GIT Commands Cheat Sheet

Quick reference GIT commands you should know.

Configure
git config --global user.name “[firstname lastname]”
Set a name that is identifiable for credit when review version history
git config --global user.email “[valid-email]”
Set an email address that will be associated with each history marker
git config --global color.ui auto
Set automatic command line coloring for Git for easy reviewing
git config --global --list
Lists the git configuration for all repos
git config --global --edit
Opens an editor to edit the git config file
git config --global core.editor <editor_name>
Config default editor
Setup & Init
git init
Initialize an existing directory as a Git repository
git clone [url]
Retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL
Branch & Merge
git branch
List your branches. a * will appear next to the currently active branch
git branch [branch-name]
Create a new branch at the current commit
git branch -d [branch-name]
Deletes the specified branch
git checkout
Switch to another branch and check it out into your working directory
git merge [branch]
Merge the specified branch’s history into the current one
git log
Show all commits in the current branch’s history
Stage & Snapshot
git status
Show modified files in working directory, staged for your next commit
git add [file]
Add a file as it looks now to your next commit (stage)
git reset [file]
Unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory
git diff
Diff of what is changed but not staged
git diff --staged
Diff of what is staged but not yet commited
git commit -m “[descriptive message]”
Commit your staged content as a new commit snapshot
Inspect & Compare
git log
Show the commit history for the currently active branch
git log branchB..branchA
Show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB
git log --follow [file]
Show the commits that changed file, even across renames
git diff branchB...branchA
Show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB
git show [SHA]
Show any object in Git in human-readable format
Share & Update
git remote add [alias] [url]
Add a git URL as an alias
git fetch [alias]
Fetch down all the branches from that Git remote
git merge [alias]/[branch]
Merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date
git push [alias] [branch]
Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch
git pull
Fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch
Tracking Path Changes
git rm [file]
Delete the file from project and stage the removal for commit
git mv [existing-path] [new-path]
Change an existing file path and stage the move
git log --stat -M
Show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved
Temporary Commits
git stash
Save modified and staged changes
git stash list
List stack-order of stashed file changes
git stash pop
Write working from top of stash stack
git stash drop
Discard the changes from top of stash stack
Rewrite History
git rebase [branch]
Apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one
git reset --hard [commit]
Clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit
Ignoring Patterns
logs/
*.notes
pattern*/
Save a file with desired paterns as .gitignore with either direct string matches or wildcard globs
git config --global core.excludesfile [file]
System wide ignore patern for all local repositories
Glossary
git
An open source, distributed version-control system
GitHub
A platform for hosting and collaborating on Git repositories
commit
A Git object, a snapshot of your entire repository compressed into a SHA
branch
A lightweight movable pointer to a commit
clone
A local version of a repository, including all commits and branches
remote
A common repository on GitHub that all team members use to exchange their changes
fork
A copy of a repository on GitHub owned by a different user
pull request
A place to compare and discuss the differences introduced on a branch with reviews, comments, integrated tests, and more
HEAD
Representing your current working directory, the HEAD pointer can be moved to different branches, tags, or commits when using git switch
Try These Related Tools

…

What is a Git Commands Cheat Sheet?

A Git Commands Cheat Sheet is a quick reference guide that presents a list of useful command-line instructions to help you with basic usage.

  1. Set Up
    1. git init: Initialize a local Git repository
    2. git clone <url>: Clone a repository from GitHub into your local machine
  2. Local Changes
    1. git status: Check the status of your files (tracked, untracked, modified, etc.)
    2. git add .: Add all current changes to the next commit
    3. git add <file>: Add some specific changes in <file> to the next commit
    4. git commit -m "<message>": Commit all added changes with a message
  3. Branching & Merging
    1. git branch: List all local branches
    2. git branch <branch-name>: Create a new branch
    3. git checkout <branch-name>: Switch to a particular branch
    4. git merge <branch-name>: Merge <branch-name> into current branch
  4. Remote Repository (e.g. GitHub)
    1. git remote add origin <url>: Set a remote named 'origin' at <url>
    2. git pull origin <branch-name>: Fetch changes from the remote and merge into current branch
    3. git push origin <branch-name>: Push local changes to the remote branch
  5. Others
    1. git log: View commit history
    2. git diff: Shows differences between your working directory and the index
    3. git stash: Temporarily saves changes that are not ready to be committed
    4. git reset: Resets your index and working directory to the state of your last commit

These are just some basic commands, and Git has a rich set of commands to support various version control scenarios. It would be good to learn and understand these commands before diving into more complex ones.



Knowledge is power.

Francis Bacon


…

Top Tools

…

Most Popular Tools