This handy cheat sheet provides a quick reference to the most commonly used Git commands, from setting up your environment to managing branches and rewriting history.
SETUP
Configuring user information used across all local repositories.
| DESCRIPTION | DESCRIPTION |
| Set a name that is easy to recognize for credit when reviewing version history. | git config --global user.name “[firstname lastname]” |
| set an email address that will be linked to each history entry | git config --global user.email “[valid-email]” |
| set automatic command line coloring for Git for easy reviewing | git config --global color.ui auto |
SETUP & INIT
Configuring user information, initializing and cloning repositories
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Initialize an existing directory as a Git repository | git init |
| Retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL | git clone [url] |
STAGE & SNAPSHOT
Working with snapshots and the Git staging area.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Show modified files in working directory, staged for your next commit | git status |
| Add a file as it looks now to your next commit (stage) | git add [file] |
| Unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory | git reset [file] |
| Diff of what is changed but not staged | git diff |
| Diff of what is staged but not yet committed | git diff --staged |
| Commit your staged content as a new commit snapshot | git commit -m “[descriptive message]” |
BRANCH & MERGE
Isolating work in branches, changing context, and integrating changes.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
List your branches. A * will appear next to the currently active branch. | git branch |
| Create a new branch at the current commit. | git branch [branch-name] |
| Switch to another branch and check it out into your working directory. | git checkout |
| Merge the specified branch’s history into the current one. | git merge [branch] |
| Show all commits in the current branch’s history. | git log |
INSPECT & COMPARE
Examining logs, diffs and object information.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Show the commit history for the currently active branch | git log |
| Show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB | git log branchB..branchA |
| Show the commits that changed file, even across renames | git log --follow [file] |
| Show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB | git diff branchB...branchA |
| Show any object in Git in human-readable format | git show [SHA] |
SHARE & UPDATE
Retrieving updates from another repository and updating local repos.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Add a git URL as an alias | git remote add [alias] [url] |
| Fetch down all the branches from that Git remote | git fetch [alias] |
| Merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date | git merge [alias]/[branch] |
| Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch | git push [alias] [branch] |
| Fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch | git pull |
TRACKING PATH CHANGES
Versioning file removes and path changes.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Delete the file from project and stage the removal for commit. | git rm [file] |
| Change an existing file path and stage the move. | git mv [existing-path] [new-path] |
| Show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved. | git log --stat -M |
REWRITE HISTORY
Rewriting branches, updating commits and clearing history.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one | git rebase [branch] |
| Clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit | git reset --hard [commit] |
IGNORING PATTERNS
Preventing unintentional staging or committing of files.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Save a file with desired patterns as .gitignore with either direct string matches or wildcard globs. | logs/ .notes pattern/ |
| System wide ignore pattern for all local repositories. | git config --global core.excludesfile [file] |
TEMPORARY COMMITS
Temporarily store modified, tracked files in order to change branches.
| DESCRIPTION | COMMAND |
| Save modified and staged changes. | git stash |
| List stack-order of stashed file changes. | git stash list |
| Write working from top of stash stack | git stash pop |
| Discard the changes from top of stash stack | git stash drop |