<> required, [] optionalClone an existing repository
git clone <URL> [folder]
Default protocoll is SSH, eg. »git@example.com:repo.git«. HTTPS would be »https://example.com/repo.git«, another local repo »/home/user/repo.git«
Creates a subfolder with the repo, if the folder name is not given, then the repo name is used (»foo.git« = »./foo« subfolder)
Create a new local repository
git init <folder>
If a folder name is given, a subfolder is created, otherwise the current folder is used
Send existing local repository to remote
git remote add origin <URL> && git push <remote> <branch>
Special: Create an empty repository on a remote server
Connect with the remote server first
mkdir <repo>.git && cd <repo>.git && git init --bare
The remote repository has to be »bare« (does not contain a working filetree, but a special .git subdirectory only) in order to accept a push
Show working status - show current branch name and changed or new files
git status
Hint: Set a short alias for often used commands, like git st for git status → see »Configuration«
Difference between HEAD and files not yet staged
git diff
Note: This ignores new files = files which were not added to the repository yet and therefore arent »tracked«
Difference between HEAD and staged files
git diff --cached
Difference between HEAD and all files (staged and not staged)
git diff HEAD
Difference between branches, two commits, etc
git diff <foo> <bar>
»+« line does exist in »bar« but not in »foo«, »-« reverse
Difference to another branch and show names of changed files only
git diff <branch> --name-status
Show all commits of current branch which are not merged into another branch
git log <reference>.. --oneline
The reference may be a branch or a tag, note the two dots at the end
Show branches in which one commit exists
git branch --contains <commit ID>
Show all commits of current branch
git log
Show all commits of current branch and names of each changed file
git whatchanged
Show commits and each difference for a specific file
git log -p <file>
Examination: Show who changed what and when in a file
git blame <file>
Left side shows the last commit ID for the content on the right side
Show a single commit and its differences
git show <commit ID>
Show all commits with a certain word in the commit message
git log --grep=<searchword>
Stage all (even untracked) files
git add -A
Stage a tracked and modified file
git add <file>
Add hand-picked changes in a file to the next commit (≙ partial commit)
git add -p <file>
y Yes, add this part to the next commit
n No, skip this part
d Don’t add this and all remaining parts of the file
s Try to split the current part into smaller ones
e Manually edit the part
Stage all changes in tracked files and start a commit
git commit -a
Commit all previously staged changes
git commit
git commit -m "<message>"
List local branches
git branch
* marks the current branch
List remote branches
git branch -r
use -a to show local and remote branches at once
Switch to a different branch
git checkout <branch>
git checkout -t <remote>/<remote-branch>
-t checkout a new branch based on remote branch and save their connection
Create a new branch based on HEAD
git branch <new-branch>
use git checkout -b <branch> to create a branch and switch right into it
Create a new branch based on a remote branch
git branch --track <new-branch> <remote>/<remote-branch>
use --no-track to create a new branch based on a remote branch, but don't save a connection between both
Connect a remote branch with a local branch
git branch --track <local-branch> <remote>/<remote-branch>
Show merged branches
git branch -a --merged
--no-merged will show branches not merged yet
Delete a local branch
git branch -d <branch>
-d will only delete the branch if it is merged with its remote branch (if set), -D will force the deletion
Delete a remote branch
git push <remote> :<remote-branch>
Use tags to save a specific version (the commit relations up to this point) of a project. Merging older commits into the branch afterwards hence wont affect the tag.
Show all tags
git tag -n
-l will show tag names only, -n<num> will add a number of lines from the annotation (default is one)
Mark the current commit with a tag
git tag <tag-name> -m "<annotation>"
Hint: Use semantic version numbers as tags
Download all changes from , but don't merge to HEAD yet
git fetch <remote>
A manual merge is required now
Download changes and directly merge to HEAD
git pull [<remote> <branch>]
If the connection between remote & local branch is saved, then git pull is sufficient
List all currently configured remote repositories
git remote -v
Show information about a remote, eg. which branches exist in this remote
git remote show <remote>
Remove stale remote branch trackings (outdated connections)
git remote prune <remote>
Remove connections to branches deleted on the remote by now - does not delete the local branch
Add a new remote repository
git remote add <remote> <url>
Push local branch or tag to remote
git push [<remote> <branch|tag>]
use »-u« to push the branch and automatically save the connection between local & remote
Push all local branches to remote
git push --all <remote>
Push all tags to remote
git push --tags <remote>
Merge a branch into your current HEAD
git merge <branch>
Manually solve conflicts and mark file as resolved
git add <resolved-file> && git commit -m 'Manual Merge'
Use a tool to solve merge conflicts
git mergetool
will use tool set in »merge.tool«, use »-t « to start a custom tool
Use a merge strategy
git merge -s recursive -X <ours|theirs|patience>
»recursive« is the default merge strategy when pulling or merging one branch, so this param may be redundant
»ours« merge commits but try to ignore all conflicting changes from the other branch
»theirs« merge commits but try to ignore conflicts introduced by the own branch
»patience« will cause GIT run rather time-consuming intelligent merge routines to avoid merge conflicts and errors in the first place
Cancel merge
git merge --abort
Use rebase with care! It will rewrite the history and therefore requires additional efforts when working with a team! Dont rebase unless every project member knows about the required workflow!
Rewrite commits from HEAD until given commit
git rebase -i <commit ID>
Opens an editable rebase command list - reorder the commands to change commit order, remove a line to delete the commit, change the preceded keyword to change the command
p|pick keep commit
r|reword use commit, but edit the commit message
e|edit use commit, but halt the rebase sequence to change the commit (use git commit --amend -a)
s|squash use commit, but meld into previous commit
Rebase your current HEAD onto
git rebase <branch>
Merges all commits of given branch and applies new commits of the local branch on top (creates new commit IDs for these)
Abort a rebase
git rebase --abort
Continue a rebase after resolving conflicts
git rebase --continue
Use stash to save all current changes to a clipboard and retrieve them later.
Stash all changes away
git stash save [comment]
Show all available stashes
git stash list
»stash@{0}« is the rather unreadable name of the stash state, where 0 is the latest
Retrieve a state form the stash list
git stash apply <stash-name>
default is »stash@{0}«, use git stash pop <stash-name> to apply changes and remove the state from stash list
Remove a state from the stash list
git stash drop <stash-name>
Remove all the stashed states
git stash clear
Git is merciful and lets you undo allmost all changes with ease.
Clear stage (≙ unadd files)
git reset HEAD --
Discard all changes
git checkout -- [file]
Change the last commit
git commit --amend -a
Replaces the last commit (new ID), so it should only be used if the modified branch was not pushed yet
Special: Change author of the last commit
git commit --amend --author "John Doe <doe@example.com>"
Remove the last commit but keep all files and changes
git reset HEAD~1
Removes the last commit from the local history
Revert a commit (≙ apply inversion)
git revert <commit-id>
Inverts changes of the given commit, applies them to the working directory and starts a new commit
Undo a local merge
git reset --hard <merge commit ID>
Use only if the branch wasn't pushed yet, otherwise rebase or revert
Remove a file
git rm --cached
Removes the file from the git repository index but keeps it on the file system
Get configuration option
git config <section>.<key>
Set configuration option
git config --local <section>.<key> <value>
»local« will write to ».git/config« in current repository, »global« to »~/.gitconfig» and »system« to your systems »/etc/gitconfig«
Set username and e-mail
git config --local user.name "<username>" && git config --local user.email <e-mail>
Ignore mode changes (chmod)
git config --local core.filemode false
Set alias »st« for »status«
git config --global alias.st status
[BUGFIX] Short summary
Optional explanatory text. Separated by new line. Wrapped to 74 chars. Written in imperative present tense ("Fix bug", not "Fixed bug").
Help others to understand what you did (Motivation for the change? Difference to previous version?), but keep it simple.
Mandatory title prefix: [BUGFIX], [FEATURE] (also small additions) or [TASK] (none of the above, e.g. code cleanup). Additionall flags: [!!] (breaking change), [DB] (alter database definition), [CONF] (configuration change), [SECURITY] (fix a security issue).
Bug tracker refs added at bottom (see http://is.gd/commit_refs).
Resolve #42
Ref #4 #8 #15 #16
shortened, detailed example at http://is.gd/commitformat