Git Commands Guide

# Set your identity
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

# Set default editor
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

# View configuration
git config --list

# Check a specific setting
git config user.name

# Create new repository
git init

# Clone existing repository
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Clone into specific directory
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git my-folder

# Clone specific branch
git clone -b branch-name https://github.com/user/repo.git

# See current status
git status

# Short format
git status -s

# Stage specific file
git add file.txt

# Stage all changes in directory
git add .

# Stage all changes (including deleted files)
git add -A

# Stage only modified files (not new)
git add -u

# Stage parts of a file interactively
git add -p file.txt

# Commit with message
git commit -m "Add feature X"

# Commit with detailed message
git commit -m "Add feature X" -m "This feature does..."

# Stage and commit tracked files
git commit -am "Update existing files"

# Amend last commit
git commit --amend -m "Updated message"

# Amend without changing message
git commit --amend --no-edit

# Unstage specific file
git restore --staged file.txt

# Unstage all files
git restore --staged .

# Old syntax (still works)
git reset HEAD file.txt

# List branches
git branch

# List all branches (including remote)
git branch -a

# Create new branch
git branch feature-name

# Create and switch to new branch
git checkout -b feature-name
# OR (modern syntax)
git switch -c feature-name

# Switch branches
git checkout main
# OR
git switch main

# Rename current branch
git branch -m new-name

# Delete branch
git branch -d feature-name

# Force delete unmerged branch
git branch -D feature-name

# Merge branch into current branch
git merge feature-name

# Merge with commit message
git merge feature-name -m "Merge feature X"

# Abort merge
git merge --abort

# See what branches are merged
git branch --merged

# See what branches aren't merged
git branch --no-merged

# After editing conflicted files
git add conflicted-file.txt
git commit

# View conflicts
git diff

# Use theirs for conflicts
git checkout --theirs file.txt

# Use ours for conflicts
git checkout --ours file.txt

# View commit history
git log

# Compact format
git log --oneline

# Show last N commits
git log -3

# Show with file changes
git log --stat

# Show with full diffs
git log -p

# Graphical view
git log --graph --oneline --all

# Search commits
git log --grep="search term"

# By author
git log --author="John"

# By date range
git log --since="2 weeks ago"
git log --after="2023-01-01" --before="2023-12-31"

# Changes to specific file
git log -- path/to/file.txt

# Unstaged changes
git diff

# Staged changes
git diff --staged

# Changes between commits
git diff commit1 commit2

# Changes in specific file
git diff file.txt

# Compare branches
git diff main..feature-branch

# Summary of changes
git diff --stat

# Show specific commit
git show commit-hash

# Show last commit
git show HEAD

# Show file at specific commit
git show commit-hash:path/to/file.txt

# Discard changes in specific file
git restore file.txt

# Discard all unstaged changes
git restore .

# Old syntax (still works)
git checkout -- file.txt

# Undo last commit, keep changes staged
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo last commit, keep changes unstaged
git reset HEAD~1
# OR
git reset --mixed HEAD~1

# Undo last commit, discard changes
git reset --hard HEAD~1

# Create new commit that undoes changes
git revert commit-hash

# Revert without committing
git revert -n commit-hash

# Revert multiple commits
git revert commit1..commit2

# Preview what will be deleted
git clean -n

# Delete untracked files
git clean -f

# Delete untracked files and directories
git clean -fd

# Include ignored files
git clean -fx

# List remotes
git remote -v

# Add remote
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Change remote URL
git remote set-url origin https://github.com/user/new-repo.git

# Remove remote
git remote remove origin

# Rename remote
git remote rename origin upstream

# Fetch changes from remote
git fetch origin

# Fetch all remotes
git fetch --all

# Pull changes (fetch + merge)
git pull

# Pull specific branch
git pull origin main

# Pull with rebase
git pull --rebase

# Pull and prune deleted branches
git pull --prune

# Push to remote
git push origin main

# Push and set upstream
git push -u origin feature-branch

# Push all branches
git push --all

# Push tags
git push --tags

# Delete remote branch
git push origin --delete branch-name

# Force push (use with caution!)
git push --force origin main

# Stash current changes
git stash

# Stash with message
git stash save "work in progress"

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply last stash
git stash apply

# Apply and remove last stash
git stash pop

# Apply specific stash
git stash apply stash@{2}

# Delete stash
git stash drop stash@{0}

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

# Stash untracked files too
git stash -u

# List tags
git tag

# Create lightweight tag
git tag v1.0.0

# Create annotated tag
git tag -a v1.0.0 -m "Version 1.0.0"

# Tag specific commit
git tag v1.0.0 commit-hash

# Push tag
git push origin v1.0.0

# Push all tags
git push --tags

# Delete local tag
git tag -d v1.0.0

# Delete remote tag
git push origin --delete v1.0.0

# Apply specific commit to current branch
git cherry-pick commit-hash

# Cherry pick without committing
git cherry-pick -n commit-hash

# Cherry pick range
git cherry-pick commit1..commit2

# Rebase current branch onto main
git rebase main

# Interactive rebase (last 3 commits)
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Continue after resolving conflicts
git rebase --continue

# Skip current commit
git rebase --skip

# Abort rebase
git rebase --abort

# View reference logs (safety net!)
git reflog

# Recover lost commits
git checkout commit-hash

# View specific branch reflog
git reflog show branch-name

# Find commit that introduced a bug
git bisect start
git bisect bad                 # current commit is bad
git bisect good commit-hash    # known good commit

# Mark each commit as good or bad
git bisect good
git bisect bad

# End bisect
git bisect reset

# Create worktree
git worktree add ../feature feature-branch

# List worktrees
git worktree list

# Remove worktree
git worktree remove ../feature

# Prune stale worktrees
git worktree prune

# Add aliases to your .gitconfig
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.st status

# Complex aliases
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --all"
git config --global alias.undo "reset --soft HEAD~1"

# Use them like:
git co main
git lg