Creating Git Aliases

Written by David Walsh on September 25, 2009 · 10 Comments

I create shortcuts for everything. I create variables which act as text shortcuts, shortcuts in TextMate to generate CSS/JS/HTML, and bash scripts so I don't have to type in the same commands over and over again. So why should version control software be any different? I commit and push religiously so I create Git aliases to save myself a few keystrokes.

Sample Aliases

#make "com" alias for "commit"
git config alias.com commit

#make "co" alias for checkout
git config alias.co checkout

#make "br" alias for branch
git config alias.br branch

# When you want to see just the differences of one function in one file in two different commits
git config alias.funcdiff '!sh -c "git show \"\$1:\$3\" | sed -n \"/^[^ \t].*\$4(/,/^}/p\" > .tmp1 &&
        git show \"\$2:\$3\" | sed -n \"/^[^ \t].*\$4(/,/^}/p\" > .tmp2 &&
        git diff --no-index .tmp1 .tmp2"' -

These are just some sample Git aliases. You can view more detailed (and by detailed I mean brain-numbing) examples of git aliases at the Git Wiki.

Comments

Jacob Rask September 25, 2009

Nice! I use ci for commit though, more like Subversion. I also have di for diff, st for status and sta for stash.

Terry April 28, 2011

I’m trying to get the funcdiff alias created. When I try to call it with something like:

git funcdiff “rel\path\to\file” functionName
or
git funcdiff HEAD~2 HEAD “rel\path\to\file” functionName

both give me an error like:
fatal: Path ‘funcitonName’ does not exist in ‘sha1-2′.
fatal: Invalid object name ‘rel\path\to\file’.

I’ve Googled everywhere for anyone using this alias to see a sample syntax, but no one has one. Have you used it successfully?

Dan October 13, 2012

You can make aliases for branch name, too. For example:

git symbolic-ref head HEAD

Peter February 5, 2013

Dan, command

git symbolic-ref head HEAD

ruins git repo in windows. Because it overwrites “HEAD” with “head” in “.git” directory

For ones, that tried this: just rename the file back

Shahzeb July 15, 2013

Very useful, thanks!

organic SEO August 15, 2013

Thanks for the commands,
I need to know how to create an alias for paths.
For example if I need to write “git push PATH” instead of “git push gitolite@codex…”
Regards

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