This cheat sheet summarizes commonly used Git command line instructions for quick reference.
Create a new local repository
$ git init [project name]
Clone a repository
$ git clone git_url
Clone a repository into a specified directory
$ git clone git_url my_directory
Show modified files in working directory, staged for your next commit
$ git status
Stages the file, ready for commit
$ git add [file]
Stage all changed files, ready for commit
$ git add .
Commit all staged files to version history
$ git commit -m "commit message"
Commit all your tracked files to version history
$ git commit -am "commit message"
Discard changes in working directory which is not staged
$ git restore [file]
Unstage a staged file or file which is staged
$ git restore --staged [file]
Unstage a file, keeping the file changes
$ git reset [file]
Revert everything to the last commit
$ git reset --hard
Diff of what is changed but not staged
$ git diff
Diff of what is staged but not yet committed
$ git diff --staged
Apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one
$ git rebase [branch]
Set the name that will be attached to your commits and tags
$ git config --global user.name "name"
Set an email address that will be attached to your commits and tags
$ git config --global user.email "email"
Enable some colorization of Git output
$ git config --global color.ui auto
Edit the global configuration file in a text editor
$ git config --global --edit
List all local branches
$ git branch
List all branches, local and remote
$ git branch -av
Switch to my_branch, and update working directory
$ git checkout my_branch
Create a new branch called new_branch
$ git checkout -b new_branch
Delete the branch called my_branch
$ git branch -d my_branch
Merge branchA into branchB
$ git checkout branchB
$ git merge branchA
Tag the current commit
$ git tag my_tag
Show the commit history for the currently active branch
$ git log
Show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB
$ git log branchB..branchA
Show the commits that changed file, even across renames
$ git log --follow [file]
Show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB
$ git diff branchB...branchA
Show any object in Git in human-readable format
$ git show [SHA]
Fetch down all the branches from that Git remote
$ git fetch [alias]
Merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date
$ git merge [alias]/[branch]
# No fast-forward
$ git merge --no-ff [alias]/[branch]
# Only fast-forward
$ git merge --ff-only [alias]/[branch]
Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch
$ git push [alias] [branch]
Fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch
$ git pull
Merge just one specific commit from another branch to your current branch
$ git cherry-pick [commit_id]
Add a git URL as an alias
$ git remote add [alias] [url]
Show the names of the remote repositories you've set up
$ git remote
Show the names and URLs of the remote repositories
$ git remote -v
Remove a remote repository
$ git remote rm [remote repo name]
Change the URL of the git repo
$ git remote set-url origin [git_url]
Save modified and staged changes
$ git stash
List stack-order of stashed file changes
$ git stash list
Write working from top of stash stack
$ git stash pop
Discard the changes from top of stash stack
$ git stash drop
Delete the file from project and stage the removal for commit
$ git rm [file]
Change an existing file path and stage the move
$ git mv [existing-path] [new-path]
Show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved
$ git log --stat -M
/logs/*
# "!" means don't ignore
!logs/.gitkeep
/# Ignore Mac system files
.DS_store
# Ignore node_modules folder
node_modules
# Ignore SASS config files
.sass-cache
A .gitignore file specifies intentionally untracked files that Git should ignore
Search change by content
$ git log -S'<a term in the source>'
Show changes over time for specific file
$ git log -p <file_name>
Print out a cool visualization of your log
$ git log --pretty=oneline --graph --decorate --all
List all branches and their upstreams
$ git branch -vv
Quickly switch to the previous branch
$ git checkout -
Get only remote branches
$ git branch -r
Checkout a single file from another branch
$ git checkout <branch> -- <file>
Rewrite last commit message
$ git commit --amend -m "new message"
Amend the latest commit without changing the commit message.
$ git commit --amend --no-edit
See also: Rewriting history
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.st status
See also: More Aliases
Create a new submodule within your repository:
$ git submodule add <repository_url> <path>
Clone a repository and initialize its submodules:
$ git clone --recursive <repository_url>
Update all the submodules in your repository to the latest commit of their respective branches:
$ git submodule update
Pull the latest changes from the remote repositories of the submodules and update them in your main repository:
$ git submodule update --remote
Remove a submodule from your repository:
$ git submodule deinit <path>
$ git rm <path>
$ git commit -m "Removed submodule"
Cherry-picking allows you to apply a specific commit from one branch to another branch.
$ git cherry-pick <commit_hash>
Display the reflog, showing the history of HEAD and branch movements:
$ git reflog
Find the hash of the lost commit or branch using the reflog and then checkout to that hash to restore it:
$ git checkout <commit_or_branch_hash>