Everyday Git Commands

Below I will be listing git commands that might be useful for everyday programming workflow.

Show helpful guides that come with Git

git help -g

Search change by content

git log -S'<a term in the source>'

Show changes over time for specific file

git log -p <file_name>

Remove sensitive data from history, after a push

git filter-branch --force --index-filter 'git rm --cached --ignore-unmatch <path-to-your-file>' --prune-empty --tag-name-filter cat -- --all && git push origin --force --all

Sync with remote, overwrite local changes

git fetch origin && git reset --hard origin/master && git clean -f -d

List of all files till a commit

git ls-tree --name-only -r <commit-ish>

Git reset first commit

git update-ref -d HEAD

Reset: preserve uncommitted local changes

git reset --keep <commit>

List all the conflicted files

git diff --name-only --diff-filter=U

List of all files changed in a commit

git diff-tree --no-commit-id --name-only -r <commit-ish>

Unstaged changes since last commit

git diff

Changes staged for commit

git diff --cached

Alternatives:

git diff --staged

Show both staged and unstaged changes

git diff HEAD

List all branches that are already merged into master

git branch --merged master

Quickly switch to the previous branch

git checkout -

Alternatives:

git checkout @{-1}

Remove branches that have already been merged with master

git branch --merged master | grep -v '^\*' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d

Alternatives:

git branch --merged master | grep -v '^\*\|  master' | xargs -n 1 git branch -d # will not delete master if master is not checked out

List all branches and their upstreams, as well as last commit on branch

git branch -vv

Track upstream branch

git branch -u origin/mybranch

Delete local branch

git branch -d <local_branchname>

Delete remote branch

git push origin --delete <remote_branchname>

Alternatives:

git push origin :<remote_branchname>
git branch -dr <remote/branch>

Delete local tag

git tag -d <tag-name>

Delete remote tag

git push origin :refs/tags/<tag-name>

Undo local changes with the last content in head

git checkout -- <file_name>

Revert: Undo a commit by creating a new commit

git revert <commit-ish>

Reset: Discard commits, advised for private branch

git reset <commit-ish>

Reword the previous commit message

git commit -v --amend

See commit history for just the current branch

git cherry -v master

Amend author.

git commit --amend --author='Author Name <email@address.com>'

Reset author, after author has been changed in the global config.

git commit --amend --reset-author --no-edit

Changing a remote’s URL

git remote set-url origin <URL>

Get list of all remote references

git remote

Alternatives:

git remote show

Get list of all local and remote branches

git branch -a

Get only remote branches

git branch -r

Stage parts of a changed file, instead of the entire file

git add -p

Get git bash completion

curl -L http://git.io/vfhol > ~/.git-completion.bash && echo '[ -f ~/.git-completion.bash ] && . ~/.git-completion.bash' >> ~/.bashrc

What changed since two weeks?

git log --no-merges --raw --since='2 weeks ago'

Alternatives:

git whatchanged --since='2 weeks ago'

See all commits made since forking from master

git log --no-merges --stat --reverse master..

Pick commits across branches using cherry-pick

git checkout <branch-name> && git cherry-pick <commit-ish>

Find out branches containing commit-hash

git branch -a --contains <commit-ish>

Alternatives:

git branch --contains <commit-ish>

Git Aliases

git config --global alias.<handle> <command> 
git config --global alias.st status

Saving current state of tracked files without commiting

git stash

Alternatives:

git stash save

Saving current state of unstaged changes to tracked files

git stash -k

Alternatives:

git stash --keep-index
git stash save --keep-index

Saving current state including untracked files

git stash -u

Alternatives:

git stash save -u
git stash save --include-untracked

Saving current state with message

git stash save <message>

Saving current state of all files (ignored, untracked, and tracked)

git stash -a

Alternatives:

git stash --all
git stash save --all

Show list of all saved stashes

git stash list

Apply any stash without deleting from the stashed list

git stash apply <stash@{n}>

Apply last stashed state and delete it from stashed list

git stash pop

Alternatives:

git stash apply stash@{0} && git stash drop stash@{0}

Delete all stored stashes

git stash clear

Alternatives:

git stash drop <stash@{n}>

Grab a single file from a stash

git checkout <stash@{n}> -- <file_path>

Alternatives:

git checkout stash@{0} -- <file_path>

Show all tracked files

git ls-files -t

Show all untracked files

git ls-files --others

Show all ignored files

git ls-files --others -i --exclude-standard

Create new working tree from a repository (git 2.5)

git worktree add -b <branch-name> <path> <start-point>

Create new working tree from HEAD state

git worktree add --detach <path> HEAD

Untrack files without deleting

git rm --cached <file_path>

Alternatives:

git rm --cached -r <directory_path>

Before deleting untracked files/directory, do a dry run to get the list of these files/directories

git clean -n

Forcefully remove untracked files

git clean -f

Forcefully remove untracked directory

git clean -f -d

Update all the submodules

git submodule foreach git pull

Alternatives:

git submodule update --init --recursive
git submodule update --remote

Show all commits in the current branch yet to be merged to master

git cherry -v master

Alternatives:

git cherry -v master <branch-to-be-merged>

Rename a branch

git branch -m <new-branch-name>

Alternatives:

git branch -m [<old-branch-name>] <new-branch-name>

Rebases ‘feature’ to ‘master’ and merges it in to master

git rebase master feature && git checkout master && git merge -

Archive the master branch

git archive master --format=zip --output=master.zip

Modify previous commit without modifying the commit message

git add --all && git commit --amend --no-edit

Prunes references to remote branches that have been deleted in the remote.

git fetch -p

Alternatives:

git remote prune origin

Retrieve the commit hash of the initial revision.

git rev-list --reverse HEAD | head -1