Git Cheat Sheet

A basic cheatsheet that consists of the most commonly used and basic commands for Git version control!

Version Control Systems:

VC Systems help us with:

diff file1 file2 
diff -u file1 file2

The output of this on the command line shows the differences in the two files.
The -u flag shows the additions and removals made in the second file, in a more organized way.

diff -u old_file new_file > change.diff
patch old_file < change.diff

The first line of code here generates a file that contains all the changes made, and only the changes.
The second command applies the changes generated in the changes.diff file to the old_file.

Common first commands in Git are:

git init : Initializes an empty Git repository in the current working directory
git add filename : Lets the specified file be tracked by Git
git add . : Adds all the files in the current working directory and subdirectories in the tracking radar for Git
git commit : Commits our changes to the local repository
git status : Tells us which category our file is in. Files used by Git can be in one of the following three categories:

Modified -> Staged -> Committed

Modified files : Files that have been locally changed and saved in the computer.
Staged files: Files that have been set for tracking by Git. (using the git add command)
Committed files: Files that have had their changes saved in the local repository.

Other basic commands and information are:

git commit -a : Shortcut to stage and commit changes to tracked files in one command and step.
git commit -m "Message" : One-line commit message
HEAD alias : Represents curently checked out snapshot of project
git log -p : Gives information about patch.
git log --stat : Shows stats about changes in commit.
git diff : Similar to diff -u command, shows unstaged changes
git add -p Shows unstaged changes and asks if you want to stage it
git diff --staged : Shows staged changes

git checkout : reverts changes to modified files before they are changed
git reset : reverts staged changes
git commit --amend : edits previous commit and overwrites the previous commit with edited version

Note: Do not amend public commits!

git branch new_branch_name : creates new branch with name specified
git checkout branch_name : switches to the branch specified (changes where HEAD points to)
git checkout -b new_branch_name: one command to create a new branch and switch to it in one step
git branch -d branch_name: deletes branch specified
git merge branch_to_be_merged: merges branch specified to the branch HEAD is currently pointing to
git log --graph --oneline : summarized view of commit history
git merge --abort: prevents merge if conflicts arise

git clone link_to_repo.git : gets copy of remote repository onto your local machine
git config --global credential.helper cache : caches remote repo’s credentials in local machine for 15 minutes
git remote : lists remote repositories
git fetch : downloads specific objects from remote and doesn’t merge
git pull : downloads updates from the remote branch and merges
git pull -a : downloads updates from all remote branches and merges
git rebase branch_name : does fast-forward merge of current branch with the specified branch
git push -u origin : pushes changes to the remote object origin, in accordance with current working branch.

git rebase -i : Interactive rebasing, offers complete control over the branch’s commit history. Helps clean up messy history
git push -f : Forces a push to the remote repository

Forking : Creates a copy of the given repository so that it belongs to our user
Pull request : Way to send and suggest changes to original owner of repository

Workflow of Pull Request:

Fork project and clone the fork
Make changes locally and commit
Push change while making new branch
Open pull request on Github/GitLab and check if the changes can be merged (this shows automatically)