Git Cheat Sheet

Table of Content

1. Creating Snapshots
   • Setting git credentials
   • Staging files
   • Viewing the status
   • Committing the staged files
   • Removing files
   • Renaming files
   • Viewing the staged/unstaged files
   • Viewing the history
   • Viewing a commit
   • Unstaging files
   • Discarding local changes
   • Restoring earlier version of file
2. Browsing History
   • Viewing the history
   • Filtering the history
   • Formatting the log output
   • Creating an alias
   • Viewing a commit
   • Comparing commits
   • Checking out commits
   • Finding a bad commit (Bisection method)
   • Finding contributors
   • Viewing the history of a file
   • Recovering a deleted file
   • Finding the author of line(s)
   • Tagging
3. Branching & Merging
   • Managing branches
   • Comparing branches
   • Stashing
   • Merging
   • Viewing the merged branches
   • Rebasing
4. Collaboration
5. Rewriting History

Creating Snapshots

Initializing a repository

git init

Setting your Git credentials for every repository on your computer

git config --global user.name "username"
git config --global user.email "email@example.com"

Staging files

Command	Description
git add file1.js	# Stages a single file
git add file.js file2.js	# Stages multiple files
git add *.js	# Stages with a pattern
git add .	# Stages the current directory and all its content

Viewing the status

Command	Description
git status	# Full status
git status -s	# Short status

Committing the staged files

Command	Description
git commit -m "Message"	# Commits with a one-line message
git commit	# Opens the default editor to type a long message

Removing files

Command	Description
git rm file1.js	# Removes from working directory & staging area
git rm --cached file1.js	# Removes fom staging area only

Renaming or moving files

Command	Description
git mv file.js file1.js	# Renames or moves existing file to new

Viewing the staged/unstaged changes

Command	Description
git diff	# Shows unstaged changes
git diff --staged	# Shows staged changes
git diff --cached	# Same as the above

Viewing the history

Command	Description
git log	# Full history
git log --oneline	# Summary
git log --reverse	# Lists the commits from the oldest to the newest

Viewing a commit

Command	Description
git show 93412ff	# Shows the given commit
git show HEAD	# Shows the last commit
git show HEAD~2	# Two steps before the last commmit
git show HEAD:file.js	# Shows the version of file.js store in the last commit
git ls-tree HEAD~1	# Shows commit when multiple directorires are included

Unstaging files (undoing git add)

Command	Description
git restore --staged file.css blob.js	# Copies the last version of file from last snapshot to index

Discarding local changes

Command	Description
git restore file.css	# Copies file.css from index to working directory
git restore file.css text.sh	# Restore multiple files in working directory
git restore .	# Discards all local changes (except untracked files)
git clean -fd	# Removes all untracked files

Restoring an earlier version of a file

git restore --source=HEAD~2 file.js

Browsing History

---

Viewing the history

Command	Description
git log --stat	# Shows the list of modified files
git log --patch	# Shows the actual changes (patches)

Filtering the history

Command	Description
git log -3	# Shows the last 3 entries
git log --author="cosmicqbit"	# Filter commits by author
git log --before="2022-03-6"	# Show commits before date
git log --after="one week ago"	# Show commits after date
git log --grep="GUI"	# Commits with "GUI" in their message
git log -S"Copy Tools"	# Commits with "Copy Tools" in their patches
git log hash1..hash2	# Range of commits
git log file.txt	#Commits that touched file.txt

Formatting the log output

Command	Description
git log --pretty=format:"%an commited %H"	# Shows author name commited hash
git log --pretty=format:"%an commited %h on %cd "	# Above with commit date
git log --pretty=format:"%Cgreen%an%Creset commited %H"	# Colorizes the author name

Creating an alias

Command	Description
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline"	# git lg will do the job
git config --global alias.unstage "restore --staged	# git unstage will do the job

Viewing a commit

Command	Description
git show HEAD~2	# Alt method for displaying using hash
git show HEAD~2 HEAD file.txt	# Changes to file.txt only

Comparing commits

Command	Description
git diff HEAD~2 HEAD	# Shows the changes between two commits
git diff HEAD~2 HEAD file.txt	# Changes to file.txt only

Checking out commits

Command	Description
git checkout rad763g	# Checks out the given commit
git checkout master	# Checks out the master branch

Finding a bad commit (Bisection method)

Command	Description
git bisect start	# Initializing the method
git bisect bad	# Marks the current commit as a bad commit
git bisect good ca49190	# Marks the given commit as a good commit
git bisect reset	# Terminates the bisect session

Finding contributors

Command	Description
git shortlog	# List contributors list
git shortlog -n -s -e	# Lists contributors in order, suppresses commit m & displays email

Viewing the history of a file

Command	Description
git log file.txt	# Shows the commits that touched file.txt
git log --oneline --stat file.txt	# Shows stats (no of changes) for file.txt
git log --patch file.txt	# Shows the patches (changes) applied to file.txt

Recovering a deleted file

Command	Description
git log --oneline -- toc.txt	# List all commits which touched the file
git checkout a64d33 toc.txt	# Step 2
git status -s	# Step 3
git commit -m "commit message"	# Step 4

Finding the author of line(s)

Command	Description
git blame file.txt	# Shows the author of each line in file.txt

Tagging

Command	Description
git tag v1.0	# Tags the last commit as v1.0
git tag v.1.0.1 4e4a897	# Tags an earlier commit
git checkout v.1.9	# Checks out the given tag
git tag	# Lists all the tags
git tag -a v1.1 -m "My version 1.1"	# Create annotated tag
git tag -n	# Display commit messages with annotated tags
git show v1.1	# Show tag details
git tag -d v1.1	# Deletes the given tag

Branching & Merging

---

Managing branches

Command	Description
git branch bugfix	# Creates a new branch called bugfix
git checkout feature	# Switches to the feature branch
git switch feature	# Same as the above
git switch -C feature	# Creates & switches
git branch -d bugfix	# Deletes the feature branch
git status	# Check the current branch name
git branch -m feature new-feature	# Renames the branch to new-feature

Comparing branches

Command	Description
git log master..bugfix	# Lists the commits in the bugfix branch not in master
git diff master..bugfix	# Shows the summary of changes

Stashing

Command	Description
git stash push -m "Stash message"	# Creates a new stash
git stash push -a -m "Stash message"	# Stashes untracked files as well
git stash list	# Lists all the stahes
git stash show stash@(1)	# Shows the given stash
git stash show 1	# Shortcut for stash@(1)
git stash apply 1	# Applies the given stash to the working dir
git stash drop 1	# Deletes the given stash
git stash clear	# Deletes all the stashes

Merging

Command	Description
git merge bugfix	# Merges the bugfix branch into the current branch
git merge --no-ff bugfix	# Creates a merge commit even if FF is possible
git merge --squash bugfix	# Performs a squash merge
git merge --abort	# Aborts the merge

Viewing the merged branches

Command	Description
git branch merged	# Shows the merged branches
git branch --no-merged	# Shows the unmerged branches

Rebasing

Command	Description
git rebase master	# Changes the base of the current branch

Contribution

If you want to contirbute to the repo, feel free to request PR.