Git

Setting Up

Initialize an existing directory as a Git repository

git init

Clone a specified remote repository

git clone <remote repository url>

Specifies the remote repository for your local repository.

git remote add origin <remote repository url>

Staging

Show modified files in working directory, and files staged for your next commit

git status

Add a file as it looks now to your next commit

git add <file 1> ... <file N>

Unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory

git restore --staged <file 1> ... <file N>

Committing

Commit the staged content as a new commit snapshot

git commit

Note

Scoped commit message style:

<scope>: <what changed>

<why the change was made or extra context>

<Key: value>

Modify the previous commit's message

git commit --amend -m "<new commit message>"

Branching

Display local branches

git branch

Display remote branches

git branch -r

Create a branch

git branch <branch>

Rename a branch

git branch -m <branch to rename> <new branch name>

Switch to a branch

git switch <branch>

Delete a branch

git branch -d <branch>

Delete a branch with unmerged changes

git branch -D <branch>

Delete a remote branch

git push origin --delete <remote branch>

Inspecting & Comparing

Show the commit history for the current branch

git log

Show a condensed commit history as a graph, including all branches

git log --oneline --graph --all

Show unstaged changes in the working directory

git diff

Show staged changes (what will go into the next commit)

git diff --staged

Show the difference between two branches or commits

git diff <branch or commit A> <branch or commit B>

Show who last modified each line of a file, and in which commit

git blame <file>

Show the details and changes of a specific commit

git show <commit>

Move the HEAD pointer to a commit

git switch --detach <commit> or HEAD<relative reference>

Note

Checking out a commit causes the HEAD pointer to be in a detached head state, where any commits won't belong to any branches, and will be lost when you switch away (unless you run git switch -c <new branch> first to keep them).

Merging & Rebasing

Merge a branch into the current branch

git merge <from branch>

Replay the current branch's commits on top of a target branch

git rebase <from branch>

Note

Squashing is done inside an interactive rebase: mark commits with squash (or s) to combine them into the commit above.

Abort a merge or rebase that has conflicts and return to the previous state

git merge --abort
git rebase --abort

Note

When to use rebase vs merge:

Updating your private stuff from upstream: rebase
Landing your stuff into shared branches: merge

Stashing

Save all staged and unstaged changes

git stash

List stack-order of stashed file changes

git stash list

Show a summary of the files changed in the most recent stash

git stash show stash@{<index>}

Write the most recent stash back to working copy and removes it from the top of the stash stack

git stash pop

Write the most recent stash back to working copy and does not remove it from the top of the stash stack

git stash apply

Discard the changes from top of stash stack

git stash drop

Undoing Things

Move the current branch back to a commit, keeping changes staged (--soft), unstaged (--mixed) — the default — or discarding them entirely (--hard)

git reset [--soft | --mixed | --hard] <commit>

Create a new commit that reverses the changes of a previous commit

git revert <commit>

Syncing

Download commits and branches from the remote without changing your working directory

git fetch <remote>

Fetch from the remote and rebase the current branch's local commits on top of the remote branch, instead of merging

git pull --rebase

Pushing

Push a branch to the remote

git push <remote> <branch>

Push a branch that you've never pushed before to the remote

git push -u origin <branch>