Practical Git Commands Every Developer Should Know

Nima jahan bakhshian — Sun, 06 Sep 2026 08:31:15 +0000

Git is the most widely used version control system in the world. Whether you’re working alone or collaborating with a team, knowing the right commands can save you hours of frustration and help you work more confidently.

Below is a practical collection of the most useful Git commands, organized by real-world workflows.

1. Getting Started

Creates a new Git repository in the current directory

git init

Downloads an existing repository from a remote server and creates a local copy

git clone <repository-url>

Sets your identity so every commit is correctly attributed to you

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

2. Daily Workflow

Check the current status of your working directory

git status # shows which files are modified, staged, or untracked

git status -sb # the shorter and cleaner version

git add <file> # stage a specific file

git add . # stage all changes

# Show unstaged changes (working directory vs staging area)
git diff

# Show staged changes (staging area vs last commit)
git diff --staged

# Create a commit
git commit -m "feat: add image uploader"

3. Working with Branches

Switching Branches with

git switch is the dedicated command for switching branches (safer and clearer than the old git checkout).

# Switch to an existing branch
git switch feature-branch

# Create a new branch and switch to it in one command
git switch -c new-feature

git branch # List all local branches

4. Working with Remotes

Managing Remotes

# Show remote repositories with their fetch and push URLs
git remote -v

# List remote names only
git remote

# Remove a remote
git remote remove origin

# Add a new remote
git remote add origin <repository-url>

# Remove a remote
git remote remove <name>

# Fetch latest changes without merging
git fetch --all --prune

5. Hunting Down Bugs

If a bug has appeared and you're not sure which commit introduced it, bisect uses binary search across your commit history

# Start a binary search to find which commit introduced a bug
git bisect start

# Mark the current commit as bad (contains the bug)
git bisect bad

# Mark a known good commit (for example version v1.0)
git bisect good v1.0

# used to end a Git bisection session, clean up the bisection state
# and return your working directory to the commit you were on before you started
git bisect reset

6. Undoing Changes

Cleaning Up Untracked Files

# Dry-run: show which untracked files would be deleted (safe preview)
git clean -n

# Actually delete untracked files and directories
git clean -fd

# Discard changes in a specific file
git restore <file>

# Discard all local uncommitted changes (dangerous)
git restore .
git clean -fd

# Undo the last commit but keep the changes staged
git reset --soft HEAD~1

# Undo the last commit and unstage the changes
git reset HEAD~1

7. Temporarily Saving Work (Stash)

Always give a meaningful message with git stash push -m "...".

After a few days stash@{0}, stash@{1} become completely useless without messages.

# Temporarily save (stash) your uncommitted changes so you can work on something else
git stash

# Save your current uncommitted work (both staged + unstaged) with a clear message
# Very useful when you need to urgently switch branch or pull latest changes
git stash push -m "WIP: login form validation and dark mode toggle"

# Apply the most recent stash and remove it from the stash list
git stash pop

# List all saved stashes
git stash list

# Apply a specific stash (without removing it from the list)
git stash apply stash@{2}

# See what is inside a particular stash
git stash show -p stash@{1}

# Delete a specific stash after you're done with it
git stash drop stash@{1}

# Delete ALL stashes (use carefully)
git stash clear

8. Attaching Notes to Commits

git notes lets you attach extra information to a commit, without changing the commit itself or its hash

git notes add -m "This commit caused a regression in v2.3" <commit-hash>
git log --show-notes

9. A Clean Summary of Contributors

Instead of scrolling through a full commit log, shortlog gives you a ranked summary of who committed what, and how often a quick way to generate a contribution report without external tooling.

git shortlog
git shortlog -sn --all
git shortlog -sn --since="1 month ago"

10. Inspect Any Single Commit in Detail

# Show the full details of a specific commit (message, author, date, and the full diff of changes)
git show <commit-hash>

# Show the content of a specific file as it existed in a particular commit
git show <commit-hash>:path/to/file

Happy coding, and may your commits always be meaningful!

DEV Community: Nima jahan bakhshian