Git Cheat Sheet & Git Flow

Git and Git Flow Cheat Sheet¶

📖 About¶

This comprehensive Git cheat sheet helps you master Git commands without memorizing everything. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, this guide provides quick reference to essential Git operations.

Contributions Welcome! Feel free to: - Fix grammar mistakes - Add new commands - Translate to your language - Improve explanations

🔧 Setup¶

View Configuration¶

Show current configuration:

git config --list

Show repository configuration:

git config --local --list

Show global configuration:

git config --global --list

Show system configuration:

git config --system --list

User Configuration¶

Set your name for version history:

git config --global user.name "[firstname lastname]"

Set your email address:

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

Display & Editor Settings¶

Enable automatic command line coloring:

git config --global color.ui auto

Set global editor for commits:

git config --global core.editor vi

⚙️ Configuration Files¶

Scope	Location	Command Flag
Repository	`<repo>/.git/config`	`--local`
User	`~/.gitconfig`	`--global`
System	`/etc/gitconfig`	`--system`

🆕 Create Repository¶

Clone Existing Repository¶

Via SSH:

git clone ssh://user@domain.com/repo.git

Via HTTPS:

git clone https://domain.com/user/repo.git

Initialize New Repository¶

Create repository in current directory:

git init

Create repository in specific directory:

git init <directory>

📝 Local Changes¶

Check Status & Differences¶

View working directory status:

git status

Show changes to tracked files:

git diff

Show changes in specific file:

git diff <file>

Staging Changes¶

Add all current changes:

git add .

Add specific files:

git add <filename1> <filename2>

Interactively add parts of a file:

git add -p <file>

Committing Changes¶

Commit all tracked file changes:

git commit -a

Commit staged changes:

git commit

Commit with message:

git commit -m 'message here'

Skip staging and commit with message:

git commit -am 'message here'

Commit with specific date:

git commit --date="`date --date='n day ago'`" -am "<Commit Message Here>"

Modify Last Commit¶

⚠️ Warning: Don't amend published commits!

Amend last commit:

git commit -a --amend

Amend without changing commit message:

git commit --amend --no-edit

Change committer date:

GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="date" git commit --amend

Change author date:

git commit --amend --date="date"

Stashing Changes¶

Save current changes temporarily:

git stash

Apply last stashed changes:

git stash apply

Apply specific stash:

git stash apply stash@{stash_number}

Use git stash list to see available stashes

Remove last stash:

git stash drop

Move uncommitted changes to another branch:

git stash
git checkout branch2
git stash pop

🔍 Search¶

Text Search¶

Search for text in all files:

git grep "Hello"

Search in specific version:

git grep "Hello" v2.5

Commit Search¶

Find commits that introduced specific keyword:

git log -S 'keyword'

Search with regular expression:

git log -S 'keyword' --pickaxe-regex

📖 Commit History¶

Basic History¶

Show all commits (detailed):

git log

Show commits (one line each):

git log --oneline

Show commits by specific author:

git log --author="username"

Show changes for specific file:

git log -p <file>

Advanced History¶

Compare branches:

git log --oneline <origin/master>..<remote/master> --left-right

Show who changed what and when:

git blame <file>

Reference Logs¶

Show reference log:

git reflog show

Delete reference log:

git reflog delete

📁 Move / Rename¶

Rename a file:

git mv Index.txt Index.html

🌿 Branches & Tags¶

List Branches¶

List local branches:

git branch

List all branches (local + remote):

git branch -a

List remote branches:

git branch -r

List merged branches:

git branch --merged

Switch & Create Branches¶

Switch to existing branch:

git checkout <branch>

Create and switch to new branch:

git checkout -b <branch>

Switch to previous branch:

git checkout -

Create branch from existing branch:

git checkout -b <new_branch> <existing_branch>

Create branch from specific commit:

git checkout <commit-hash> -b <new_branch_name>

Create branch without switching:

git branch <new-branch>

Create tracking branch:

git branch --track <new-branch> <remote-branch>

Branch Operations¶

Checkout single file from different branch:

git checkout <branch> -- <filename>

Apply specific commit from another branch:

git cherry-pick <commit hash>

Rename current branch:

git branch -m <new_branch_name>

Delete local branch:

git branch -d <branch>

Force delete local branch:

git branch -D <branch>

⚠️ Warning: You will lose unmerged changes!

Tags¶

Create tag at HEAD:

git tag <tag-name>

Create annotated tag:

git tag -a <tag-name>

Create tag with message:

git tag <tag-name> -am 'message here'

List all tags:

git tag

List tags with messages:

git tag -n

🔄 Update & Publish¶

Remote Management¶

List configured remotes:

git remote -v

Show remote information:

git remote show <remote>

Add new remote:

git remote add <remote> <url>

Rename remote:

git remote rename <remote> <new_remote>

Remove remote:

git remote rm <remote>

ℹ️ Note: This only removes the remote reference locally, not the remote repository itself.

Fetch & Pull¶

Download changes without merging:

git fetch <remote>

Download and merge changes:

git pull <remote> <branch>

Get changes from main branch:

git pull origin master

Pull with rebase:

git pull --rebase <remote> <branch>

Push & Publish¶

Publish local changes:

git push <remote> <branch>

Delete remote branch:

## Git v1.7.0+
git push <remote> --delete <branch>

## Git v1.5.0+
git push <remote> :<branch>

Publish tags:

git push --tags

🔀 Merge & Rebase¶

Merge Operations¶

Merge branch into current HEAD:

git merge <branch>

Configure merge tool globally:

git config --global merge.tool meld

Use configured merge tool:

git mergetool

Rebase Operations¶

⚠️ Warning: Don't rebase published commits!

Rebase current HEAD onto branch:

git rebase <branch>

Abort rebase:

git rebase --abort

Continue rebase after resolving conflicts:

git rebase --continue

Conflict Resolution¶

Mark file as resolved:

git add <resolved-file>

Remove resolved file:

git rm <resolved-file>

Squashing Commits¶

Interactive rebase for squashing:

git rebase -i <commit-just-before-first>

Example squash configuration:

## Before
pick <commit_id>
pick <commit_id2>
pick <commit_id3>

## After (squash commit_id2 and commit_id3 into commit_id)
pick <commit_id>
squash <commit_id2>
squash <commit_id3>

↩️ Undo¶

Discard Changes¶

Discard all local changes:

git reset --hard HEAD

Unstage all files:

git reset HEAD

Discard changes in specific file:

git checkout HEAD <file>

Reset Operations¶

Reset to previous commit (discard all changes):

git reset --hard <commit>

Reset to remote branch state:

git reset --hard <remote/branch>
## Example: git reset --hard upstream/master

Reset preserving changes as unstaged:

git reset <commit>

Reset preserving uncommitted local changes:

git reset --keep <commit>

Revert Commits¶

Revert commit (create new commit with opposite changes):

git revert <commit>

Clean Ignored Files¶

Remove accidentally committed files that should be ignored:

git rm -r --cached .
git add .
git commit -m "remove ignored files"

🌊 Git Flow¶

Improved Git-flow: git-flow-avh

🔧 Setup {#setup-1}¶

Prerequisite: Working Git installation required. Git-flow works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install git-flow-avh

macOS (MacPorts):

port install git-flow

Linux (Debian-based):

sudo apt-get install git-flow

Windows (Cygwin):

Requires wget and util-linux

wget -q -O - --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/petervanderdoes/gitflow/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh install <state> | bash

🚀 Getting Started¶

Git-flow needs initialization to customize your project setup.

Initialize (interactive):

git flow init

You'll answer questions about branch naming conventions. Default values are recommended.

Initialize (use defaults):

git flow init -d

✨ Features¶

Features are for developing new functionality for upcoming releases. They typically exist only in developer repositories.

Start new feature:

git flow feature start MYFEATURE

Creates feature branch based on 'develop' and switches to it

Finish feature:

git flow feature finish MYFEATURE

This will: 1. Merge MYFEATURE into 'develop' 2. Remove the feature branch 3. Switch back to 'develop'

Publish feature (for collaboration):

git flow feature publish MYFEATURE

Get published feature:

git flow feature pull origin MYFEATURE

Track origin feature:

git flow feature track MYFEATURE

🎁 Make a Release¶

Releases support preparation of new production releases, allowing minor bug fixes and preparing meta-data.

Start release:

git flow release start RELEASE [BASE]

Creates release branch from 'develop'. Optionally specify [BASE] commit SHA-1.

Publish release:

git flow release publish RELEASE

Track remote release:

git flow release track RELEASE

Finish release:

git flow release finish RELEASE

This will: 1. Merge release branch into 'master' 2. Tag the release 3. Back-merge release into 'develop' 4. Remove release branch

💡 Don't forget: Push your tags with git push --tags

🔥 Hotfixes¶

Hotfixes address critical issues in live production versions. They branch off from the corresponding tag on master.

Start hotfix:

git flow hotfix start VERSION [BASENAME]

Finish hotfix:

git flow hotfix finish VERSION

Merges back into both 'develop' and 'master', and tags the master merge

📊 Commands Overview¶

Git Flow Commands

🌊 Git Flow Schema¶

Git Flow Schema

🌍 Other Languages¶

This cheat sheet is available in multiple languages:

Language	Link
🇸🇦 Arabic	git-cheat-sheet-ar.md
🇧🇩 Bengali	git-cheat-sheet-bn.md
🇧🇷 Brazilian Portuguese	git-cheat-sheet-pt_BR.md
🇨🇳 Chinese	git-cheat-sheet-zh.md
🇩🇪 German	git-cheat-sheet-de.md
🇬🇷 Greek	git-cheat-sheet-el.md
🇮🇳 Hindi	git-cheat-sheet-hi.md
🇰🇷 Korean	git-cheat-sheet-ko.md
🇵🇱 Polish	git-cheat-sheet-pl.md
🇪🇸 Spanish	git-cheat-sheet-es.md
🇹🇷 Turkish	git-cheat-sheet-tr.md

🤝 Contributing¶

We welcome contributions! You can:

🐛 Report bugs or typos
✨ Add new Git commands
🌍 Translate to new languages
💡 Improve explanations
📝 Enhance formatting

How to contribute: 1. Fork this repository 2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature) 3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature') 4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature) 5. Open a Pull Request

📄 License¶

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

⭐ Star this repository if you found it helpful!