Ultimate Git Commands Cheat Sheet - Comprehensive Guide for Developers

Git is an essential tool for version control in software development. This comprehensive Git commands cheat sheet provides detailed information, use cases, and examples to help you manage your repositories effectively.

Git Configuration

Set Username and Email

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Sets your username and email address for all repositories on your system.

Check Configuration

git config --list

Displays the current configuration settings.

Repository Management

Initialize a Repository

git init

Initializes a new Git repository or reinitializes an existing one.

Clone a Repository

git clone https://github.com/user/repository.git

Creates a copy of an existing repository.

Basic Snapshotting

Check Status

git status

Displays the state of the working directory and the staging area.

Add to Staging Area

git add .

Stages all changes (new files, modifications, deletions).

git add -A

Stages all changes in the entire repository.

git add -u

Stages modifications and deletions, without new files.

Commit Changes

git commit -m "Commit message"

Records the changes to the repository with a descriptive message.

Remove Files

git rm filename

Removes files from the working directory and staging area.

Move or Rename Files

git mv old_filename new_filename

Moves or renames files in the repository.

Branching and Merging

List Branches

git branch

Lists all local branches in the repository.

Create a New Branch

git branch new-branch-name

Creates a new branch.

Create a Branch from an Existing Branch

git checkout -b new-branch-name existing-branch-name

Creates a new branch from the specified existing branch and switches to the new branch.

Switch Branches

git checkout branch-name

Switches to the specified branch.

Merge Branches

git merge branch-name

Merges the specified branch into the current branch.

Delete a Branch

git branch -d branch-name

Deletes the specified branch.

Remote Repositories

Add a Remote

git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repository.git

Adds a remote repository.

View Remotes

git remote -v

Displays the current remotes.

Fetch from Remote

git fetch origin

Downloads objects and refs from another repository.

Pull from Remote

git pull origin main

Fetches and integrates changes from the remote repository into the current branch.

Push to Remote

git push origin main

Uploads local branch commits to the remote repository.

Update Remote URL

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/user/new-repository.git

Updates the URL of the remote repository.

Stashing and Cleaning

Stash Changes

git stash

Stashes the changes in a dirty working directory away.

Apply Stash

git stash apply

Applies the stashed changes.

Drop Stash

git stash drop

Removes the latest stash.

Clean Untracked Files

git clean -f

Removes untracked files from the working directory.

Reverting Changes

Discard Uncommitted Changes

git reset --hard

Discards all uncommitted changes in the working directory, returning to the last committed state.

Revert to a Specific Commit

git reset --hard commit-id

Resets the index and working directory to the specified commit.

History and Inspection

View Commit History

git log

Displays the commit history.

Show a Commit

git show commit-id

Displays the changes introduced by the specified commit.

View Differences

git diff

Shows changes between the working directory and index.

Blame a File

git blame filename

Shows what revision and author last modified each line of a file.

Tagging

Create a Tag

git tag -a 1.0 -m "Version 1.0"

Creates a new tag.

Push a tag to remote

git push origin tag-name

List Tags

git tag

Lists all tags in the repository.

Push Tags

git push origin --tags

Pushes all tags to the remote repository.

Delete a Tag

git tag -d tag-name

Deletes the specified tag locally.

Remove Tag from Remote

git push origin --delete tag tag-name

Deletes the specified tag from the remote repository.

File Permissions

Exclude Permission Changes from Git

git config core.fileMode false

Disables tracking of file permission changes.

Advanced Commands

Rebase Branch

git rebase branch-name

Reapplies commits on top of another base tip.

Cherry-pick Commit

git cherry-pick commit-id

Applies the changes introduced by an existing commit.

Amend Last Commit

git commit --amend -m "New commit message"

Modifies the most recent commit.

Revert a Commit

git revert commit-id

Creates a new commit that undoes the changes from a previous commit.

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This article was published on June 10, 2024

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