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Developers @ Asurion profile image Kaye Alvarado
Kaye Alvarado for Developers @ Asurion

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All the Git Commands that You Need to Know

#github #git

Here is a collection of common scenarios of code management and the git commands needed for them:

1. Clone a repository to your local branch 

git clone https://github.com/<organization>/<repository_name>.git
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2. Check if the current state of your local branch 

git status
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3. Commit a change from your local to the remote repository

After doing edits (add/update/delete) to the files in your local repository, you can make them available to other developers by pushing your changes to the remote branch. First, stage the changes:

git add <path>
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Alternatives

  • git add --all
  • git add .
  • git add ../subpath

You can then add a commit message to your check-in. Some developer teams follow the Conventional Commit specification when adding commit messages, which dovetails SemVer and makes it easier to publish release notes based on widely known standards.

git commit -m "commit message"
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After adding a commit messsage, you can then push the change to a remote repository. If the remote_branch_name already exists in the remote repository, a simple git push command will do.

git push -u origin <remote_branch_name>
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4. Revert to a previous commit in the remote branch

There are times when you accidentally push a commit to an incorrect remote branch and wishes to revert to a previous commit. You can follow the following steps in order to do this.
First identify the commit id by checking the git history

git log
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You can then switch your local to an older commit_id

git reset --hard <commit_id>
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Then, force push the current state of the branch to the remote branch. Make sure that there are no restrictions in the remote branch against force pushes.

git push -f origin <remote_branch_name>
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5. Reset commit history in a git repository

These sequence of steps will essentially reset the git commit history of the remote repository by overwriting the main branch (which contains all commit history) with a fresh branch that contains all the files of the main branch:

git checkout --orphan temp-branch
git add -A
git commit -m "reset history"
git checkout main
git reset --hard temp-branch
git branch -D temp-branch
git push -f origin main
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6. Deleting local and remote branches 

[for local branch]
git branch -D [branch-name]
[for remote branch]
git push origin -d [branch-name]
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7. Squash multiple commits

View the list of commits in the current branch with git log, then identify the start of the commit that needs to be squashed.

222bb33  Adjust tests
99aa111  add feature
def5678  fix: type
abc1234  initial commit
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In the results above, I want to combine the commits from def5678 to 222bb33 to a single commit. With this, start interactive rebase with the commit before the first in the range which should be abc1234

git rebase -i abc1234
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In the editor that opens, change the top commit as pick and change the subsequent ones that needs to be squashed to that commit as squash. Then, save and exit.

pick def5678  fix: type
squash 99aa111  add feature
squash 222bb33  Adjust tests
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Push to the remote branch.

git push --force-with-lease
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And that's it! Let me know if you have questions in any of the use-cases!

Are there any other common scenarios in code management that is useful to you? Leave them at the comment section for others!

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alex_g_4dc6e1cdb9ad0d19c4 profile image
Alex G •

thank i just started using git this helps