Basic Git Concepts
- Default branch name:
main
- Default remote name:
origin
- Current branch reference:
HEAD
- Parent of
HEAD:HEAD^orHEAD~1
- Grandparent of
HEAD:HEAD^^orHEAD~2
1. Initialize a local repository
git init <directory>
The
<directory> is optional. If you don't specify it, the current directory will be used.2. Clone a remote repository
git clone <url>
3. Add a file to the staging area
git add <file>
To add all files in the current directory, use
. in place of <file>.git add .
4. Commit changes
git commit -m "<message>"
If you want to add all changes made to tracked files & commit
git commit -a -m "<message>"
or
git commit -am "<message>"
5. Remove a file from the staging area
git reset <file>
6. Move or rename a file
git mv <current path> <new path>
You can also remove it from staging area only using
--cached flaggit rm --cached <file>
7. Display branches
git branch
Useful flags:
a: Display all branches (Local & remote)
r: Display remote branches
v: Display branches with the last commit
8. Create a branch
git branch <branch>
You can create a branch and switch to it using the
checkout command.git checkout -b <branch>
9. Switch to a branch
git checkout <branch>
10. Delete a branch
git branch -d <branch>
You can also force delete a branch using the
-D flag.git branch -D <branch>
11. Merge a branch
git merge <branch to merge into HEAD>
Useful flags:
-no-ff: Create a merge commit even if the merge resolves as a fast-forward
-squash: Squash all commits from the specified branch into a single commit
Fast forward Merge
Non-Fast forward Merge
It is suggested to not use the
--squash flag as it will squash all commits into a single commit, leading to messy commit history.12. Rebase a branch
Rebasing is the process of moving or combining a sequence of commits to a new base commit.
git rebase <branch to rebase from>
13. Checkout a previous commit
git checkout <commit id>
14. Revert a commit
git revert <commit id>
15. Reset a commit
git reset <commit id>
You can also add the
--hard flag to delete all changes, but use it with caution.git reset --hard <commit id>
16. Check out the status of the repository
git status
17. Display the commit history
git log
18. Display the changes to unstaged files
git diff
You can also use the
--staged flag to display the changes to staged files.git diff --staged
19. Display the changes between two commits
git diff <commit id 01> <commit id 02>
20. Stash changes
The stash allows you to temporarily store changes without committing them.
git stash
You can also add a message to the stash.
git stash save "<message>"
21. List stashes
git stash list
28. Apply a stash
Applying the stash will NOT remove it from the stash list.
git stash apply <stash id>
If you do not specify the
<stash id>, the latest stash will be applied (Valid for all similar stash commands)You can also use the format
stash@{<index>} to apply a stash (Valid for all similar stash commands)git stash apply stash@{0}
29. Remove a stash
git stash drop <stash id>
30. Remove all stashes
git stash clear
31. Apply and remove a stash
git stash pop <stash id>
32. Display the changes in a stash
git stash show <stash id>
33. Add a remote repository
git remote add <remote name> <url>
34. Display remote repositories
git remote
Add a
-v flag to display the URLs of the remote repositories.git remote -v
35. Remove a remote repository
git remote remove <remote name>
36 Rename a remote repository
git remote rename <old name> <new name>
37. Fetch changes from a remote repository
git fetch <remote name>
38. Fetch changes from a particular branch
git fetch <remote name> <branch>
39. Pull changes from a remote repository
git pull <remote name> <branch>
40. Push changes to a remote repository
git push <remote name>
41. Push changes to a particular branch
git push <remote name> <branch>