Git GitHub Cheat Sheet

Some of the most frequent git commands I use, but also forget between the times I need them.

Setup a repository

git clone <repository>

Clone the specified repo to current location. Think CVS checkout.

To clone a GitHub repository, copy the link to the repo on the GitHub site.

git clone https://github.com/johannoren/WeatherStation.git

If you instead start by creating your project locally you initialize git by

mkdir MyProject

cd MyProject

git init

To add a file

touch foo

git add foo

git commit -m "First commit"

To connect your local repository to GitHub (or other remote repository) assuming we have created a MyProject project on GitHub we create a remote named origin.

git remote add origin https://github.com/johannoren/MyProject.git

To push our local commited file to the remote origin on the main branch master

git push origin master

To clone a repository on one of your other machines, do this over ssh
git clone ssh://johan@192.168.1.6:/home/johan/gitrepos/MyRepo.git

Git configuration

git config -e

Open the Git config file in the default editor

git config --global user.name 'Johan Noren'

git config --global user.email abc@gmail.com

Edit the author and email when making commits

git config --list

List all Git configuration options

If you add --global after these config commands, they will be applied to all repositories and not only the current repo.

Diffs, shows, blames, history and info

git diff

What has changed since your last commit? To diff only a file use

git diff -- <filename>

git status

List added files to the staging area, changed files and untracked files.

git log

Show the most recent commits. Comes with a collection of options:

--color           Color coded

--graph           Commit graph added to the left

--decorate   Add branch and tag names to commits

--stat             Show files changed, inserted, deleted

-p                       Show all diffs

--author="Johan Noren"  Commits by a certain author

--after="MMM DD YYYY" ex. ("Jun 20 2008") Filter commits by date

--before="MMM DD YYYY"

--merge        Filter out commits occuring in the current merge conflict.

git show <revision>

Show the diff of a commit specified by <revision>. Revision can be any SHA1 commit ID, branch name, or tag.

git blame <filename>

Show the author of each line in a file.

git ls-files

List all files version controlled

Add and delete files

git add <file> <file> ...

Add files to the git project

git add <directory>

Add all files in direcotry including all subdirectories

git add .

Add all created/modified files in current directory (not deleted)

git add -u  

Add to index only files deleted/modified and not those created

git add -A  

Do both operation at once, add to index all files

git add -p

Patch mode allows you to stage parts of a changed file, instead of the entire file. This allows you to make concise, well-crafted commits that make for an easier to read history.

git rm <file> <file>

Remove the files from the git project.

git rm $(git ls-files --deleted)

Remove all deleted files from the git project

Stage and commit

git add <file1> <file2> ...

git stage <file1> <file2> ...

Add changes in <file1>, <file2> ... to the staging area which will be included in the next commit

git add -p

git stage --patch

Walk through the current changes (hunks) and decide for each change which to add to the staging area.

git reset HEAD <file1> <file2> ...

Remove files from the next commit

git commit <file1> <file2> ... [-m <message>]

Commit <file1>, <file2> ... optionally using commit message <msg>

git commit -a

Commit all files changed since your last commit not including new (untracked) files.

Branches and merging

git branch

List all local branches

git branch -r

List all remote branches

git branch <branchname>

Create a new branch named <branchname>, 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 using a branch name or a tag name and more.

git push <repo> <start-point>:refs/heads/<branch>
Create a new remote branch named <branch>, referencing <start-point> on the remote. Repo is the name of the remote.
Examples:
git push origin origin:refs/heads/branch-1
git push origin origin/branch-1:refs/heads/branch-2
git push origin branch-1 ## shortcut

git branch -d <branchname>

Delete branch <branchname>

git branch -r -d <remote-branch>

Delete a remote-tracking branch. Example

git branch -r -d branchname/master

git checkout <branchname>

Update the working directory to reflect the version referenced by <branchname> and make the current branch <branchname>

git checkout -b <branchname> <start-point>

Create a new branch <branchname> referencing <start-point>, and check it out.

git merge <branchname>

Merge branch <branchname> into the current branch.

Tags

git tag

List all available tags

There are two types of tags, lightweight and annotated. Less information is stored in lightweight tags so always use annotated '-a' if unsure.

git tag -a v1.0_20140102_2122 -m 'Tag information'

To push the tag to GitHub use

git push origin <tagname>

or if you have many tags or if you are lazy, push all tags

git push origin --tags

Handle remote repositories

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".

git pull
Fetch changes from the server, and merge them into the current branch.

git push
Update the server with the commits across all branches that are common between the local copy and the server. Local branches that were never pushed to the server 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" is sufficient.

git remote add <remote> <remote_url>
Add a remote repository to your git config.  Can then be fetched locally.
git remote add myworkteam git://github.com/somename/someproject.git
git fetch myworkteam

Revert local changes

Assuming you did not commit the file, or add it to the index, then:

git checkout filename

Assuming you added it to the index, but did not commit it, then:

git reset HEAD filename

git checkout filename

Assuming you did commit it, then:

git checkout origin/master filename

Assuming you want to blow away all commits from your branch (VERY DESTRUCTIVE):

git reset --hard origin/master