Essential Git Commands for a Developer

Git is a Distributed Version Control System (VCS), developed to save the weekend of developer like you and me :p . It was developed in 2005 by our favorite Linus Torvalds. I can’t spend a single day without git and github. There are some git command I regularly use. Here is a list of those command.

Getting & Creating Projects

Command	Description
git init	Initialize a local Git repository
git clone ssh://git@github.com/[username]/[repository-name].git	Create a local copy of a remote repository

Basic Snapshotting

Command	Description
git status	Check status
git add [file-name.txt]	Add a file to the staging area
git add -A	Add all new and changed files to the staging area
git commit -m “[commit message]”	Commit changes
git rm -r [file-name.txt]	Remove a file (or folder)

Branching & Merging

Command	Description
git branch	List branches (the asterisk denotes the current branch)
git branch -a	List all branches (local and remote)
git branch [branch name]	Create a new branch
git branch -d [branch name]	Delete a branch
git push origin –delete [branch name]	Delete a remote branch
git checkout -b [branch name]	Create a new branch and switch to it
git checkout -b [branch name] origin/[branch name]	Clone a remote branch and switch to it
git branch -m [old branch name] [new branch name]	Rename a local branch
git checkout [branch name]	Switch to a branch
git checkout -	Switch to the branch last checked out
git checkout – [file-name.txt]	Discard changes to a file
git merge [branch name]	Merge a branch into the active branch
git merge [source branch] [target branch]	Merge a branch into a target branch
git stash	Stash changes in a dirty working directory
git stash clear	Remove all stashed entries

Sharing & Updating Projects

Command	Description
git push origin [branch name]	Push a branch to your remote repository
git push -u origin [branch name]	Push changes to remote repository (and remember the branch)
git push	Push changes to remote repository (remembered branch)
git push origin –delete [branch name]	Delete a remote branch
git pull	Update local repository to the newest commit
git pull origin [branch name]	Pull changes from remote repository
git remote add origin ssh://git@github.com/[username]/[repository-name].git	Add a remote repository
git remote set-url origin ssh://git@github.com/[username]/[repository-name].git	Set a repository’s origin branch to SSH

Inspection & Comparison

Command	Description
git log	View changes
git log –summary	View changes (detailed)
git log –oneline	View changes (briefly)
git diff [source branch] [target branch]	Preview changes before merging