GIT

Git is the free and open source distributed version control system that's responsible for everything GitHub related that happens locally on your computer.

This cheat sheet features the most important and commonly used Git commands for easy reference.

USER SETUP

Configuring user information used across all local repositories.

set your username which you used while creating a GITHUB account

  git config --global user.name “[firstname lastname]”

set your email address which you used while creating a GITHUB account

git config --global user.email “[valid-email]”

set automatic command line coloring for Git for easy reviewing

git config --global color.ui auto

SETUP & INIT

Configuring user information, initializing and cloning repositories

initialize an existing directory as a Git repository.

git init

retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL

git clone [url]

STAGE & SNAPSHOT

Working with snapshots and the Git staging area

show modified files in the working directory, staged for your next commit

git status

add a file as it looks now to your next commit (stage)

git add [file]

unstage a file while retaining the changes in the working directory

git reset [file]

diff of what is changed but not staged

git diff

diff of what is staged but not yet committed

git diff --staged

commit your staged content as a new commit snapshot

git commit -m “[descriptive message]”

BRANCH & MERGE

Isolating work in branches, changing context, and integrating changes

list your branches. a * will appear next to the currently active branch

git branch

create a new branch at the current commit

git branch [branch-name]

switch to another branch and check it out in your working directory.

git checkout

merge the specified branch’s history into the current one

git merge [branch]

show all commits in the current branch’s history

git log

INSPECT & COMPARE

Examining logs, diffs, and object information

show the commit history for the currently active branch

git log

show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB

git log branchB..branchA

show the commits that changed file, even across renames

git log --follow [file]

show the diff between what is in branchA that is not in branchB

git diff branchB...branchA

show any object in Git in human-readable format

git show [SHA]

TRACKING PATH CHANGES

Versioning file removes and path changes

delete the file from the project and stage the removal for commit

git rm [file]

change an existing file path and stage the move

git mv [existing-path] [new-path]

show all commit logs with an indication of any paths that moved

git log --stat -M

IGNORING PATTERNS

Preventing unintentional staging or committing of files

system-wide ignore pattern for all local repositories

git config --global core.excludesfile [file]

SHARE & UPDATE

Retrieving updates from another repository and updating local repos

add a git URL as an alias

git remote add [alias] [url]

fetch down all the branches from that Git remote

git fetch [alias]

merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date

git merge [alias]/[branch]

Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch

git push [alias] [branch]

fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch

git pull

REWRITE HISTORY

Rewriting branches, updating commits and clearing history

apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one

git rebase [branch]

clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit

git reset --hard [commit]

TEMPORARY COMMITS

Temporarily store modified, tracked files in order to change branches

Save modified and staged changes

git stash

list stack-order of stashed file changes

git stash list

write working from top of stash stack

git stash pop

discard the changes from top of stash stack

git stash drop

Closing

I hope that you’ve found this blog helpful! If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment below 😊