Git cheat sheet

The git commands you actually use, and the ones you always have to look up: undoing the last commit, cleaning up branches, finding who changed a line, and getting back a commit you thought you lost.

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Setup

Set your name

git config --global user.name "name"

Set your email

git config --global user.email "email"

Set the default branch name for new repos

git config --global init.defaultBranch branch

Clone a repository

git clone url

Clone only recent history

Much faster for big repositories when you don’t need the full history.

git clone --depth depth url

Everyday

Short status with branch info

git status -sb

Stage parts of a file

Walks through each change and asks whether to stage it.

git add -p

Commit with a message

git commit -m "message"

Add changes to the last commit

Stage your fixes first. Don’t amend commits you’ve already pushed to a shared branch.

git commit --amend --no-edit

Show unstaged changes

git diff

Show staged changes

git diff --staged

Branches

Create a branch and switch to it

git switch -c branch

Switch back to the previous branch

git switch -

List branches, most recent first

git branch --sort=-committerdate

Rename the current branch

git branch -m new_name

Delete a merged branch

Use -D to delete a branch that hasn’t been merged.

git branch -d branch

Delete a remote branch

git push origin --delete branch

Delete every local branch already merged

Keeps the current branch and the base branch.

git branch --merged base | grep -vE '^\*|^\s*base$' | xargs git branch -d

Syncing

Fetch and drop deleted remote branches

git fetch --prune

Pull, rebasing your commits on top

git pull --rebase

Push a new branch and track it

git push -u origin HEAD

Force push without clobbering others’ work

Refuses if someone else pushed since you last fetched.

git push --force-with-lease

Add a remote

git remote add name url

Update a fork from upstream

git fetch upstream && git rebase upstream/branch

Undo

Undo the last commit, keep the changes

git reset --soft HEAD~count

Unstage a file

git restore --staged file

Discard changes to a file

git restore file

Make the branch match the remote

Throws away local commits and changes.

git fetch && git reset --hard origin/branch

Revert a commit with a new commit

The safe way to undo something that’s already pushed.

git revert commit

Find a lost commit

Every place HEAD has been. Find the commit, then git switch -c rescue <commit>.

git reflog

Preview deleting untracked files

Lists what would be deleted. Run again without -n to delete.

git clean -fdn

Stash

Stash everything, including new files

git stash push -u -m "message"

List stashes

git stash list

Apply the latest stash and drop it

git stash pop

Apply a specific stash

git stash apply stash@{index}

Stash just one file

git stash push file

History

One-line log graph

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all -n count

History of a file, with diffs

git log -p --follow -- file

Search commit messages

git log --oneline --grep="text"

Find commits that added or removed text

git log -S "text" --oneline

Who last changed these lines

git blame -L start,end file

Show a file as it was at a commit

git show commit:path

Commits on this branch that aren’t on main

git log --oneline base..HEAD

Rewriting

Interactive rebase

Squash, reword or reorder commits before opening a pull request.

git rebase -i base

Squash fixups automatically

Pairs with git commit --fixup <commit>.

git rebase -i --autosquash base

Copy a commit onto this branch

git cherry-pick commit

Abort a rebase or merge in progress

git operation --abort

Find the commit that broke something

Then mark each commit good or bad; git bisect reset when done.

git bisect start && git bisect bad && git bisect good good_commit

Tags and worktrees

Create an annotated tag

git tag -a tag -m "message"

Push tags

git push origin --tags

Check out a branch in another folder

Work on two branches at once without stashing.

git worktree add ../folder branch

Keep these one keystroke away.

Snippet Keeper is a Mac app for the commands you keep looking up. Press ⌥⇧Space in any app, type a few letters, fill in the blanks, and it’s on your clipboard.

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