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Helpful Git commands

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Here is a list of helpful HOWTO Git commands. Please follow/star this github repository for updates.

Everyday Git in twenty commands or so

git help everyday

Show helpful guides that come with Git

git help -g

Overwrite pull

git fetch --all && git reset --hard origin/master

List of all files till a commit

git ls-tree --name-only -r <commit-ish>

Git reset first commit

git update-ref -d HEAD

List all the conflicted files

git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U

List of all files changed in a commit

git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit-ish>

Unstaged changes since last commit

git diff

Changes staged for commit

git diff --cached

Alternatives:

git diff --staged

Show both staged and unstaged changes

git diff HEAD

List all branches that are already merged into master

git branch --merged master

Quickly switch to the previous branch

git checkout -

Remove branches that have already been merged with master

git branch --merged master | grep -v '^\*' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

Alternatives:

git branch --merged master | grep -v '^\*\|  master' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d # will not delete master if master is not checked out

List all branches and their upstreams, as well as last commit on branch

git branch -vv

Track upstream branch

git branch -u origin/mybranch

Delete local branch

git branch -d <local_branchname>

Delete remote branch

git push origin --delete <remote_branchname>

Alternatives:

git push origin :<remote_branchname>

Undo local changes with the last content in head

git checkout -- <file_name>

Revert: Undo a commit by creating a new commit

git revert <commit-ish>

Reset: Discard commits, advised for private branch

git reset <commit-ish>

Reword the previous commit message

git commit -v --amend

See commit history for just the current branch

git cherry -v master

Amend author.

git commit --amend --author='Author Name <[email protected]>'

Reset author, after author has been changed in the global config.

git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

Changing a remote’s URL

git remote set-url origin <URL>

Get list of all remote references

git remote

Alternatives:

git remote show

Get list of all local and remote branches

git branch -a

Get only remote branches

git branch -r

Stage parts of a changed file, instead of the entire file

git add -p

Get git bash completion

curl http://git.io/vfhol > ~/.git-completion.bash && echo '[ -f ~/.git-completion.bash ] && . ~/.git-completion.bash' >> ~/.bashrc

What changed since two weeks?

git log --no-merges --raw --since='2 weeks ago'

Alternatives:

git whatchanged --since='2 weeks ago'

See all commits made since forking from master

git log --no-merges --stat --reverse master..

Pick commits across branches using cherry-pick

git checkout <branch-name> && git cherry-pick <commit-ish>

Find out branches containing commit-hash

git branch -a --contains <commit-ish>

Alternatives:

git branch --contains <commit-ish>

Git Aliases

git config --global alias.<handle> <command> 
git config --global alias.st status

Saving current state of tracked files without commiting

git stash

Alternatives:

git stash save

Saving current state including untracked files

git stash save -u

Alternatives:

git stash save --include-untracked

Show list of all saved stashes

git stash list

Apply any stash without deleting from the stashed list

git stash apply <stash@{n}>

Apply last stashed state and delete it from stashed list

git stash pop

Alternatives:

git stash apply stash@{0} && git stash drop stash@{0}

Delete all stored stashes

git stash clear

Alternatives:

git stash drop <stash@{n}>

Grab a single file from a stash

git checkout <stash@{n}> -- <file_path>

Alternatives:

git checkout stash@{0} -- <file_path>

Show all tracked files

git ls-files -t

Show all untracked files

git ls-files --others

Show all ignored files

git ls-files --others -i --exclude-standard

Create new working tree from a repository (git 2.5)

git worktree add -b <branch-name> <path> <start-point>

Create new working tree from HEAD state

git worktree add --detach <path> HEAD

Untrack files without deleting

git rm --cached <file_path>

Alternatives:

git rm --cached -r <directory_path>

Before deleting untracked files/directory, do a dry run to get the list of these files/directories

git clean -n

Forcefully remove untracked files

git clean -f

Forcefully remove untracked directory

git clean -f -d

Alternatives:

git clean -df

Update all the submodules

git submodule foreach git pull

Show all commits in the current branch yet to be merged to master

git cherry -v master

Alternatives:

git cherry -v master <branch-to-be-merged>

Rename a branch

git branch -m <new-branch-name>

Alternatives:

git branch -m [<old-branch-name>] <new-branch-name>

rebases ‘feature’ to ‘master’ and merges it in to master

git checkout feature && git rebase @{-1} && git checkout @{-2} && git merge @{-1}

Archive the master branch

git archive master --format=zip --output=master.zip

Modify previous commit without modifying the commit message

git add --all && git commit --amend --no-edit

Prunes references to remote branches that have been deleted in the remote.

git fetch -p

Alternatives:

git remote prune origin

Retrieve the commit hash of the initial revision.

 git rev-list --reverse HEAD | head -1

Visualize the version tree.

git log --pretty=oneline --graph --decorate --all

Alternatives:

gitk --all

Deploying git tracked subfolder to gh-pages

git subtree push --prefix subfolder_name origin gh-pages

Adding a project to repo using subtree

git subtree add --prefix=<directory_name>/<project_name> --squash [email protected]:<username>/<project_name>.git master

Get latest changes in your repo for a linked project using subtree

git subtree pull --prefix=<directory_name>/<project_name> --squash [email protected]:<username>/<project_name>.git master

Export a branch with history to a file.

git bundle create <file> <branch-name>

Import from a bundle

git clone repo.bundle <repo-dir> -b <branch-name>

Get the name of current branch.

git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD

Ignore one file on commit (e.g. Changelog).

git update-index --assume-unchanged Changelog; git commit -a; git update-index --no-assume-unchanged Changelog

Stash changes before rebasing

git rebase --autostash

Fetch pull request by ID to a local branch

git fetch origin pull/<id>/head:<branch-name>

Alternatives:

git pull origin pull/<id>/head:<branch-name>

Show the most recent tag on the current branch.

git describe --tags --abbrev=0

Show inline word diff.

git diff --word-diff

Don’t consider changes for tracked file.

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file_name>

Undo assume-unchanged.

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file_name>

Clean the files from .gitignore.

git clean -X -f

Restore deleted file.

git checkout <deleting_commit>^ -- <file_path>

Restore file to a specific commit-hash

git checkout <commit-ish> -- <file_path>

Always rebase instead of merge on pull.

git config --global branch.autosetuprebase always

List all the alias and configs.

git config --list

Make git case sensitive.

git config --global core.ignorecase false

Auto correct typos.

git config --global help.autocorrect 1

Check if the change was a part of a release.

git name-rev --name-only <SHA-1>

Dry run. (any command that supports dry-run flag should do.)

git clean -fd --dry-run

Marks your commit as a fix of a previous commit.

git commit --fixup <SHA-1>

squash fixup commits normal commits.

git rebase -i --autosquash

skip staging area during commit.

git commit -am <commit message>

List ignored files.

git check-ignore *

Status of ignored files.

git status --ignored

Commits in Branch1 that are not in Branch2

git log Branch1 ^Branch2

reuse recorded resolution, record and reuse previous conflicts resolutions.

git config --global rerere.enabled 1

Open all conflicted files in an editor.

git diff --name-only | uniq | xargs $EDITOR

Count unpacked number of objects and their disk consumption.

git count-objects --human-readable

Prune all unreachable objects from the object database.

git gc --prune=now --aggressive

Instantly browse your working repository in gitweb.

git instaweb [--local] [--httpd=<httpd>] [--port=<port>] [--browser=<browser>]

View the GPG signatures in the commit log

git log --show-signature

Remove entry in the global config.

git config --global --unset <entry-name>

Checkout a new branch without any history

git checkout --orphan <branch_name>

Extract file from another branch.

git show <branch_name>:<file_name>

List only the root and merge commits.

git log --first-parent

Merge previous two commits into one.

git rebase --interactive HEAD~2

List all branch is WIP

git checkout master && git branch --no-merged

Find guilty with binary search

git bisect start                    # Search start 
git bisect bad                      # Set point to bad commit 
git bisect good v2.6.13-rc2         # Set point to good commit|tag 
git bisect bad                      # Say current state is bad 
git bisect good                     # Say current state is good 
git bisect reset                    # Finish search 

Bypass pre-commit and commit-msg githooks

git commit --no-verify

List commits and changes to a specific file (even through renaming)

git log --follow -p -- <file_path>

Clone a single branch

git clone -b <branch-name> --single-branch https://github.com/user/repo.git

Create and switch new branch

git checkout -b <branch-name>

Alternatives:

git branch <branch-name> && git checkout <branch-name>

Ignore file mode changes on commits

git config core.fileMode false

Turn off git colored terminal output

git config --global color.ui false

specific color settings

git config --global <specific command e.g branch, diff> <true, false or always>