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
  • git pull --rebase: Use this. Zulip uses a rebase oriented workflow.
  • 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
• 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.
  • git log -p: show commit logs with changes; see the "secret" to reading it's output
• 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