10 Git aliases that will save time and boost productivity

Like most software developers, I spend a lot of my time in the terminal writing Git commands such as status, commit and push (you know the drill), but when you actually add up all those keystrokes and realise how many seconds/minutes/hours you spend on writing them, that is exactly what it becomes - a lot of time.

It was pretty early on in my career that I started looking for ways to reduce the time I spent writing Git commands as it was a simple, repetitive task that was ripe for automation. I was then told about aliases and set about creating my own.

Note: My terminal setup is currently iTerm2 + zsh + Oh My Zsh. Here's a helpful guide to install this setup on your machine.

All of my aliases live in the ./zshrc file at root and they follow this syntax:

alias myalias='echo hello new alias'

Here is the complete list of all 10 Git aliases that I use on a daily basis:

alias gs='git status'
alias gc='git commit -m'
alias ga='git add'
alias gr='git reset HEAD'
alias m='git checkout master'
alias gd='git diff'
alias greb='git pull --rebase'
alias gp='git push'
alias gch='git checkout'
alias gm='git merge'

These aliases save me a ton of time and allow me to focus more on copying/pasting writing code. Shaving off a few seconds from every command really adds up and has definitely boosted my productivity as a whole.

PS. you can use aliases for any commands in the terminal. For example, another one of my favourites is alias cl='clear'.

Aliases are super useful and if you can get into the habit of using them, you will soon feel the benefits!