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Essential git commands every developer should know

Dhruv on September 28, 2017

If you’re one of those developers who still don’t use any version control system, I don’t know how you’re still managing to get work done. In this ...

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Andy Zhao (he/him) • Sep 28 '17

Definitely git add -p too, for an interactive view of what you've made changes on.

Leo Melo • Sep 29 '17

This! git add -p was probably was helped me the most when swapping Source Tree for CLI git.

Lou (🚀 Open Up The Cloud ☁️) • Oct 14 '17

Always git add -p !

ratraze • Sep 28 '17

I think rebase is one thing that should be present in this list.
Personally, I use it quite often and it's really helpful, especially if you work in a team.

And interactive rebase allow to squash commits and keep your history clean and clear.

Benoit Goepfert • Sep 29 '17

Totally agree, I use it so often I can't even imagine working without it now.

TENsaga • Sep 28 '17

Definitely! Extremely useful.

hkly • Sep 28 '17

Also git diff, I use this all the time to review changes before committing them.

Leo Melo • Sep 29 '17

git log --graph if you want to see the classic git branch timeline view.

git log takes has a huge number of options, I normally use it with:

git log --color --oneline --decorate=no --graph

Optionally I also passing --all in case I want to see all branches.

Viru • Sep 29 '17 • Edited

I like to use git lg.

coderwall.com/p/euwpig/a-better-gi...

Arvind Gupta • Dec 10 '19

At Point 10). You can also use "git stash pop" for getting back locally save code.

for your reference find the difference between "git stash apply" and "git stash pop" in below link

stackoverflow.com/questions/152860...

Dimanjan • Feb 14 '20

Also , Search

Search the working directory for foo():

git grep "foo()"

Kamal Mustafa • Oct 2 '18

To see history of changes at specific line:-

git blame -L337,+5 -- src/myproject/services.py

To see evolution at line 337:-

git log --pretty=short -u -L 337,337:src/myproject/services.py

Techgeekbuzz • Jan 16 '20

Hi Dhruv,

You have shared a nice list of Git Commands, I have shared my own GIT Commands List Please check, if you find anything which is missing from your list, please add them into your websites: techgeekbuzz.com/git-commands/

Thomas Melville • Sep 29 '17

I would replace merge with rebase, but that's just me :-)

profPlum • Oct 1 '18

Definitely git bisect too, I though the idea of commits were cool but was really skeptical of the practicality of using them to debug. git bisect stream lines this very efficiently and is an incredibly useful debugging tool!