Setup
-----
git clone <repo>
clone the repository specified by <repo>; this is similar to "checkout" in
some other version control systems such as Subversion and CVS
Add colors to your ~/.gitconfig file:
[color]
ui = auto
[color "branch"]
current = yellow reverse
local = yellow
remote = green
[color "diff"]
meta = yellow bold
frag = magenta bold
old = red bold
new = green bold
[color "status"]
added = yellow
changed = green
untracked = cyan
Highlight whitespace in diffs
[color]
ui = true
[color "diff"]
whitespace = red reverse
[core]
whitespace=fix,-indent-with-non-tab,trailing-space,cr-at-eol
Add aliases to your ~/.gitconfig file:
[alias]
st = status
ci = commit
br = branch
co = checkout
df = diff
lg = log -p
Configuration
-------------
git config -e [--global]
edit the .git/config [or ~/.gitconfig] file in your $EDITOR
git config --global user.name 'John Doe'
git config --global user.email [email protected]
sets your name and email for commit messages
git config branch.autosetupmerge true
tells git-branch and git-checkout to setup new branches so that git-pull(1)
will appropriately merge from that remote branch. Recommended. Without this,
you will have to add --track to your branch command or manually merge remote
tracking branches with "fetch" and then "merge".
git config core.autocrlf true
This setting tells git to convert the newlines to the system’s standard
when checking out files, and to LF newlines when committing in
You can add "--global" after "git config" to any of these commands to make it
apply to all git repos (writes to ~/.gitconfig).
Info
----
git diff
show a diff of the changes made since your last commit
to diff one file: "git diff -- <filename>"
to show a diff between staging area and HEAD: `git diff --cached`
git status
show files added to the staging area, files with changes, and untracked files
git log
show recent commits, most recent on top. Useful options:
--color with color
--graph with an ASCII-art commit graph on the left
--decorate with branch and tag names on appropriate commits
--stat with stats (files changed, insertions, and deletions)
-p with full diffs
--author=foo only by a certain author
--after="MMM DD YYYY" ex. ("Jun 20 2008") only commits after a certain date
--before="MMM DD YYYY" only commits that occur before a certain date
--merge only the commits involved in the current merge conflicts
git log <ref>..<ref>
show commits between the specified range. Useful for seeing changes from
remotes:
git log HEAD..origin/master # after git remote update
git show <rev>
show the changeset (diff) of a commit specified by <rev>, which can be any
SHA1 commit ID, branch name, or tag (shows the last commit (HEAD) by default)
git blame <file>
show who authored each line in <file>
git blame <file> <rev>
show who authored each line in <file> as of <rev> (allows blame to go back in
time)
git gui blame
really nice GUI interface to git blame
git whatchanged <file>
show only the commits which affected <file> listing the most recent first
Adding / Deleting
-----------------
git add <file1> <file2> ...
add <file1>, <file2>, etc... to the project
git add <dir>
add all files under directory <dir> to the project, including subdirectories
git add .
add all files under the current directory to the project
git rm <file1> <file2> ...
remove <file1>, <file2>, etc... from the project
git rm $(git ls-files --deleted)
remove all deleted files from the project
git rm --cached <file1> <file2> ...
commits absence of <file1>, <file2>, etc... from the project
Staging
-------
git add <file1> <file2> ...
git stage <file1> <file2> ...
add changes in <file1>, <file2> ... to the staging area (to be included in
the next commit
git add -p
git stage --patch
interactively walk through the current changes (hunks) in the working
tree, and decide which changes to add to the staging area.
git add -i
git stage --interactive
interactively add files/changes to the staging area. For a simpler
mode (no menu), try `git add --patch` (above)
Committing
----------
git commit <file1> <file2> ... [-m <msg>]
commit <file1>, <file2>, etc..., optionally using commit message <msg>,
otherwise opening your editor to let you type a commit message
git commit -a
commit all files changed since your last commit
(does not include new (untracked) files)
git commit -v
commit verbosely, i.e. includes the diff of the contents being committed in
the commit message screen
git commit --amend
edit the commit message of the most recent commit
git commit --amend <file1> <file2> ...
redo previous commit, including changes made to <file1>, <file2>, etc...
Branching
---------
git branch
list all local branches
git branch -r
list all remote branches
git branch -a
list all local and remote branches
git branch <branch>
create a new branch named <branch>, referencing the same point in history as
the current branch
git branch <branch> <start-point>
create a new branch named <branch>, referencing <start-point>, which may be
specified any way you like, including using a branch name or a tag name
git branch --track <branch> <remote-branch>
create a tracking branch. Will push/pull changes to/from another repository.
Example: git branch --track experimental origin/experimental
git branch -d <branch>
delete the branch <branch>; if the branch you are deleting points to a commit
which is not reachable from the current branch, this command will fail with a
warning.
git branch -r -d <remote-branch>
delete a remote-tracking branch.
Example: git branch -r -d wycats/master
git branch -D <branch>
even if the branch points to a commit not reachable from the current branch,
you may know that that commit is still reachable from some other branch or
tag. In that case it is safe to use this command to force git to delete the
branch.
git checkout <branch>
make the current branch <branch>, updating the working directory to reflect
the version referenced by <branch>
git checkout -b <new> <start-point>
create a new branch <new> referencing <start-point>, and check it out.
git push <repository> :<branch>
removes a branch from a remote repository.
Example: git push origin :old_branch_to_be_deleted
Merging
-------
git merge <branch>
merge branch <branch> into the current branch; this command is idempotent and
can be run as many times as needed to keep the current branch up-to-date with
changes in <branch>
git merge <branch> --no-commit
merge branch <branch> into the current branch, but do not autocommit the
result; allows you to make further tweaks
git merge <branch> -s ours
merge branch <branch> into the current branch, but drops any changes in
<branch>, using the current tree as the new tree
Cherry-Picking
--------------
git cherry-pick [--edit] [-n] [-m parent-number] [-s] [-x] <commit>
selectively merge a single commit from another local branch
Example: git cherry-pick 7300a6130d9447e18a931e898b64eefedea19544
Squashing
---------
WARNING: "git rebase" changes history. Be careful. Google it.
git rebase --interactive HEAD~10
(then change all but the first "pick" to "squash")
squash the last 10 commits into one big commit
Conflicts
---------
git mergetool
work through conflicted files by opening them in your mergetool (opendiff,
kdiff3, etc.) and choosing left/right chunks. The merged result is staged for
commit.
For binary files or if mergetool won't do, resolve the conflict(s) manually and
then do:
git add <file1> [<file2> ...]
Once all conflicts are resolved and staged, commit the pending merge with:
git commit
Sharing
-------
git fetch <remote>
update the remote-tracking branches for <remote> (defaults to "origin").
Does not initiate a merge into the current branch (see "git pull" below).
git pull
fetch changes from the server, and merge them into the current branch.
Note: .git/config must have a [branch "some_name"] section for the current
branch, to know which remote-tracking branch to merge into the current
branch. Git 1.5.3 and above adds this automatically.
git push
update the server with your commits across all branches that are *COMMON*
between your local copy and the server. Local branches that were never pushed
to the server in the first place are not shared.
git push origin <branch>
update the server with your commits made to <branch> since your last push.
This is always *required* for new branches that you wish to share. After the
first explicit push, "git push" by itself is sufficient.
Reverting
---------
git revert <rev>
reverse commit specified by <rev> and commit the result. This does *not* do
the same thing as similarly named commands in other VCS's such as "svn revert"
or "bzr revert", see below
git checkout <file>
re-checkout <file>, overwriting any local changes
git checkout .
re-checkout all files, overwriting any local changes. This is most similar to
"svn revert" if you're used to Subversion commands
Fix mistakes / Undo
-------------------
git reset --hard
abandon everything since your last commit; this command can be DANGEROUS. If
merging has resulted in conflicts and you'd like to just forget about the
merge, this command will do that.
git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD
undo your most recent *successful* merge *and* any changes that occurred
after. Useful for forgetting about the merge you just did. If there are
conflicts (the merge was not successful), use "git reset --hard" (above)
instead.
git reset --soft HEAD^
forgot something in your last commit? That's easy to fix. Undo your last
commit, but keep the changes in the staging area for editing.
git commit --amend
redo previous commit, including changes you've staged in the meantime.
Also used to edit commit message of previous commit.
Plumbing
--------
test <sha1-A> = $(git merge-base <sha1-A> <sha1-B>)
determine if merging sha1-B into sha1-A is achievable as a fast forward;
non-zero exit status is false.
Stashing
--------
git stash save <optional-name>
save your local modifications to a new stash (so you can for example
"git svn rebase" or "git pull")
git stash apply
restore the changes recorded in the stash on top of the current working tree
state
git stash pop
restore the changes from the most recent stash, and remove it from the stack
of stashed changes
git stash list
list all current stashes
git stash show <stash-name> -p
show the contents of a stash - accepts all diff args
git stash clear
delete current stashes
Remotes
-------
git remote add <remote> <remote_URL>
adds a remote repository to your git config. Can be then fetched locally.
Example:
git remote add coreteam git://github.com/wycats/merb-plugins.git
git fetch coreteam
git push <remote> :refs/heads/<branch>
delete a branch in a remote repository
git push <remote> <remote>:refs/heads/<remote_branch>
create a branch on a remote repository
Example: git push origin origin:refs/heads/new_feature_name
git push <repository> +<remote>:<new_remote>
create a branch on a remote repository based on +<remote>
Example: git push origin +master:my_branch
git remote prune <remote>
prune deleted remote-tracking branches from "git branch -r" listing
Submodules
----------
git submodule add <remote_repository> <path/to/submodule>
add the given repository at the given path. The addition will be part of the
next commit.
git submodule update [--init]
Update the registered submodules (clone missing submodules, and checkout
the commit specified by the super-repo). --init is needed the first time.
git submodule foreach <command>
Executes the given command within each checked out submodule.
Remove submodules
1. Delete the relevant line from the .gitmodules file.
2. Delete the relevant section from .git/config.
3. Run git rm --cached path_to_submodule (no trailing slash).
4. Commit and delete the now untracked submodule files.
Git Instaweb
------------
git instaweb --httpd=webrick [--start | --stop | --restart]
Environment Variables
---------------------
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME, GIT_COMMITTER_NAME
Your full name to be recorded in any newly created commits. Overrides
user.name in .git/config
GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL, GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL
Your email address to be recorded in any newly created commits. Overrides
user.email in .git/config
