Git is the open source distributed version control system that facilitates remote repositories activities on your local machine. This cheat sheet summarizes the commonly used Git command line instructions for quick reference. It saves you time when you just can't remember what a command is or don't want to use git help in the command line.
- git: An open source, distributed version-control system.
- Branch: A lightweight movable pointer to a commit.
- Clone: A local version of a repository, including all commits and branches.
- Commit: A Git object, a snapshot of your entire repository compressed into a SHA.
- Fork: A copy of a repository on GitHub owned by a different user.
- HEAD: Representing your current working directory, the HEAD pointer can be moved to different branches, tags, or commits when using git checkout.
- Pull request: A place to compare and discuss the differences introduced on a branch with reviews, comments, integrated tests, and more.
- Remote: A common repository on that all team member use to exchange their changes.
- .gitgnore file: Sometimes it may be a good idea to exclude files from being tracked with Git. This is typically done in a special file named
.gitignore.
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git add file |
Snapshot the file in preparation for versioning |
git add index.rb |
| git add -p |
Select changes to add |
git add -p |
git blame file |
Show who changed what & when in a file |
git blame file |
git clone url |
Clone an entire repository from a remote location onto a local machine |
git clone https://github.com/promisepreston/example.git |
git commit -m message |
Commit staged snapshots permanently in version history |
git commit -m initial commit |
| git commit --amend |
Modify the last commit’s message |
git commit --amend |
| git init |
Initialize the current directory as a git repository |
git init |
git init directory |
Create an empty git repository in specified directory |
git init myapp |
git show commit |
Output metadata and content changes of the specified commit |
git show 4a0b8b5 |
| git status |
List which files are staged, unstaged, and untracked |
git status |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git branch |
List all local branches |
git branch |
| git branch -a |
List all local branches and remote branches as well |
git branch -a |
git branch branch |
List all local branches |
git branch develop |
git branch -d branch |
Delete a local branch |
git branch -d develop |
| git branch -D 'branch' |
Force delete a local branch |
git branch -D develop |
git branch -m new name |
Rename current branch |
git branch -m stable |
git checkout branch |
Switch to an existing branch |
git checkout develop |
git checkout -b branch |
Create a local branch and switch to it |
git checkout -b develop |
git merge branch |
Merge the specified branch's history into the current branch |
git merge develop |
git push origin branch |
Push branch to remote |
git push origin develop |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git clean -f |
Delete all untracked files |
git clean -f |
| git clean -n |
Show all untracked files that would be removed from working directory |
git clean -n |
| git clean -df |
Delete all untracked files and directories |
git clean -df |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git config --global alias.alias-name git-command |
Create shortcut for a Git command |
git config --global alias.graphlog log --graph |
| git config --global color.ui auto |
Enable helpful colorization of command line output for git |
git config --global color.ui auto |
git config --global user.name "name" |
Set the author name to be used for all commits by the current user |
git config --global user.name "Promise Chukwuenyem" |
git config --global user.email "email address" |
Set the author email to be used for all commits by the current user |
git config --global user.email "promise@example.com" |
git config --system core.editor editor |
Set text editor to be used by commands for all users on the current machine |
git config --system core.editor code |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git diff |
Show all unstaged local file changes in the working tree |
git diff |
| git diff HEAD |
Show difference between the working directory and the last commit |
git diff HEAD |
| git diff --cached |
Show difference between staged changes and last commit |
git diff --cached |
git diff branch A...branch B |
Show difference between two branches |
git diff develop...stable |
git diff file |
Show changes made to a file |
git diff index.rb |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git log |
List commit history for the current branch |
git log |
git log branch A..branch B |
List the commits on one branch that are not on another branch. Args can be a commit ID, branch name, HEAD , or any other kind of revision reference. |
git log develop..stable |
| git log -p |
Display the full difference of each commit for the current branch |
git log -p |
git log -N |
List commit history for last N commits |
git log -2 |
git log --author="name" |
List commit history by a particular author |
git log --author="Promise Chukwuenyem" |
git log -- file |
List commit history that have the specified file |
git log -- index.rb |
git log --follow file |
List commits for a file, including renames |
git log --follow index.rb |
| git log --graph |
Draws a text based graph of commits on left side of commit history |
git log --graph |
git log --grep="pattern" |
List commit history with a commit message that matches the specified pattern |
git log --grep="initial" |
| git log --oneline |
List each commit history in a single line for the current branch |
git log --oneline |
| git log --stat |
List commit history for the current branch including which files were altered and the relative number of lines that were added or deleted from each of them |
git log --stat |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git fetch alias branch |
Download the remote copy of the specified current branch, but don't combine it into the current local branch |
git fetch origin master |
git merge alias branch |
Combine the fetched copy of the remote branch into the current local branch |
git merge origin master |
git pull alias branch |
Update the current local branch with all new commits from the corresponding remote branch. git pull is a combination of git fetch and git merge |
git pull origin master |
git pull --rebase alias branch |
Fetch the remote’s copy of the current branch and rebases it into the local copy |
git pull --rebase origin master |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git push alias branch |
Upload all current local branch commits to remote branch |
git push origin master |
git push alias --all |
Upload all local branches to remote repository |
git push origin --all |
git push alias branch --force |
Upload all current local branch commits forefully to remote branch even if it results in a non-fast-forward merge |
git push origin master --force |
git push alias --tags |
Upload all local tags to remote repository. Tags aren’t automatically pushed when you push a branch or use the --all flag |
git push origin -tags |
git push -u origin branch |
Push and set upstream branch to track changes |
git push origin -u branch_name |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git rebase branch |
Apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one |
git rebase develop |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git remote -v |
|
|
git remote add alias url |
Add remote branch and its mapping to local |
git remote add origin https://github.com/promisepreston/example.git |
git remote remove alias |
Remove remote branch and its mapping to local |
git remote remove origin |
git remote set-url alias |
Edit remote branch and its mapping to local |
git remote set-url origin |
git remote show alias |
Show remote branches and their mapping to local |
git remote show origin |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git reset |
Reset staging area to match most recent commit, but leave the working directory unchanged |
git reset |
| git reset --hard |
Reset staging area and working directory to match most recent commit and overwrite all changes in the working directory |
git reset --hard |
git reset commit |
Reset staging area to the specified commit, but leave the working directory unchanged |
git reset 4a0b8b5 |
git reset --hard commit |
Reset staging area and working directory to the specified commit and overwrite all changes in the working directory |
git reset --hard 4a0b8b5 |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git stash |
Save modified and staged changes temporarily |
git stash |
| git stash drop |
Discard a stash from top of stash stack |
git stash drop |
| git stash list |
List stack-order of stashed file changes |
git stash list |
| git stash pop |
Apply a stash from top of stash stack and delete it from stash list |
git stash pop |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
git checkout tag |
Switch to an existing tag |
git checkout develop |
| git tag |
List all tags |
git tag |
git tag -d tag |
Delete a tag from a local repository |
git tag -d develop |
git pull alias --tags |
Download all remote tags to the current local branch |
git pull origin -tags |
git push alias --tags |
Upload all local tags to remote repository. Tags aren’t automatically pushed when you push a branch or use the --all flag |
git push origin -tags |
| Command |
Description |
Example(s) |
| git config --global.alias.shortcut |
Set shortcut for git command |
git config --global.alias.co checkout |
- GitHub Git Cheat Sheet
- GitHub Git Cheat Sheet
- BitBucket Git Cheat Sheet
- GitLab Git Cheat Sheet