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Git Cheat Sheet
Git is the open source distributed version control system that facilitates GitHub activities on your laptop or desktop. This cheat sheet summarizes commonly used Git command line instructions for quick reference.
GIT BASICS
Create empty Git repo in specified directory. Run with no arguments to initialize the current directory as a git repository.
git init <directory>Clone repo located at <repo> onto local machine. Original repo can belocated on the local filesystem or on a remote machine via HTTP or SSH.
git clone <repo>Define author name to be used for all commits in current repo. Devs commonly use --global flag to set config options for current user.
git config user.name <name>Stage all changes in <directory> for the next commit. Replace<directory> with a < file > to change a specific file.
git add <directory>Commit the staged snapshot, but instead of launching a text editor, use<message> as the commit message.
git commit -m "<message>"List which files are staged, unstaged, and untracked
git statusDisplay the entire commit history using the default format. For customization see additional options
git logShow unstaged changes between your index and working directory.
git diffUNDOING CHANGES
Create new commit that undoes all of the changes made in <commit>, then apply it to the current branch.
git revert <commit>Remove <file> from the staging area, but leave the working directory unchanged.This unstages a file without overwriting any changes.
git reset <file>Shows which files would be removed from working directory. Use the -f flag in place of the -n flag to execute the clean.
git clean -nREWRITING GIT HISTORY
Replace the last commit with the staged changes and last commit combined.Use with nothing staged to edit the last commit’s message.
git commit --amendRebase the current branch onto <base>. <base> can be a commit ID, branch name, a tag, or a relative reference to HEAD.
git rebase <base>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 reflogGIT BRANCHES
List all of the branches in your repo. Add a <branch> argument to create a new branch with the name<branch>.
git branchCreate and check out a new branch named <branch>. Drop the - b flag to checkout an existing branch.
git checkout -b <branch>Merge <branch> into the current branch.
git merge <branch>REMOTE REPOSITORIES
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 remote add <name> <url>Fetches a specific <branch>, from the repo. Leave off <branch> to fetch all remote refs.
git fetch <remote> <branch>Fetch the specified remote’s copy of current branch and immediately merge it into the local copy.
git pull <remote>Push the branch to <remote>, along with necessary commits and objects.Creates named branch in the remote repo if it doesn’t exist.
git push <remote> <branch>GIT CONFIG
Define the author name to be used for all commits by the current user.
git config --global user.name <name>Define the author email to be used for all commits by the current user.
git config --global user.email <email>Create shortcut for a Git command. E.g. alias.glog “log --graph --oneline” will set ”git glog” equivalent to ”git log--graph--oneline.
git config --global alias.<alias-name> <git-command>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 --system core.editor <editor>Open the global configuration file in a text editor for manual editing.
git config --global --editGIT DIFF
Show difference between working directory and last commit.
git diff HEADShow difference between staged changes and last commit
git diff --cachedGIT RESET
Reset staging area to match most recent commit, but leave the working directory unchanged.
git resetReset staging area and working directory to match most recent commit and overwrites all changes in the working directory.
git reset --hardMove the current branch tip backward to <commit>, reset the staging area to match, but leave the working directory alone.
git reset <commit> Same as previous, but resets both the staging area & working directory to match.Deletes uncommitted changes, and all commits after<commit>.
git reset --hard <commit>GIT REBASE
Interactively rebase current branch onto <base>. Launches editor to enter commands for how each commit will be transferred to the new base.
git rebase -i <base>GIT PULL
Fetch the remote’s copy of current branch and rebases it into the local copy.Uses git rebase instead of merge to integrate the branches.
git pull --rebase <remote>GIT PUSH
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> --forcePush all of your local branches to the specified remote.
git push <remote> --allTags 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
git push <remote> --tagsGIT LOG
Limit number of commits by <limit>. E.g.”git log - 5” will limit to 5 commits.
git log -<limit>Condense each commit to a single line
git log --onelineDisplay the full diff of each commit
git log -pInclude which files were altered and the relative number of lines that were added or deleted from each of them.
git log --statSearch for commits by a particular author.
git log --author="<pattern>"Search for commits with a commit message that matches<pattern>.
git log --grep="<pattern>"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 <since>..<until>Only display commits that have the specified file.
git log -- <file>Back