Git cheat sheet

See also fixing commits

Common commands

  • add

    • git add foo.py

  • checkout

    • git checkout -b new-branch-name

    • git checkout main

    • git checkout old-branch-name

  • commit

    • git commit -m "topic: Commit message title."

    • git commit --amend: Modify the previous commit.

  • config

    • git config --global core.editor nano

    • git config --global core.symlinks true

  • diff

    • git diff

    • git diff --cached

    • git diff HEAD~2..

  • fetch

    • git fetch origin

    • git fetch upstream

  • grep

    • git grep update_unread_counts

  • log

    • git log

  • pull

  • push

    • git push origin +branch-name

  • rebase

    • git rebase -i HEAD~3

    • git rebase -i main

    • git rebase upstream/main

  • reflog

    • git reflog | head -10

  • remote

    • git remote -v

  • reset

    • git reset HEAD~2

  • rm

    • git rm oops.txt

  • show

    • git show HEAD

    • git show HEAD~~~

    • git show main

  • status

    • git status

Detailed cheat sheet

  • add

    • git add foo.py: add foo.py to the staging area

    • git add foo.py bar.py: add foo.py AND bar.py to the staging area

    • git add -u: Adds all tracked files to the staging area.

  • checkout

    • git checkout -b new-branch-name: create branch new-branch-name and switch to/check out that new branch

    • git checkout main: switch to your main branch

    • git checkout old-branch-name: switch to an existing branch old-branch-name

  • commit

    • git commit -m "commit message": It is recommended to type a multiline commit message, however.

    • git commit: Opens your default text editor to write a commit message.

    • git commit --amend: changing the last commit message. Read more here

  • config

    • git config --global core.editor nano: set core editor to nano (you can set this to vim or others)

    • git config --global core.symlinks true: allow symbolic links

  • diff

    • git diff: display the changes you have made to all files

    • git diff --cached: display the changes you have made to staged files

    • git diff HEAD~2..: display the 2 most recent changes you have made to files

  • fetch

    • git fetch origin: fetch origin repository

    • git fetch upstream: fetch upstream repository

  • grep

    • git grep update_unread_counts web/src: Search our JS for references to update_unread_counts.

  • log

    • git log: show commit logs

    • git log --oneline | head: To quickly see the latest ten commits on a branch.

  • pull

    • git pull --rebase: rebase your changes on top of main.

    • git pull (with no options): Will either create a merge commit (which you don’t want) or do the same thing as git pull --rebase, depending on whether you’ve configured Git properly

  • push

    • git push origin branch-name: push you commits to the origin repository only if there are no conflicts. Use this when collaborating with others to prevent overwriting their work.

    • git push origin +branch-name: force push your commits to your origin repository.

  • rebase

    • git rebase -i HEAD~3: interactive rebasing current branch with first three items on HEAD

    • git rebase -i main: interactive rebasing current branch with main branch

    • git rebase upstream/main: rebasing current branch with main branch from upstream repository

  • reflog

    • git reflog | head -10: manage reference logs for the past 10 commits

  • remote

    • git remote -v: display your origin and upstream repositories

  • reset

    • git reset HEAD~2: reset two most recent commits

  • rm

    • git rm oops.txt: remove oops.txt

  • show

    • git show HEAD: display most recent commit

    • git show HEAD~~~: display third most recent commit

    • git show main: display most recent commit on main

  • status

    • git status: show the working tree status, unstaged and staged files