset the staging area to match, but leave the working directory alone.

git reset --hard <commit>: Same as previous, but resets both the staging area & working directory to match. Deletes uncommitted changes, and all commits after <commit>.

GIT REBASE

git rebase -i <base>: Interactively rebase current branch onto <base>. Launches editor to enter commands for how each commit will be transferred to the new base.

GIT PULL

git pull --rebase <remote>: Fetch the remote’s copy of the current branch and releases it into the local copy. Uses git rebase instead of the merge to integrate the branches.

GIT PUSH

git push <remote> --force: Forces the git push even if it results in a non-fast-forward merge. Do not use the --force flag unless you’re absolutely sure you know what you’re doing.

git push <remote> --all: Push all of your local branches to the specified remote.

git push <remote> --tags: Tags aren’t automatically pushed when you push a branch or use the --all flag. The --tags flag sends all of your local tags to the remote repo.