Git Version Control Cheat Sheet

Installation

• Official Website: https://git-scm.com/download/win
• WinGet PowerShell prompt: winget install --id Git.Git -e --source winget

Getting Started

Configure Your name and Public Email

1. To identify yourself locally:

   git config user.name "name"
   # This signs your name locally to current repository with name.
   
   git config user.email "e-mail"
   # this signs your email locally to current repository with e-mail.
   

2. To identify yourself globally:

   # This signs your name globally to current repository with name.
   git config --global user.name "name"
   # This signs your email  globally to current repository with e-mail.
   git config --global user.email "e-mail"
   

How to Configure a Bash Profile

1. sets up Git with your name

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

2. sets up Git with your email

   git config --global user.email "your-email-address"
   

3. makes sure that Git output is colored

   git config --global color.ui auto
   

4. displays the original state in a conflict

   git config --global merge.conflictstyle diff3
   

5. display config list

   git config --list
   

6. get Git working with your code editor

   #Atom
   git config --global core.editor "atom --wait"
   #Sublime
   git config --global core.editor "'C:/Program Files/Sublime Text 2/sublime_text.exe' -n -w"
   #VSCode
   git config --global core.editor "code --wait"
   

bash_profile

1. First step: Create bash profile:

   nano .bash_profile
   

2. Add this line of code at the top of .bash_profile file:

   export PS1=" "
   

   What we put between the quotation marks will be what we see before each new command line.
   In order to see the saved changes, press ctrl + o and hit return to save. To exit nano, press ctrl + x. In order to view your beautiful work, open a new terminal window or enter source .bash_profile.

3. Add additional information:

   • \u — Username
   • \d — Current date
   • \t — Current time as HH:MM:SS
   • \W — Current working directory
   • \w — Full path of your current working directory
   • \n — Adds a new line
   • SeeMore

4. Add colors:

   • \[\e[**m\] — Think of this like an opening tag
   • ** — your color code (see below)
   • \[\e[0m\] — Closing tag for the color scheme

   Whatever you wrap the \[\e[**m\] and \[\e[0m\] in will be in the color you designate immediately following \[\e[**m\]. Replace the ** with the desired color codes:

   • 31 — red
   • 32 — green
   • 34 — blue
   • 35 — purple
   • 36 — cyan
   • 37 — white

   You can add a background color to the text starting with \[\e[**;**m\]. The first color code will be the text, the second is the background. Some background codes include:

   • 41 — red
   • 42 — green
   • 44 — blue
   • 45 — purple
   • 46 — cyan
   • See more

Example:

export PS1="\t \[\e[32m\]\u\[\e[0m\] \[\e[35m\]\w\[\e[0m\] \[\e[36m\]$(__git_ps1)\[\e[0m\] \n $ "

Git Commands

Terminal Commands

• ls - used to list files and directories
• mkdir - used to create a new directory
• cd - used to change directories
• rm - used to remove files and directories

Initialize a New Repo

• Initialize a new repository or clone it

# To create a new repository with Git —​ you may notice a new directory created, named ".git"
git init

Clone a Remote Repo

• Clone a remotely hosted repo to a local folder.

# Clone a repository into a new directory(could be a link or path).
git clone <remote_repo_link>
# clone the project and have it use a different name all in one go
git clone <remote_repo_link> <new_name>

Git Commit

• It is used to add files to the repo, either to a Staging environment or permanently to the repo

# Add all files that have changes to the temporary stage
git add .
# Add file_name to the temporary stage.
git add <file_name>
# This permanently stores the contents of the index in the repository.
git commit <file_name>
# `-m` flag allows to enter a quick message to the commit command
git commit -m <Git commit message here>
# This  will automatically notice any modified (but not new) files, add them to the index, and commit, all in one step.
git commit -a
# to tell Git about the files that Git should not track.
.gitignore [file_1] [file_2] ... [file_n]

Check Changes

# Show commit logs.
git log
# shows the commit logs in tree-view.
git log --graph
# Lists one commit per line. Show first 7 characters of SHA and the commit message
git log --newline
# Shows all commits of all branches.
git log --all
# shows only the most recent log.
git log -n 1
# complete diffs at each step.
git log -p
# the overview of the change is useful to get a feel of each step.
git log --stat --summary
# Group by contributor commits.
git shortlog
# -n show just the number of commits, -n arrange it numerically
git shortlog -s -n
# Filter By Author
git log --author=<author_name>
# Filter commits by the provided message part.
git log --grep=<part_of_commit_message>
# shows a specific commit
git show <SHA>
# Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc
git diff
# changes between first and second ids.
git diff <first_id> <second_id>
# You can see what is about to be committed using git diff with the --cached option.
git diff --cached
# Show the working tree status
git status

Tagging

# Adds a tag to current commit.
git tag <version_number ex:v1.0>
# RECOMMENDED because Annotated tags include (the person who made the tag, the date the tag was made, a message for the tag)
git tag -a v1.0
# fetches all the available tags for this repository.
git tag
# Adding A Tag To A Past Commit
git tag -a v1.0 a87984
# Deletes the tag
git tag -d v1.0

Branching

# shows the available branches and identify the current branch with '*'.
git branch
# creates new branch with branch_name.
git branch <branch_name>
# Creates a new branch and switches to it.
git checkout -b <branch_name>
# deletes branch_name
git branch -d <branch_name>
# switch to the branch_name branch.
git checkout <branch_name>

Merging

# merges two branches together
git merge <first_branch> <second_branch>
# This command undo the merge
git reset --hard HEAD^

Undoing Changes

# alter the most-recent commit.
git commit --amend
# Creates a new snapshot with a revert changes of the given SHA commit
git revert <SHA-of-commit-to-revert>
# open the editor to change the message.
git revert <SHA-of-commit-to-revert> -e / --edit
# Will not open the editor.
git revert <SHA-of-commit-to-revert> --no-edit
# will add the changes to the staging index
git revert <SHA-of-commit-to-revert> -n / --no-commit

Git Reset

# The git reset command is used to erase commits:
git reset <reference-to-commit>:
# It can be used to:
# move the HEAD and current branch pointer to the referenced commit
# erase commits with the --hard flag
# moves committed changes to the staging index with the --soft flag
# unstages committed changes --mixed flag
# Typically, ancestry references are used to indicate previous commits.
# The ancestry references are:
# ^ – indicates the parent commit
# ~ – indicates the first parent commit

Git Remote

• These commands are used to manage remote repositories.
• Docs: https://git-scm.com/docs/git-remote

# to view and create remotes
git remote
# v stands for verbose that means that git will get more information.
git remote -v
# To add this repository on GitHub as a remote.
git remote add <referral_name> <remote_repo_link>
# Changes URLs for the remote
git remote set-url <existing-remote-name> <new-url>
# Rename remote
git remote rename <old_name> <new_name>
# Disconnect local git repo from remote master. All remote-tracking branches and configuration settings for the remote are removed.
git remote rm <remote-name>
git remote remove <remote-name>

Git Push

• The git push command is used to upload local repository content to a remote repository.
• Docs:
  • https://git-scm.com/docs/git-push
  • https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/syncing/git-push

# To upload staged files to remote repo <remote_name>
git push <remote_name>
# To upload staged files in local branch <branch_name> to remote repo <remote_name>
git push <remote_name> <branch_name>
# Push all of your local branches to the specified remote
git push --all

Git Pull

• The git pull command is used to fetch and download content from a remote repository and immediately update the local repository to match that content.
• Docs:
  • https://git-scm.com/docs/git-push
  • https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/syncing/git-pull

# To download changes from remote repo <remote_name> and merge it into local one
git push <remote_name>
# Two below commands does the same effect as above
git fetch ＜remote＞
git merge origin/＜current-branch>
# Fetches the remote content but does not create a new merge commit.
git pull --no-commit <remote_name>
# It is used to ensure a linear history by preventing unnecessary merge commits
git pull --rebase <remote_name>
# Set `git pull` commands to integrate via `git rebase` instead of `git merge`
git config --global branch.autosetuprebase always

Git Fetch

• The git fetch command downloads commits, files, and refs from a remote repository into your local repo.
• Docs:
  • https://git-scm.com/docs/git-fetch
  • https://www.atlassian.com/git/tutorials/syncing/git-fetch

# gets a sneak peak of the log of the remotely repo.
git fetch <referral_name>
# do the same as git pull but without the merging step
git fetch <referral_name> <branch_name>

Git Merge

• Join two or more development histories together

# merges the commits on the local with remote repos.
git merge <branch_name> <referral_name/branch_name>

Remove File Tracking

# Remove file from tracking
git rm --cached <file path>

Further Research

• Git Internals - Plumbing and Porcelain
• Customizing Git - Git Hooks