Git cheatsheet

Git is one of the version control systems, and it's a prerequisite for development jobs. This post covers most of the git commands I use.

Configuration

• Set user configuration for every project if you use multiple accounts

  git config user.name "<USERNAME>"
  git config user.email "<EMAIL_ADDRESS>"

• Use the current branch for push commands

  git config --global push.default current

SSH keys setup

• Generate separate SSH keys for Github and Bitbucket with the following command, type the filename path and passphrase.

  ssh-keygen

• Add generated public keys to Github and Bitbucket

• Run the following commands to activate SSH keys
  

  eval `ssh-agent -s`
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github
  ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_bitbucket

Basic commands

• The repository setup

  • Initialize a git repository

  git init
  

  • Clone an existing repository

  # git clone <REPOSITORY_URL>
  git clone git@github.com:zsevic/pwa-starter.git
  

  • Add the remote repository

  # git remote add <REMOTE_NAME> <REPOSITORY_URL>
  git remote add origin git@github.com:zsevic/pwa-starter.git
  git remote add upstream git@github.com:zsevic/pwa-starter.git
  

  • Update the URL for the remote repository

  # git remote set-url <REMOTE_NAME> <REPOSITORY_URL>
  git remote set-url origin git@github.com:zsevic/pwa-starter.git
  

  • Get a list of configured remote connections

  git remote -v
  

• Branches

  • Get a list of the branches

  git branch
  

  • Create and switch to the new branch

  git checkout -b new-branch
  

  • Checkout to a specific commit and create a new branch out of it

  git log # find a hash from a specific commit
  git checkout <COMMIT_HASH>
  git switch -c <NEW_BRANCH_NAME>
  

  • Switch to another branch

  git checkout existing-branch
  

  • Rename the current branch

  git branch -m <NEW_BRANCH_NAME>
  

  • Delete branch

  git branch -D other-existing-branch
  

  • Fetch all the remote branches

  git fetch --all
  

• Get the status of the local changes
  
  

  git status

• Add new changes

  git add some-file.js
  git add .

• Commits

  • Commit the changes

  git commit -m "Commit message"
  

  • Empty commit without any files

  git commit --allow-empty -m "Trigger CI pipeline"
  

  • Commit the changes and skip running git hooks

  git commit -m "Commit message" --no-verify
  

  • Update the latest commit message and add new changes to the latest commit

  git commit -m "Commit message" --amend
  

• Push the changes to the remote repository

  • Push the changes to the current branch when the current branch is configured as the default one

  git push
  

  • Push the changes to the remote branch

  # git push <REMOTE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME>
  git push origin master
  

  • Force push the changes to the feature branch

  # git push <REMOTE_NAME> <FEATURE_BRANCH_NAME>
  git push origin feature-branch -f
  

• Fetch and merge remote changes to the local branch
  
  

  # git pull <REMOTE_NAME> <BRANCH_NAME>
  git pull origin master

• Remove (unstage) the changes from the local stage

  git reset some-file.js
  git reset

• Differences between commits

  • Get a difference compared to the latest commit

  git diff some-file.js
  git diff
  

  • Get a difference between the last two commits

  git diff HEAD^ HEAD
  

• Revert the file changes
  
  

  git checkout -- some-file.js

• Merge the specified branch into the current one

  git merge <BRANCH_NAME>

• Revert specific commit. The following command creates a new commit

  git revert <COMMIT_HASH>

Miscellaneous

• Resets

  • Soft reset (commits are removed, but changes from the removed commits are staged)

  # git reset --soft HEAD~{NUMBER_OF_COMMITS_TO_SOFT_REMOVE}
  git reset --soft HEAD~2
  

  • Hard reset (both commits and changes are removed)

  # git reset --hard HEAD~{NUMBER_OF_COMMITS_TO_HARD_REMOVE}
  git reset --hard HEAD~1 # equal as git reset --hard HEAD^
  

  • Get the latest remote changes when pulling doesn't work

  git reset --hard origin/<BRANCH_NAME>
  

• Stashing
  
  

  git add .
  git stash save <STASH_NAME>
  git stash list
  git stash apply --index 0

• Tags

  • Remove the following tag locally

  git tag -d v0.13.29
  

• Find removed commits
  
  

  git reflog
  git checkout <COMMIT_HASH>

• Remove the initial commit

  git update-ref -d HEAD

• Patching

  • Create a patch from the latest commits

  # git format-patch -{NUMBER_OF_COMMITS}
  git format-patch -1
  

  • Apply the patches

  git apply 0001-latest-commit.patch
  

• Git submodules

  • Add git submodule

  # git submodule add -- <REPOSITORY_URL> <DIRECTORY_PATH>
  git submodule add -- git@github.com:zsevic/pwa-starter.git template
  

  • Retrieve the latest changes for the git submodule

  # git submodule update --remote <DIRECTORY_PATH>
  git submodule update --remote template