Reference for working with Git.
For macOS install git using Homebrew
brew install git
Show a list of basic commands, all (-a) commands or help for a specific command
git help
git help -a
git help <command>
Display the man page for a command
man git-<command>
Display the current installed version of git
git --version
Create a new git repository in the current directory
git init
Create a bare git repository (bare repositories don't have a working directory of files)
git init --bare
Show a summary of the state of working directory and index
git status
Show status including ignored files
git status --ignored
Show a list of all merged branches
git branch --merged
Add a specific file to the index, add all files . or add interactively -i
git add <file>
git add .
git add -i
Interactive add allows selective staging, unstaging of changed files as well as partial commits of specific lines.
Partial commits can be created by choosing the patch option and then specifying split to further refine chunks. After exiting interactive adding, you need to the commit the index.
Stage all tracked / changed files
git add --update
git add -u
Add all files in the current repository
git add -all
git add --A
Add parts of the changes with each file (interactively add)
git add --patched
git add -p
Open the current diff in text editor
git add -e
Removing a file from the index (unstaging files)
git reset HEAD <file>
Unstage all files from the index
git reset HEAD
Discard local changes to a modified, unstaged file
git restore <file>
git checkout -- <file>
Discard local changes for all modified, unstaged files
git checkout -- .
Remove newly added, but previously uncommitted, file from staged file list Only affects index not file
git rm --cached
Show which files or files and directories that git clean will remove
git clean -n
git clean -nd
Remove untracked files or both files and directories
git clean -f
git clean -fd
Commit current staged index
git commit -m "<commit message>"
Commit current staged index, opening default editor to enter commit message
git commit
Verbose commit, include a diff of the commit in the commit message
git commit -v
Adjust the last commit
git commit --amend
Reset allows you to change the repository and working directory to a known state Allows altering a combination of the HEAD, index and working directory depending on the mode used
Soft updates only the HEAD pointer
git reset --soft <commit>
Mixed (default) updates the HEAD pointer and the index
git reset --mixed <commit>
Hard moves the HEAD pointer, update the index and update the working directory
git reset --hard <commit>
Stage an existing tracked file for removal (Removal occurs when committed). Git checks if the file being removed has any unsaved changes. It notifies you if it does and doesn't remove it
git rm <file>
To force the removal of a file that has unsaved changes
git rm -f <file>
Rename file1 to file2 (Move occurs when committed)
git mv <file1> <file2>
Force overwrite of file2 with file1
git mv -f <file1> <file2>
Show the full log history for a file that has been renamed. Without --follow, the log stops at the rename point
git log --follow <file>
Show the commit log for the current branch
git log
Show the commit log for the named branch
git log <branch>
Show the commit log for the specified file or directory
git log <file>
git log <dir>
Use a double dash -- to separate a file to act on from the settings to use
git log <settings> -- <file>
Set the output format for the commit summary (Options: oneline, short, full)
git log --pretty=oneline
Abbreviate the commit hash so that it is shorter
git log --abbrev-commit
Output the diff patches for each commit along with the details
git log -p
Output statistics about each commit eg. the files affected and the number of lines changed
git log --stat
Output an graphical representation of the commits and branches
git log --graph
Show the last number of specified commits in the log eg. git log -5 shows the last 5
git log -<n>
Combine the above eg. show a log of all commits with a graphical output of timeline
git log --graph --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit
Search commit messages for the search string
git log --grep="<search string>"
Search the commit message for the author name
git log --author="<author name>"
Return commits where the search string was part of a files edit (known as pickaxe)
eg. git log -Sdiv (returns all commits where the string 'div' formed part of an addition or deletion)
git log -S<search string>
Output the log for the specified range. Since and until are any valid identifiers such has relative or absolute history reference or sha1 identifier
git log <since>..<until>
After a merge, use --merge with log to show only the commits from files that relate to the merge conflict
git log --merge
Shows < in the log if a commit is from the left side of a merge (target / ours), and > if it is from the right (source / theirs)
git log --left-right
Show commits more recent than a specific date. Date can be formatted date or human readable (eg. "3 days ago")
git log --since="<date>"
git log --after="<date>"
Show commits older than a specific date. Date can be formatted date or human readable (eg. "3 days ago")
git log --until="<date>"
git log --before="<date>"
Show log history for a set of lines using absolute or relative ranges
git log -L <start-line>,<end-line>:<file>
git log -L <start-line>,+<line-count>:<file>
Show details of the latest commit
git show
Show details of a specific commit
git show <sha1>
Show details of a commit relative to the current state
git show <relative>
Show details about a specific tag
git show <tag>
Show details about the latest commit on another branch
git show <branch>
Show contents of file on another branch
git show <branch>:<file>
Show the commit hash for any reference input
git rev-parse <sha1|relative|tag|branch>
List the files tracked in the git repo. Add -s to show all files with SHA1 hashes. Add -u to show only conflicted files
git ls-files
As well as dates, parameters and sha1 references, the following features are available for referencing points in history.
Reference a parent commit (if multiple parents exist, eg. following a merge, use ^1, ^2, ^3 etc)
Show the first parent of HEAD
git show HEAD^1
Show the second parent of HEAD
git show HEAD^2
Reference the next ancestor in the history (~1 is the parent, ~2 is the grandparent etc), eg. To specify the last 50 commits on branch master: master~50
Current branch, diff between commits 2 and 3 times back
git diff HEAD~3 HEAD~2
Specifies the range of commits between commit1 and commit2, any method of specify a commit may be used
<commit1>..<commit2>
The set of commits that are reachable from either commit1 or commit2, but not both
<commit1>...<commit2>
The most recent commit of the current branch
HEAD
The saved state before an operation is performed, allows comparing before and after or rollback
ORIG_HEAD
A temporary reference to the last branch fetched, only available immediately after a fetch operation
FETCH_HEAD
A temporary reference to the head of the branch that is being merged in
MERGE_HEAD
Show blame details for a file
git blame <file>
Show blame output for a set of lines using absolute or relative ranges
git blame -L <start-line>,<end-line> -- <file>
git blame -L <start-line>,+<line-count> -- <file>
Diff shares many of the same commands, flags and options as log
Diff local working directory against current index (staged files), exposing what is dirty in the working directory
git diff
Diff showing further granularity of changes within lines
git diff --word-diff
Diff index (staged files) against HEAD (current repo state)
git diff --staged
Diff local working directory against HEAD (current repo state)
git diff HEAD
Diff between the working directory state and the state at the named commit
git diff <commit>
Diff between the staged state and the named commit state
git diff --staged <commit>
Diff current branch against another branch
git diff <branch>
Diff only the named file (use -- if there is any confusion between file names and tag names)
git diff <file>
git diff <dir>
Diff between any tree objects within the commit graph, the working directory or the index. A tree object can be referenced by commit id, branch name, tag or any valid identifier method
git diff <state1> <state2>
Show the diff between the current state and the state prior to the latest commit (see what changed due to the last commit)
git diff HEAD^ HEAD
Return on diff results that include the as a changed item (-S is also called pickaxe)
git diff -S<string>
Show the stats for the diff (number of lines changed, added and removed)
git diff --stat
Example: Show stats for the state at commit1 and commit2, limiting to files in the named directory
git diff --stat <commit1> <commit2> <dir>
List the file names affected and their change status
git diff --name-status
List the number of lines affected and the file names
git diff --numstat
Show only the file names of the files affected
git diff --name-only
Set the number of context lines to surround the diff output with to lines before and after
git diff --unified=<n>
Output the diff result as a patch file eg. file.patch (for use with git apply)
git diff <settings> > <file>
Detect renames and show only the rename rather than the full add and removal of the file
-M
Ignore whitespace differences in files
-w
Include statistics about the diffs (number of lines changed, number added, number removed)
--stat
diff --git a/<file1> b/<file2>
index <file1 sha>..<file2 sha> <file mode>
--- a/<file1 (original)>
+++ b/<file2 (new)>
@@ -<starting line for output a>,<number of lines in a> <starting line for output b>,<number oflines in b> @@
Shared line the same in both files
+Line must be added to a to create b
-Line must be removed from a to create b
Shared line the same in both files
Show a list of local branch names
git branch
Show a complete list of branch names, including remote branches
git branch -a
Create a branch new branch
git branch <branch>
Create a branch name with a suffix. Used for convenience in organising branches. Allows wild carding actions against the suffix to affect all sub branches etc
git branch <suffix>/<branch>
Start a branch at a commit other than the current state
git branch <branch> <commit>
Deletes a branch (issues a warning if changes exist on the branch that haven't been merged)
git branch -d <branch>
Force the deletion of a branch even if there are unmerged changes
git branch -D <branch>
Delete a remote branch
git push <remote> --delete <branch>
Alternative delete remote branch syntax
git push <remote> :<branch>
Show stale remote branches from local (branches deleted from origin, which still exist locally)
git remote prune origin --dry-run
Remove stale remote branches from local
git remote prune origin
Rename a local branch
git branch -m <original branch> <new branch>
Rename an existing branch (-m merges current branch entirely into the new branch)
git checkout -m <original branch> <new branch>
Delete the original branch
git branch -d <original branch>
Relocate any existing branch pointer to a reference a new commit
git branch -f <branch name> <commit>
Switch to a branch
git checkout <branch>
Create and switch branches in one step. Allows moving unstaged work directly to the new branch
git checkout -b <branch>
If you have uncommitted changes on the current branch, you can't switch to a new branch if there is a conflict. Specifying -m merges your current changes into the branch being switched to (without creating a commit).
git checkout -m <branch>
Show recent commits for local branches
git show-branch
Show recent commits for all branches including remotes
git show-branch -a
Show activity for only the specified branches, can be used with the wildcard suffix
git show-branch <branch1> <branch2>
Example of wildcard usage and having a suffix, allows showing all branches of a suffix type (eg. bug/*)
git show-branch <suffix>/*
Conflicted files from a merge contain standard merge markers (<<<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>) to show each version. Manually correct the file, remove the markers until the file is in a state that you are happy with then add and commit
Merge a specified branch into the current branch
git merge <branch>
Merge a specified branch from a remote into the current branch
git merge <remote>/<branch>
Switch to the specified branch and merge in the contents of the current branch (merge only occurs on filesystem, no commit is made)
git checkout -m <branch>
Switch to the specified branch and discard current branch changes
git checkout -f <branch>
Abort a merge (any time before committing) and return to the state of the branch before initiating the merge
git merge --abort
git reset --hard HEAD
Abort a merge (after committing) and return to the state prior to merging (any dirty working directory files will be lost)
git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD
Show details of the conflicted files from the merge
git status
Shows a combined output with merge markers, using double column for showing lines added, removed and modified from both sources
git diff
Compare the merge output to the original working directory
git diff --ours
git diff HEAD
Compare the merge output to the version being merged in
git diff --theirs
git diff MERGE_HEAD
Combined set of changes since the merge base
git diff --base
Show the commits that contribute to the merge conflict and the changes they introduced for . Omit for all.
git log --merge --left-right -p <file>
For merge commits, git log and git show include some additional information about the merge. A line labelled Merge: <ancestor1 sha> <ancestor2 sha> shows the origin of the merges. The files conflicted by the merge are listed in the commit and the diff is a combined diff.
git show
git log
Determine the commit at which the branch was created from the original branch
git merge-base <originalbranch> <newbranch>
Apply the merge as a single squashed commit, destroying the source branches commit history in the target branch
git merge --squash
Resolve conflicts by selecting wholesale our version (--ours), or their version (--theirs)
git checkout --ours
git checkout --theirs
Check out a single file from another branch into the current branch
git checkout <otherbranch> <file>
Revert local branch to upstream origin state
git fetch <origin>
git reset --hard <origin>/<branch>
Rebase takes the current branch, sets it to state of the target branch specified, the 'replays' all the branch change sets over the top.
git rebase master
List tags
git tag
Create a new tag at the current point
git tag -m "<description>" <tag>
Create a new tag at the specified commit
git tag -m "<description>" <tag> <commit>
Delete tag
git tag -d <tag>
Checkout tag (update the working directory to reflect the history at the tag)
git checkout <tag>
Stash away current Index (Staged files)
git stash
Stash with message
git stash save "My Message"
Restore stashed changes (keeps the stash in the stash list)
git stash apply
List current stashes
git stash list
Remove the most recent stash
git stash drop
Drop the specified stash eg. git stash drop stash@{0}
git stash drop <stash>
Clear all stashes
git stash clear
Apply specific stash eg. git stash apply stash@{0}
git stash apply <stash>
Apply stash to a new branch
git stash branch <branch>
Apply the patch file to the current working directory
git apply <file>
Clone a remote repository to the local file system
git clone <repourl> <localdir>
Clone a remote repository that requires a username
git clone user@<host>:<path>
Clone a remote repository without the history (retrieves the latest code version)
git clone --depth 1 <repourl>
Clone a remote repository to a given depth
git clone --depth <depth> <repourl>
Note: Repos created with depth limit cannot be recloned into new repos, but they are good for quick checkout and development
Pull changes from remote repo
git pull
Push current branch Pushing a local branch to a non-existant remote branch name will create the remote branch
git push
Push all branches (including new)
git push --all
To push and pull from specific remote repositories with the current active local branch
git pull <remote> <branch>
git push <remote> <branch>
Push current branch and set it to automatically track the named remote branch
git push -u <remote> <branch>
For example, to push to origin master and set your current branch to track master
git push -u origin master
Assign the current branch to track the named remote branch
git branch --track <remote>/<branch>
Assign the current branch to track the named remote branch
git branch --track <local-branch> <remote>/<branch>
Show the name of the remote repository
git remote show
Show details of the remote repo and status of branch tracking
git remote show <remote>
Show full details of connected remote repositories
git remote -v
Checkout and automatically add tracking for a branch in a remote repo
git checkout -t <remote>/<branch>
Create a remote entry in .gitconfig for a remote called (labelled) , located at
Allows: git push , to push a branch to the remote
git remote add <remotename> <url>
Create a bare clone (no working directory) of an existing git repo. Useful when housing a bare repo on a remote server (use <reponame>.git as folder name)
git clone --bare <repourl> <newfolder>
Fetch upstream changes from origin or a named upstream without merging
git fetch origin
git fetch <upstream-name>
git config push.default allows defining what git push will do
Using git config push.default current will only push the current active branch to it's tracking remote instead of pushing all tracked branches
Config to set up a repository to only push to its own remote branch with git push
git config push.default current
Config to set up all repositories to only push to its own remote branch
git config --global push.default current
Clone an SVN repository
git svn clone <url>
Show details about the SVN repository
git svn info
Pull in the latest changes from the SVN repo (Stash before rebase)
git svn rebase
Push git commits back to SVN (Stash before dcommit if working directory is dirty)
git svn dcommit
Squash several commits from another branch into one commit on the current branch
git merge --squash <branch>
Show the SVN ignore file output
git svn show-ignore
Append the SVN ignore info to the git exclude file
git svn show-ignore >> .git/info/exclude
Create a .gitignore file based on the SVN ignore output
git svn create-ignore
The git-svn-id that is included in the log info of each commit reveals the upstream repo, branch and commit info. This is the svn area dcommits will get pushed to.
git-svn-id: svn://<url>/branches/<branch>@<svn-commit-id> <git-commit-id>
Note: Always start bisect with a clean working directory
Initiate bisect, and set the 'bad' (present failing state) and 'good' (earlier known working state) points
Initiate bisect mode
git bisect start
Find the commit where the error occurs (usually HEAD), and assign it as bad
git bisect bad
Find a commit (ideally close by) where the state is working and assign it as good
git bisect good <commit>
Git will now halve the distance between the bad and good commit and update the working directory to that commit.
Test the code to determine if it's good or bad, then issue the appropriate command
If the error is still present in the new version
git bisect bad
If the error is not present in the new version
git bisect good
Continue until git narrows down the selection to the single commit where the error was introduced
Other bisect commands:
To skip a commit, if it's not testable for whatever reason
git bisect skip
Show the history of the commits checked and the good / bad state they were assigned
git bisect log
Open an editor to visually inspect the remaining commits
git bisect visualize
Return the working directory to the original state before bisect commenced
git bisect reset
To correct a mistake in your bisect choices, copy the output of bisect log to a new text file and edit the lines to change good / bad. Then use git bisect replay, pointing to this modified log file to replay the steps to recommence bisecting
git bisect replay <file>
Hooks are executable shell scripted files that reside in .git/hooks/ and are triggered when their named action occurs
List hook related commands and options for git
git help hooks
To include another git project inside your existing project, use git submodule
- All submodule commands must be run from the project root directory.
- Files from submodules are not added or cloned along with the project, only the details of what the submodule is and how to recreate it.
- Details of the submodule location in the project and the submodules git clone source are contained in a generated file called .gitmodules.
- .gitmodules forms part of the project and will be included in clone operations so other uses can use git submodule commands to import submodules.
Add another git repository as a submodule to the current project in the named directory. A file called .gitmodules will be created in the project root directory of the parent project that lists the path and repo url details.
git submodule add <repo> <dir>
Add the submodule references from .gitmodules into .git/config to allow the project to perform submodule update. If you wish to locally reference another repo (eg. local test repo), you can edit .git/config and modify the repo target details for the submodule
git submodule init
Update current submodules inside the repository with the relevant files from their own repositories
git submodule update
Show the commits that the included repository submodules point to
git submodule status
A file that contains the location and source of the submodule repositories. This file is passed around with the project to allow others to update submodule files.
.gitmodules
Note: The following commands rewrite history and should be used with caution on published repos and pushed commits
Cherry pick a specified commit onto the current checkout out commit
git cherry-pick <commit>
Rewrite history correcting email address for git author
git filter-branch --force --env-filter '
if [ "$GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL" = "incorrect@email" ]
then
export GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL="correct@email"
fi
' --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
Rewrite history correcting author name for git author
git filter-branch --force --env-filter '
if [ "$GIT_AUTHOR_NAME" = "Incorrect Name" ]
then
export GIT_AUTHOR_NAME="Correct Name"
fi
' --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
Remove file references from git history
git filter-branch --force --index-filter \
'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch PATH_TO_FILE' \
--prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all
List applied configuration values (later settings override earlier)
git config -l
Show where git configuration is set
git config --l --show-origin
Local configuration overrides general configuration
System Config -> User Config -> Repository Config -> Local File Config
Local config for specific repository (git config <settings>)
.git/config
<repo>/.gitconfig
User config for all repositories (git config --global <settings>)
~/.gitconfig
System wide config for all repositories and all users (git config --system <settings>)
/etc/gitconfig
Set committer name and email for all git repositories
git config --global user.name <name>
git config --global user.email <email>
While inside a git repo, set the committer name and email for just that repository
git config user.name <name>
git config user.email <email>
To ignore files (.gitignore) may be placed in any directory, this allows fine grained control over ignore rules. If you don't want to commit your ignore files into the repo, use the repo ignore or add .gitignore to be ignored. Alternatively, add and commit the .gitignore file to include it in the repo and allow others to receive and use the files.
Order of precedence for ignore file hierarchy:
.gitignore(current directory).gitignore(parent directories).git/info/ignore(repo wide ignore rules).gitignorefile specified bycore.excludefile directive (user / system wide ignore rules)
Allows the ignore file to become part of the repo so other people cloning get the same ignore settings
<repo>/.gitignore
Reverse an earlier ignore rule eg. !<pattern> allows the pattern if it was ignored higher up the hierarchy
!
Wild cards can be used
*
**
Example pattern for matching files to ignore
/<path>/**/*
Items with a hash at the start are comments in the ignore file
#
Directories to ignore end with a slash
<path>/<to>/<directory>/
[core]
pager = less -FRSX
excludesfile = /Users/user/.gitignore
editor = nano
[user]
name = user
email = user@email.com
[color]
ui = auto
[difftool "chdiff"]
cmd = chdiff "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"
[difftool]
prompt = false
[alias]
st = status
br = branch
ba = branch -a
co = checkout
ci = commit
ca = commit -a
lg = log --date=local
amend = commit --amend
unstage = reset HEAD
glog = log --graph --pretty=format:\"%Cred%h%Creset — %s %Cblue%an%Creset %Cgreen(%cr)%Creset\"
.DS_Store
*.log
To collaborate with your team, you can allocate a machine to act as a central server, just like SVN. However, there are lots of benefits to using the distributed features of git to collaborate directly between individual developers. For this you'll want to allow access to your git repos.
If you want to establish an interim git repository that others will share, and you will push to, you can use the following steps to set up a git user with git-shell access for collaborators to use. The limitation of this approach is that it treats all users as having the same privileges. More fine grained control requires the use of a system like Gitolite or Gitosis for local / behind firewall repos, or GitHub for public / private, externally hosted repos.
Remote login needs to be enabled
System Preferences -> Sharing -> Remote Login (CHECKED)
Create a new Git User
System Preferences -> Accounts -> Click the [+] to Create New User
Give the user a name and password (in the following examples we'll using git as the user name)
Full Name: Git
Password: <password>
After choosing "Create Account", right click on the new account from the Account list on the left and choose "Advanced Options".
Account name: git
Login shell: path/to/git-shell
Home directory: /Users/git
Leave other values as defaults
For the login shell above, enter the path to the git-shell command.
MacPorts: /opt/local/bin/git-shell
Homebrew: /usr/local/bin/git-shell
Now we can remove all the extra files OSX creates by default in a git users home directory. Make absolutely sure you are in the new user directory before using rm.
cd /Users/git
sudo rm -rf *
Copy (or create) your bare git repos to the root of /Users/git, and set the owner to be git
sudo chown -R git myrepo.git
You can now clone from this repo from another machine or location on your computer
git clone git@<machine-address>:myrepo.git
Pipe output from any command into VS Code (or another text editor)
git diff | code
A visual view of the commit graph showing the repository history, commits and branches
gitk
Start and detach instance of gitk
gitk &
Clean up and compact repo
git gc
Show all commit messages, grouped together by user
git shortlog
Show total commit count per user
git shortlog -s -n
Show total number of files changed, lines inserted and deleted
git diff <commit> --shortstat
In your .gitconfig file add the following fetch rule to your origin configuration:
fetch = +refs/pull/*/head:refs/remotes/origin/pr/*
To check out a particular pull request (eg. pr/999)
git fetch origin
git checkout pr/999