Git Commands Cheat Sheet

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

Set the author name attached to your commits for every repository on this machine.

git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Set the author email used on commits globally; omit --global to set it only for the current repo.

git config user.email "[email protected]"

Override the email for the current repository only (local config takes precedence over global).

git config --global init.defaultBranch main

Make new repositories start with a branch named main instead of master.

git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

Set the editor Git opens for commit messages and interactive sessions.

git config --list --show-origin

List all effective configuration values and which file each came from.

git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.lg "log --oneline --graph --decorate"

Create shortcuts so git co runs git checkout and git lg shows a compact graph.

git status

Show which files are staged, modified, or untracked.

git status -s

Show the same information in a compact, two-column short format.

git add file.txt

Stage a specific file so its changes will be included in the next commit.

git add .

Stage all changes in the current directory and below, including new files.

git add -p

Interactively review and stage individual hunks, letting you split a file's changes across commits.

git commit -m "Add login form validation"

Record the staged changes with a short message in one step.

git commit

Commit staged changes, opening your editor to write a full multi-line message.

git commit -am "Quick fix"

Stage all tracked, modified files and commit them in a single command (does not add new files).

git commit --amend

Replace the most recent commit, letting you edit its message or add newly staged changes. Avoid on commits already pushed and shared.

git commit --amend --no-edit

Add staged changes to the last commit while keeping its existing message.

git branch

List local branches; the current one is marked with an asterisk.

git branch -a

List all branches, including remote-tracking branches.

git branch feature-x

Create a new branch at the current commit without switching to it.

git switch feature-x

Switch to an existing branch (modern replacement for git checkout <branch>).

git switch -c feature-x

Create a new branch and switch to it in one step.

git checkout -b feature-x

Older equivalent of switch -c: create and check out a new branch.

git branch -d feature-x

Delete a branch that has already been merged; use -D to force-delete an unmerged branch.

git branch -m old-name new-name

Rename a branch; omit the old name to rename the current branch.

git remote -v

List configured remotes and their fetch/push URLs.

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

Add a new remote named origin pointing at the given URL.

git fetch origin

Download new commits and refs from the remote without changing your working branch.

git pull

Fetch from the tracked remote branch and merge (or rebase) it into the current branch.

git pull --rebase

Fetch and rebase local commits on top of the remote branch instead of merging.

git push

Upload local commits on the current branch to its tracked remote branch.

git push -u origin feature-x

Push a branch and set it as the upstream so later git push/pull need no arguments.

git push --force-with-lease

Force-push safely: overwrites the remote branch only if no one else has pushed since your last fetch. Prefer this over --force.

git stash

Save tracked, modified changes and revert the working tree to a clean state.

git stash push -m "wip: refactor parser"

Stash changes with a descriptive label for easier identification later.

git stash -u

Include untracked files in the stash as well.

git stash list

Show all saved stashes with their references (e.g. stash@{0}).

git stash pop

Reapply the most recent stash and remove it from the stash list.

git stash apply stash@{1}

Reapply a specific stash while keeping it in the list.

git stash drop stash@{0}

Delete a single stash entry without applying it.

git cherry-pick <commit>

Apply the changes from a specific commit onto the current branch.

git reflog

Show the history of where HEAD has pointed; invaluable for recovering "lost" commits after a bad reset or rebase.

git bisect start
git bisect bad
git bisect good v1.0.0

Binary-search through history to find the commit that introduced a bug; Git checks out midpoints for you to test until you run git bisect reset.

echo "node_modules/" >> .gitignore

List patterns in a .gitignore file so matching untracked files are never staged. Already-tracked files must be removed with git rm --cached.