Useful Git Commands

By  on  

I've used git quite a bit but I don't consider myself a git expert, per se. I often find myself looking up the same basic commands so I thought I'd share them there so I'd have a fast reference, and maybe this will help you out too!

Create and Checkout a New Branch

#branches from currently checked out directory
git checkout -b <branchName>

Checkout a Remote Branch

git checkout -b <localBranchName> origin/<remoteBranchName>

Abort Changes of a File

git checkout -- <fileName>

Modify the Previous Commit's Message

git commit --amend

Partial Change Checkin

git add --edit

Undo the Previous Commit

git revert HEAD^

Temporarily Stash Changes, Restore Later

# After changes have been made...
git stash

# Do some other stuff here, like switch branches, merge other changes, etc.

#Re-apply the changes
git stash pop

Delete a Remote Branch

git push origin :<branchName>

Pull in the Latest from a Shared Repository

# Add a remote branch
git remote add <remoteName> <gitAddress>
	# For example:  git remote add lightfaceOfficial git://github.com/darkwing/LightFace.git

# Get changes from that branch
git fetch <remoteName>

Tagging, Deleting, and Pushing Tags

# Create a Tag
git tag <tagName>

# Delete the tag
git tag -d <tagName>

# Push Tags
git push --tags

Who F'd it All Up?

git blame <fileName>

These basic git commands should help you on your way. Have a tip you'd like to share with others? Please share!

Recent Features

  • By
    Introducing MooTools Templated

    One major problem with creating UI components with the MooTools JavaScript framework is that there isn't a great way of allowing customization of template and ease of node creation. As of today, there are two ways of creating: new Element Madness The first way to create UI-driven...

  • By
    Being a Dev Dad

    I get asked loads of questions every day but I'm always surprised that they're rarely questions about code or even tech -- many of the questions I get are more about non-dev stuff like what my office is like, what software I use, and oftentimes...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    HTML5 Context Menus

    One of the hidden gems within the HTML5 spec is context menus. The HTML5 context menu spec allows developers to create custom context menus for given blocks within simple menu and menuitem elements. The menu information lives right within the page so...

  • By
    jQuery Random Link Color Animations

    We all know that we can set a link's :hover color, but what if we want to add a bit more dynamism and flair? jQuery allows you to not only animate to a specified color, but also allows you to animate to a random color. The...

Discussion

  1. Fetch from all remote repositories:
    git remote update

    See a nice ascii graph of your branches:
    git log --oneline --graph --all

    • +1 on the ascii graph. I even make an alias for it.

      git config --global alias.timeline "log --oneline --graph --decorate"

      So all when i need my ascii graph I just:
      git timeline

    • in

      git remote update-git log --oneline --graph --all="git config --global alias.timeline "log --oneline --graph --decorate"{git timeline}
  2. +1 on the ascii graph. I even make an alias for it.

    git config --global alias.timeline "log --oneline --graph --decorate"

    So all when i need my ascii graph I just:

    git timeline

  3. Denis S.

    check this out “git – the simple guide” by @rogerdudler
    http://rogerdudler.github.com/git-guide/index.html

  4. Hey, just to expand on “undo previous commit”:


    git reset --hard HEAD~3

    This will revert three commits back.

  5. tried adapting to command git not to used to it so i settled for SmartGit pending i grasped the whole Git command line thingy

  6. Not sure why this works for you, but I really have to do this to stash:

    $ git stash save “The name of the stash”

    And then to put it back

    $ git stash apply

    Or

    $ git stash apply “The name of the stash”

  7. The below cmd is used for search:

    grep log –grep=”your search word”

  8. John W

    The ASCII timeline (above) can be customised further, to good effect, by using the –format option, e.g. to add time information about the commits (helpful in a timeline!):

    git log –graph –all –format=’%h %an %ad – %s’

    (or use %ar instead of %ad if you like relative dates)

    Mix with other options to suit. Full details of the format option are in the git-log man page (quite far down the page).

Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!