< home < toolbox

Summary

A summary of the main features of Git:

A Daily Routine

Command	Action
git fetch origin [upstream-branch]	Fetch all changes from the specified branch into the current branch
git merge origin/[upstream-branch]	Merge all changes from the specified branch into the current branch
git branch [branch]	Create a new branch, from the current branch, for your bug/feature/issue
git switch [branch]	Switch to the new branch
Make the necessary changes
git add .	Add any changed files to the staging index
git status	See the current status of the workspace
git diff [source branch] [target branch]	Show changes
git commit -m "message"	Make the commit have a nice, detailed message
git branch -vv	Display local branches and the remote branches to which they are mapped
git push [-u] origin/[upstream-branch]	Push your changes to an upstream branch (-u = create the upstream branch into which changes will be pushed)
git request-pull [upstream-branch] origin [branch]	Request review of latest changes in a branch compared to an upstream branch so that they can be pulled into the upstream branch Note: typically, it is simpler to do this from a GUI tool!

Additional Commands

Initializing

Command	Action
git init	Initialize the current folder as a repository
git clone [/path/to/repo]	Clone a local repository
git clone [url]	Clone a remote repository
git mv [file]	Move a tracked file
git tag [tag] [commit ID]	Create a tag
git log --all --graph --decorate --oneline	Display the git log

Branching

Command	Action
git branch	List local branches
git branch -a	List both local and remote branches
git branch [branch]	Create a new local branch
git branch -m [old-branch] [new-branch]	Rename a local branch
git branch -d [branch]	Delete a local branch
git branch -vv	List all local branches and their mapped upstream branches

Diffing

Command	Action
git diff	Display differences between the working area and the index
git diff HEAD	Display differences between the working area and the HEAD
git diff --staged HEAD	Display differences between the index and the HEAD
git diff -- [file]	Display differences for a specific file between the working area and the HEAD
git diff ###### HEAD	Display differences between a specific commit and the HEAD
git diff HEAD HEAD^	Display differences between the commit at the top of the HEAD and the preceeding commit
git diff ###### ######	Display differences between two commits
git diff [branch] origin/[branch]	Display differences between the local branch and a remote branch

Stashing

Command	Action
git stash	Save all uncommited changes (excluding untracked files) in the stash
git stash save [-u] ["text"]	Save all uncommited changes (-u = including untracked files) in a stash with description "text"
git list	Show the contents of the stash (note: each entry has a reference with format stash@{#})
git stash apply ["ref"]	Restore the last stash (or the stash with reference "ref")
git stash drop ["ref"]	Delete the last stash (or the stash with reference "ref")
git stash pop ["ref"]	Restore the last stash (or the stash with reference "ref") and then delete it from the stash
git stash show ["ref"]	Show the last stash (or the stash with reference "ref")
git stash clear	Clear all stash entries

Undoing

Command	Action
git restore [filename]	Restore working copy with latest from HEAD
git revert [commit ID]	Rollback to the specified commit (preferred method for reverting a change)
git reset --soft [HEAD or commit ID]	Discarding intervening commits. Reset the HEAD to another commit but do not alter the index or working directory. All changes between original HEAD and commit will be staged.
git reset --mixed [HEAD or commit ID]	Discarding intervening commits and adds. Reset the HEAD and index to another commit but do not alter the working directory. All staged changes are removed from the index.
git reset --hard [HEAD or commit ID]	Discarding intervening commits, adds and changes to files in local worksapce. Reset the HEAD, index and workspace to another commit. All changes between original HEAD and commit will be staged Avoid using with shared repos.
git commit --amend	Allow the message for the most recent commit to be edited

Cleaning Up

Command	Action
git rm [file]	Remove a tracked file from the repository and delete it
git branch -d [branch]	Delete a local branch
git push -d origin [branch]	Delete a remote branch - use with care!
git clean -n	Perform a dry run of clean
git clean --force	Clean all untracked files in the workspace
git clean --force -d	Clean all untracked files and directories in the workspace
git clean --force -dx	Clean all untracked and ignored files and directories in the workspace
git rebase [branch-name]	Similar to merge but more dangerous in shared repos. Appends the current branch to the specified branch. Main advantage is cleaner history.

Other

Command	Action
git mv [file]	Move a tracked file
git tag [tag] [commit ID]	Create a tag
git log --all --graph --decorate --oneline	Display the git log

+ Enable SSH for GitHub

The main advantage of enabling SSH, rather than just using HTTPS, is that a username and password does not need to be entered for every action.

1. Generate a new SSH key:
   • ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_github_email@example.com"
2. Start the SSH agent:
   • eval $(ssh-agent -s)
3. Add the private key to the SSH agent:
   • ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa
4. Copy the contents of ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (the public key) to the clipboard
5. On github.com, Profile Picture -> Settings -> SSH and GPG keys -> New SSH Key -> Paste the key into the Key field and give it an identifying name -> Add SSH Key
6. Test the connection: ssh -T git@github.com
   • If this fails, try: ssh -T -p 443 git@ssh.github.com
   • Further info: https://help.github.com/en/github/authenticating-to-github/connecting-to-github-with-ssh
7. Once access is working, restart all terminals and applications that may wish to use Git via SSH (such as Visual Studio Code).

Note: The SSH agent must be running whenever you want to use SSH (so you may want to add the start-up command to your OS's start-up routines).

+ Further Details

• [https://git-scm.com/docs](Git Documentation)
• [https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/atlassian-git-cheatsheet](Atlassian Git Cheatsheet)
• [https://blog.thoughtram.io/git/rebase-book/2015/02/10/understanding-branches-in-git.html](Understanding Branches in Git)

 

 

 

---

Move along; nothing to see here...

<script type="text/javascript"> const loadCSS = (filename) => { const file = document.createElement("link"); file.setAttribute("rel", "stylesheet"); file.setAttribute("type", "text/css"); file.setAttribute("href", filename); document.head.appendChild(file); }; const loadJS = (filename) => { const file = document.createElement("script"); file.setAttribute("type", "text/javascript"); file.setAttribute("src", filename); document.head.appendChild(file); }; //just call a function to load your CSS //this path should be relative your HTML location loadCSS("../collapse.css"); loadJS("../collapse.js"); </script> <script type="text/javascript"> var sc_project=12427713; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_security="e81d8d4e"; </script> <script type="text/javascript" src="https://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter.js" async></script>