Git Command Cheatsheet

Quick reference for the most commonly used Git commands. This cheatsheet provides fast access to essential Git operations.

Getting Started

Clone a Repository

# Clone via HTTPS
git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git

# Clone via SSH
git clone git@github.com:user/repo.git

# Shallow clone (faster)
git clone --depth 1 <url>

# Clone specific branch
git clone -b branch-name <url>

Checking Status of Your Files

View File Status

git status

View Short Status

git status --short

View in Machine Readable Format

git status --porcelain

The --porcelain option causes git status to display the status in a machine-readable format, which is intended to be easy to parse by scripts and other automated tools.

Viewing the Commit History

View Git Logs

git log

View Logs in Single Line

git log --oneline

View N Numbers of Logs

git log -n

Single Line & N Number of Logs

git log --oneline -n

Log with Patch Changes

git log --patch

Showing Stats

git log --stat

Shows how many files were changed, and how many lines in those files were added and removed. It also puts a summary of the information at the end.

Short Stats

git log --shortstat

Graphical View

git log --graph

Logs Without Merge Commits

git log --no-merges

Showing References with Dates

git log --pretty=reference

View Git History of Specific Line

git log --pretty=short -u -L <start line>,<end line>:<file path>

Search for Code Within Git History

git log -S "CodeSnippet or searchString"

Search for Commit Message Within Git History

git log --grep=<pattern>

Commit

Add Commit Message

git commit -m "your message"

Add Headline and Details

git commit -m "Headline" -m "details"

Re-use Commit Message from Another Commit

git commit --reuse-message=<commit-sha>
# or 
git commit -C <commit-sha>

Re-use Commit Message and Enable Editing

git commit --reedit-message=<commit-sha>
# or
git commit -c <commit-sha>

Add Something on Last Commit

git commit --amend

Add Something on Last Commit Without Updating Message

git commit --amend --no-edit

Staging Files (Git Add)

Add Specific Files

git add file.txt
git add file1.txt file2.txt

Add All Changes

git add .
git add --all
git add -A

Interactive Staging (Patch Mode)

# Stage changes interactively
git add -p

# Stage specific hunks
git add --patch file.txt

Add Modified Files Only

# Don't add new files
git add -u

Viewing Differences (Git Diff)

View Unstaged Changes

git diff

View Staged Changes

git diff --staged
# or
git diff --cached

Compare Branches

git diff branch1..branch2
git diff main...feature

Compare Commits

git diff commit1 commit2
git diff HEAD~1

Diff Specific File

git diff file.txt
git diff --staged file.txt

Show Only Changed Files

git diff --name-only
git diff --name-status

Merging Branches

Merge Branch into Current

git merge branch-name

Merge with No Fast-Forward

git merge --no-ff branch-name

Squash Merge

git merge --squash branch-name
git commit -m "Squashed changes"

Abort Merge

git merge --abort

Remote Repositories

View Remotes

git remote
git remote -v

Add Remote

git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git
git remote add upstream https://github.com/original/repo.git

Remove Remote

git remote remove remote-name

Change Remote URL

git remote set-url origin new-url

Fetching & Pulling

Fetch from Remote

git fetch
git fetch origin
git fetch --all

Pull Changes

git pull
git pull origin main
git pull --rebase

Pull with Fast-Forward Only

git pull --ff-only

Pushing Changes

Push to Remote

git push
git push origin main

Push and Set Upstream

git push -u origin branch-name

Push All Branches

git push --all

Push Tags

git push --tags
git push origin v1.0.0

Force Push (Use with Caution!)

git push --force-with-lease

Delete Remote Branch

git push origin --delete branch-name

Restoring Files (Git Restore)

Discard Changes in File

git restore file.txt
git restore .

Unstage File

git restore --staged file.txt

Restore from Specific Commit

git restore --source=HEAD~1 file.txt
git restore --source=main file.txt

Interactive Restore

git restore -p file.txt

Git Branching

Show Current Branch

git branch --show-current

List of All Local Branches

git branch
# or
git branch --list

List All Remote Branches

git branch --remotes

List Branch with Last Commit

git branch --verbose
# or
git branch -v

See Merged Branches

git branch --merged

Create a New Branch

git branch -b "branch name"

Rename a Branch

git branch -m "the renamed branch"

Delete a Branch

git branch --delete "branch name"

Force Delete a Branch

git branch --delete --force "branch name"
# or
git branch -D "branch name"

Delete Remote Branch

git push origin --delete "branch name"

Checkout to a Specific Branch

git checkout "branch name"

Switch Between Recent Two Branches

git checkout -

Git Switch (Git 2.23 and onwards)

Create a Branch

git switch --create "branch name"

Checkout to a Specific Branch

git switch "branch name"

Switch Between Recent Two Branches

git switch -

Git Tags

Git supports two types of tags: 1. lightweight tag, 2. annotated tag

Add a Lightweight Tag

git tag "tag name"

Add an Annotated Tag

git tag --annotate "tag name"
# or
git tag -a "tag name"

Add Tag to a Specific Commit

git tag --annotate "tag name" <commit-sha>

Push Tags to Origin

git push origin 'tag name'

Push All Tags at Once

git push origin --tags

List All Tags

git tag --list
# or
git tag

List Remote Tags

git ls-remote --tags origin

Git Stash (Temporary Storage)

Stash Changes

git stash

Add Custom Message When Stashing

git stash push -m "your message"

Include Untracked (New) Files

git stash --include-untracked
# or
git stash -u

Include Untracked + Ignored Files

git stash --all

View Stash List

git stash list

Apply Last Stash Changes

git stash pop

Apply Nth Stash Changes

git stash pop <stash-head>

Apply Stash Without Deleting It

git stash apply <stash-head>

Delete a Stash

git stash drop <stash-head>

❗ Clear All Stashes

git stash clear

⚠️ Make sure you know what you are doing!

See Stash Changes

git stash show <stash-head>

View Patch Changes

git stash show --patch <stash-head>

Create Branch from Stash

git stash branch "branch-name" <stash-head>

Useful when reapplying stash might create conflict and you want to test your stash changes or make a new branch.

Reset Changes

Reset Last Commit

git reset HEAD~1

Reset Last N Number of Commits

git reset HEAD~n

Reset Modes

• --soft: does not reset the index or working tree files
• --hard: reset the index + working tree files
• --mixed: reset the index but not working tree files

Reset HEAD to Origin/Remote Branch

git reset origin/<branch-name>

Reset Last Merge Commit

git reset --merge HEAD~1

Abort Merge Commit (Not Committed Yet)

git reset --merge
# or
git merge --abort

Revert Changes

Revert a Commit

git revert <commit-sha>

Edit Message

git revert --edit <commit-sha>

Don't Edit Message

git revert --no-edit <commit-sha>

Stage Changes Instead of Auto Commit

git revert --no-commit <commit-sha>

Revert Range of Commits

git revert first-bad-commit^..last-bad-commit

Patch

Make Patch File

git diff > fileName.patch

Make Patch File from Stage

git diff --staged > fileName.patch
# or
git diff --cached > fileName.patch

Apply Patch Changes

git apply fileName.patch

Patch from N Top Commits

git format-patch -n <sha>

Apply Patch Changes (format-patch)

git am < file.patch

Rebase Git Commit History

Rebase Your Branch Head

git rebase <parent-branch>

Interactive Rebase

git rebase --interactive <commit-sha>^

The ^ (caret) means parent to that commit

Continue Rebasing

git rebase --continue

Abort Rebase

git rebase --abort

Add Fixup Commit

git commit --fixup=<commit-sha>

Auto Squash Commit

git rebase --interactive --autosquash <commit-sha>

Debugging with Git (Bisect)

Start Debugging

git bisect start
git bisect good sha-of-good-commit
git bisect bad sha-of-bad-commit

If bad commit is not provided, default is the last commit. Then Test your application and provide info about which state is good and which state is bad.

Specify Good State

git bisect good

Specify Bad State

git bisect bad

Terminate Bisect

git bisect reset

Reflog (Insurance in Git)

View Reference Logs

git reflog

Reference logs expiry time: default is 90 days

Set Expiry Time

git config gc.reflogExpire <time>
# set for 90 days
git config gc.reflogExpire 90.days
# set never
git config gc.reflogExpire never

View Expiry Time

git config --get gc.reflogExpire

Unset Expiry Time

git config --unset gc.reflogExpire

Tree View of Git Reflog (Works with gitk)

gitk --all `git reflog | cut -c1-7`

Recover Deleted Commit

Delete or reset your last commit (mostly used: git reset --hard HEAD~1)

To get back to previous state:

git reset --hard HEAD@{1}

If you made any commit after deleting or want to get back an old deleted commit:

1. List the reflog history:

git reflog

2. Find your commit from the reflog history

3. Add commit using git cherry-pick command:

git cherry-pick <commit-sha | @HEAD{number}>

You can also copy commit message from the reflog:

git commit --reuse-message=<commit-sha | @HEAD{number}>
# or 
git commit -C <commit-sha | @HEAD{number}>

Copy commit message from the reflog and enable editing:

git commit --reedit-message=<commit-sha | @HEAD{number}> 
# or 
git commit -c <commit-sha | @HEAD{number}>

Recover Deleted Branch

If you delete your old branch or accidentally delete any branch:

1. List the reflog history:

git reflog

2. Find your last commit on your deleted branch

3. Checkout to your branch:

git checkout -b "branch-name" <commit-sha | @HEAD{number}>

❌ Don't Use These Commands

⚠️ Ensure that you are doing what you are supposed to do.

Clean Old or Unapproachable Reflog Entries

git reflog expire

Delete Reflog Entries

git reflog delete

💣 This command causes data loss (use this at your own risk!)