Git cheatsheet

Show Git Configuration

git config -l

Set user name

git config --global user.name "Your Name"

Set email

git config --global user.email "user@example.com"

Enable colorized output

git config --global color.ui auto

Initializing a Repository

git init

Cloning a Repository

git clone https://github.com/learntheshell/repository.git

Show Remote Repositories

git remote -v

Add specific file

git add filename.txt

Add all changes

git add .

Display status

git status

Status in short format

git status -s

Commit

git commit -m "commit message"

Commit as other author (not defined in global config)

git commit --author "test <test@example.com>"

Change commit message in local repository, that has not been pushed yet

git commit --amend

Changing message of already pushed commit

git commit --amend
git push --force-with-lease origin branch-name

Push to the main branch

git push origin main

or shorter version

git push

Push specified branch

git push origin branch-name

Display commit log

git log

Display commit log for a branch

git log branch-name

Viewing a Graph of Commits

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

Pull from main

git pull origin main

or

git pull

Pull changes from specific branch

git pull origin branch-name

Show changes between working directory and staging area

git diff file.txt

Show changes between the staging area and the repository

git diff --staged file.txt

Comparing Branches

git diff main feature-branch

Creating a Branch

git branch new-feature

Switching Branches

git checkout new-feature

Creating and Switching to a Branch

git checkout -b new-feature

Merging a Branch

git checkout main
git merge new-feature

Deleting a Branch

git branch -d new-feature

List Branches

git branch

or with -l parameter

git branch -l

list branches with a pattern

git branch -l feature*

Show a List of All Branches

git branch -a

Rebase

git checkout feature-branch
git rebase main

Interactive Rebase

git rebase -i HEAD~3

Stash current changes

git stash

Apply the most recent stash

git stash apply

List stashed changes

git stash list

Drop a specific stash

git stash drop stash@{0}

Apply specific commit from another branch

git checkout main
git cherry-pick abc123

Discard all local changes

git reset --

Discard Changes in a File

git checkout -- filename.txt

Soft reset (preserves changes)

git reset --soft HEAD~1

Unstaging a File

git reset HEAD filename.txt

Mixed reset (default, unstages changes)

git reset HEAD~1

Hard reset (discards all changes)

git reset --hard HEAD~1

Reverting a Commit (Create a new commit to undo changes)

git revert abc123

git status                 # View conflicted files
# Manually edit the conflicting file
git add file_with_conflict.txt
git commit

Creating a Tag

git tag -a v1.0 -m "Version 1.0"

Listing Tags

git tag

Pushing Tags

Push a specific tag

git push origin v1.0

Push all tags

git push --tags

Checkout main branch in ../main-worktree directory

git worktree add ../main-worktree main

Remove a worktree:

git worktree remove ../main-worktree

1. Clone the repository, without checkout

git clone --no-checkout https://github.com/example/monorepo.git
cd monorepo

2. Specify the directories or files you want to check out

git sparse-checkout set src/ include/ docs/

3. Use checkout command, to fetch specified directories

git checkout

1. Use reflog to find the commit

git reflog

2. This will show you the history of all changes

d5f5e7f HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD^
a72c0e4 HEAD@{1}: commit: Added new feature

3. Recover lost commit

git reset --hard a72c0e4

pre-commit hook to check for files larger than 1MB and prevent them from going into the commit

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/pre-commit
# Prevent committing files larger than 1MB
max_size=1000000  # 1MB in bytes

echo "Checking for large files..."

for file in $(git diff --cached --name-only); do
  if [ -f "$file" ]; then
    file_size=$(wc -c <"$file")
    if [ "$file_size" -ge "$max_size" ]; then
      echo "$file is too large ($file_size bytes). Maximum allowed size is 1MB."
      exit 1
    fi
  fi
done

commit-msg hook to ensure commit message format (for example length)

#!/bin/sh
# .git/hooks/commit-msg
# Enforce a commit message length of 10 characters or more

min_length=10
commit_message=$(cat "$1")

if [ ${#commit_message} -lt $min_length ]; then
  echo "Error: Commit message is too short."
  exit 1
fi

---

Remember to make each hook executable

chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

Add submodule

git submodule add git://github.com/jquery/jquery.git externals/jquery
git submodule update --init --recursive

Update submodules

git submodule update --remote

Clone repository and pull submodules

git clone project-with-submodules
git submodule init
git config -l
git submodule update --remote