Maxence Poutord

Posted on Dec 2, 2019 • Updated on Jan 22, 2020 • Originally published at maxpou.fr

Git: Cheat Sheet (advanced)

#git #cheatsheet

If you find git confusing, I created this little cheat sheet! Please, note that I voluntary skipped the basic commands like git commit, git pull/push... This cheat sheet is intended for an "advanced" usage of git.

🧭 Navigation - Go to the previous branch

git checkout -

🔍 Get the history

# Log in one line
git log --oneline

# Retrieve all commits by message
# Here all commit that contain 'homepage'
git log --all --grep='homepage'

# Retrieve all commit by author
git log --author="Maxence"

🙈Ooops #1: I reseted an unwanted commit. How to rollback?

# Get everything you did
git reflog

# then reset to the desired commit (i.e. HEAD@{4})
git reset HEAD@{4}
# ...or...
git reset --hard <commit-sha1>

For more detail about this command, I wrote this post.

What's happens when you `git commit`

Maxence Poutord ・ Oct 16 '19 ・ 5 min read

#git #tutorial #beginners

🤦‍♀️Ooops #2: I mixed-up with my local repo. How to clean it?

git fetch origin
git checkout master
git reset --hard origin/master
# You're now up-to-date with master!

🕵🏻‍♂️Difference between my branch and `master`

git diff master..my-branch

✔ Custom commits

# Edit last commit
git commit --amend -m "A better message"

# Add something to the last commit without writing message again
git add . && git commit --amend --no-edit

# empty commit - can be useful to re-trigger CI build...
git commit --allow-empty -m "chore: re-trigger build"

If you don't know what to put in your commit messages, I wrote a post about conventional commits.

♻️ Squash commits

Let say I want to rebase the last 3 commits:

git rebase -i HEAD~3
Leave the first "pick" and replace the rest by "squash" (or "s")
Tidy up the commit message and save (:wq in vi).

🎯Fixup

Let say I want to add something in the commit fed14a4c

git add .

git commit --fixup HEAD~1
# or replace HEAD~1 by the commit hash (fed14a4c)

git rebase -i HEAD~3 --autosquash
# save&quit the file (:wq in VI)

🕹Execute command on each commit when rebasing

For massives features, you might end up with a branch with a few commits inside. And then tests are failing and you want to identify the "guilty commit". You can use rebase --exec to execute a command on each commit of the history.

# Will run "npm test" command on the last 3 commit ❤️
git rebase HEAD~3 --exec "npm run test"

🦋Stash

Because it's not all about git stash and git stash pop ;)

# save all tracked files
git stash save "your message"

# list your stashes
git stash list

# retrieve stash and delete
git stash apply stash@{1}
git stash drop stash@{1}
# ... or in 1 command
git stash pop stash@{1}

🗑 Clean

# remove branches that no longer exist on remote
git fetch -p

# remove all branch that contains "greenkeeper"
git fetch -p && git branch --remote | fgrep greenkeeper | sed 's/^.\{9\}//' | xargs git push origin --delete

🐙 GitHub = `Git` + `Hub`

I use Hub as a wrapper for git. To enable it you've to set hub as an alias for git (alias git='hub').

# Open browser and go to the repository url (GitHub only)
git browse

Other commands are available here.

🦄 Bonus: my favourite git aliases

alias g='git'
alias glog='git log --oneline --decorate --graph'
alias gst='git status'
alias gp='git push'
alias ga='git add'
alias gc='git commit -v'

# 🤘
alias yolo='git push --force'

# useful for daily stand-up
git-standup() {
    AUTHOR=${AUTHOR:="`git config user.name`"}

    since=yesterday
    if [[ $(date +%u) == 1 ]] ; then
        since="2 days ago"
    fi

    git log --all --since "$since" --oneline --author="$AUTHOR"
}

And you, what's your favourite git command?

Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you found it useful! If you liked it, please give it a ❤️ or a 🦄! Also, feel free to comment or ask questions in the section below or on Twitter @_maxpou :)

Originally published on maxpou.fr.

Latest comments (58)

Umair Hafeez • Aug 24 '22

This is brilliant! I learned a few new things, especially hub. I am gonna try it soon.

Thanks @maxpou!

Se-ok Jeon • Sep 24 '21

Thx for this! This is really what I wanted. Helped A LOT.
Can I translate in Korean this post? If you don't mind, I wanna share this awesome post in Korean. Surely, There will be a linke directing to this original post.

Maxence Poutord • Oct 13 '21

Hey, sure you can translate it in Korean. If you do so, could you please

link the original post (maxpou.fr/git-cheat-sheet)
let me know the URL (I'll add the link on my post)

I hope it's not too late :)

Slava Semushin • Jan 6 '20 • Edited

Thanks for sharing this!

And then tests are failing and you want to identify the "guilty commit". You can use rebase --exec to execute a command on each commit of the history.

When there a lot of commits it might take too much time. In such cases, git bisect comes to the rescue -- instead of executing a command on all commits it uses binary search to identify the first commit that breaks everything.

useful for daily stand-up

git-standup() {

Perhaps, you might find this project useful: github.com/kamranahmedse/git-standup

Maxence Poutord • Jan 7 '20

Agree, bisect is the key when we have too many commits!

About git-standup, I don't really need it. I'm happy with my simple alias. I also grep a lot my git log :)
But, thanks for sharing! Someone else might found it handy!!!

Sebastian-Nielsen • Jan 4 '20

Question: Where did you store the "alias-code" (from the last section "Bonus: my favourite git aliases") for it to take effect?

Maxence Poutord • Jan 7 '20

hey, to be transparent with you everything is on my dotfile repository!

👉 github.com/maxpou/dotfiles

(in a file called alias and I source $HOME/.aliases on my zshrc/bashrc)

Guillermo Chussir • Jan 2 '20

Very useful post! Thanks!

Mitul Islam • Dec 17 '19

alias yolo='git push --force' 😅

Maxence Poutord • Dec 19 '19

nice isn't it? 😃

Jang Rush • Dec 17 '19

Nice summary! I'd like to translate it to Chinese (the translated text will be published at nextfe.com). Can you give me the permission?

Maxence Poutord • Dec 19 '19

Hey Jang, sorry for the late reply.
Sure! You can translate it in Chinese! :) (I just ask you to mention the original post + author)
Let me know when it's published!

Jang Rush • Dec 31 '19

Just published Chinese translation at: nextfe.com/git-cheatsheet-advanced/

Credit is given at the beginning of the translated text (also backlink to the original post).

BTW, in section "🕹Execute command on each commit when rebasing":

git rebase HEAD~3 --exec "npm run test"

I think you meant to write npm test here (as shown in the figure below), despite that npm run test and npm test are equivalent.

Maxence Poutord • Oct 13 '21

Sorry for the very late reply but thank you!

Triantafyllos Famprikatzis • Dec 14 '19

alias yolo made me laugh hard :D

Maxence Poutord • Dec 14 '19

Haha I'm glad if you liked it!
I use this command everyday 😃

Anderson • Dec 13 '19

Great article! Thank you.

Uğur "vigo" Özyılmazel • Dec 12 '19

well, you don't need to create a bash alias, you can create git alias for alias glog='git log --oneline --decorate --graph' such as git config alias.glog ...

Maxence Poutord • Dec 12 '19

Hmmm for some reasons, I am not a big fan of git aliases :) (but I don't remember why haha)

Qrzysio • Dec 10 '19

# A good list of alises http://haacked.com/archive/2014/07/28/github-flow-aliases/
[alias]
        # Staging
        a = add
        aa = add --all

        # Branch
        br = branch
        branch-name = rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD
        branch-diff = diff master...HEAD
        branch-files = "!git diff master...HEAD --name-status | sed '/^D/d ; s/^.\\s\\+//'"

        # Commit
        c = commit
        ca = commit -a
        cm = commit -m
        cal = !git add -A && git commit              # Commit all changes
        cam = commit -am
        cne = commit --no-edit
        amend = commit --amend
        amend-all = !git add --all && git commit --amend --reuse-message=HEAD

        # Clone
        cl = clone
        sclone = clone --depth=1

        # Checkout
        co = checkout
        cb = checkout -b

        # Cherry-pick
        cp = cherry-pick

        # Diff
        d = diff --color-words
        dc = diff --cached
        df = !"git diff-index --quiet HEAD -- || clear; git --no-pager diff --patch-with-stat"

        # Merge
        m = merge

        # Pull
        up = pull
        plom = pull origin master
        plum = pull upstream master
        preb = !git fetch upstream && git rebase upstream/master

        # Push
        p = push
        pom = push origin master
        poh = push origin head

        # Stash
        st = stash
        stp = stash pop

        # Status/Logging
        s = status
        ss = status -sb
        hist = log --graph --pretty=custom           # Show custom graph
        l = log --pretty=custom                      # Show custom log
        ll = log --stat --abbrev-commit
        lc = shortlog --summary --numbered           # List contributors

        # Reset
        unstage = reset HEAD --                      # Mixed reset (affects HEAD and Index)
        undo = reset --soft HEAD~1                   # Undo last commit (affects HEAD only)
        reset = reset --hard HEAD~1                  # Remove last commit (from HEAD, Index and Working Dir)

        # Remote
        r = remote -v

        # Submodules
        subpl = submodule update --init --recursive

        # Git flow
        new = !git pull origin develop && git flow feature start
        done = !git pull origin develop && git flow feature finish "$(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD | sed -n 's/^feature\\///p')"
        go = !git checkout $1 && pull
        master = !git checkout master && pull
        develop = !git checkout develop && pull
        mmm = !git fetch origin master && git rebase origin/master
        ddd = !git fetch origin develop && git rebase origin/develop

        # Misc
        publish = "!git push --set-upstream origin $(git branch-name)"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # Find commits by source code

  cc = "!f() { \
      git log --pretty=custom --decorate --date=short -S\"$1\"; \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # Find commits by commit message

  cm = "!f() { \
      git log --pretty=custom --decorate --date=short --grep=\"$1\"; \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # Credit an author on the latest commit

  credit = "!f() { \
      if [ -n \"$1\" ] && [ -n \"$2\" ]; then \
          git commit --amend --author \"$1 <$2>\" -C HEAD; \
      fi \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # List remote branches

  lrb = "!f() { \
      remote="${1:-origin}"; \
      git ls-remote --heads "$remote"; \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # Merge GitHub pull request on top of the current branch or,
  # if a branch name is specified, on top of the specified branch

  mpr = "!f() { \
      declare currentBranch=\"$(git symbolic-ref --short HEAD)\"; \
      declare branch=\"${2:-$currentBranch}\"; \
      if [ $(printf \"%s\" \"$1\" | grep '^[0-9]\\+$' > /dev/null; printf $?) -eq 0 ]; then \
          git fetch origin refs/pull/$1/head:pr/$1 && \
          git checkout -B $branch && \
          git rebase $branch pr/$1 && \
          git checkout -B $branch && \
          git merge pr/$1 && \
          git branch -D pr/$1 && \
          git commit --amend -m \"$(git log -1 --pretty=%B)\n\nClose #$1\"; \
      fi \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

  # Remove the tag with the specified tag name if
  # exists and tag the latest commit with that name

  retag = "!f() { \
      git tag -d "$1" &> /dev/null; \
      git tag $1; \
  }; f"

  # - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

# So much color
[color]
        ui = always

[color "branch"]
        current = green bold
        local = green
        remote = yellow

[color "diff"]
        frag = magenta
        meta = yellow
        new = green
        old = red

[color "diff-highlight"]
        oldNormal = red bold
        oldHighlight = "red bold 52"
        newNormal = "green bold"
        newHighlight = "green bold 22"

[color "status"]
        added = green reverse
        changed = yellow reverse
        untracked = red reverse

# Git mergetool
[merge]
        tool = opendiff

[core]
        editor = nano
        abbrev = 12
        attributesfile = ~/.gitattributes
        excludesfile = ~/.gitignore
        autocrlf = input
        mergeoptions = --no-edit
        ignorecase = false

[pager]
        # Insanely beautiful diffs ==> npm install -g diff-so-fancy
        diff = diff-so-fancy | less --tabs=4 -RFX
        show = diff-so-fancy | less --tabs=4 -RFX

[diff "bin"]
        # Use `hexdump` to diff binary files
        textconv = hexdump -v -C

[pretty]
        custom = "%C(magenta)%h%C(red)%d %C(yellow)%ar %C(green)%s %C(yellow)(%an)"
        #                     │        │            │            │             └─ author name
        #                     │        │            │            └─ message
        #                     │        │            └─ date (relative)
        #                     │        └─ decorations (branch, heads or tags)
        #                     └─ hash (abbreviated)

[help]
        # Correct typos
        autocorrect = 1

# Any GitHub repo with my username should be checked out r/w by default
# http://rentzsch.tumblr.com/post/564806957/public-but-hackable-git-submodules
[url "git@github.com:nicksp/"]
        insteadOf = "git://github.com/nicksp/"

# Rewrites of repo paths
[url "git@github.com:"]
        insteadOf = "gh:"
        insteadOf = "git://github.com"
        pushInsteadOf = "github:"
        pushInsteadOf = "git://github.com/"
        pushInsteadOf = "https://github.com/"

[url "git://github.com/"]
        insteadOf = "github:"

[url "git@gist.github.com:"]
        insteadOf = "gst:"
        pushInsteadOf = "gist:"
        pushInsteadOf = "git://gist.github.com/"
        pushInsteadOf = "https://gist.github.com/"

[url "git://gist.github.com/"]
        insteadOf = "gist:"

# Push easily http://stackoverflow.com/a/23918418/89484
[push]
        # Make `git push` automatically push relevant
        # annotated tags when pushing branches out
        followTags = true
        default = current

# Use separate file for username / github token / etc
[include]
        path = ~/.gitconfig.local

[filter "lfs"]
        clean = git lfs clean %f
        smudge = git lfs smudge %f
        required = true

[fetch]
        prune = true

Found here: github.com/nicksp/dotfiles/blob/ma...

Maxence Poutord • Dec 11 '19

this config is... massive!!! 😯

Humberto A Sanchez II • Dec 10 '19

Very nice article

nagyiistvan • Dec 10 '19

Nice post! Thank you!

My aliases:

# Git Command

alias   last = log -1 HEAD
alias   who = shortlog -s --
alias   unstage = reset -q HEAD --
alias   discard = checkout --
alias   nevermind = !git reset --hard HEAD && git clean -df
alias   uncommit = reset --mixed HEAD~
alias   save = commit -m
alias   resave = commit --amend
alias   last = log -1 HEAD --format = format:%Cred%H
alias   summary = status -u -s
alias   new-branch = checkout -b
alias   rename-branch = branch -m
alias   delete-branch = branch -D
alias   branches = branch -a
alias   stashes = stash list
alias   unmerged = branch --no-merged
alias   unstash = stash pop
alias   unmerged = diff --name-only --diff-filter=U
alias   patch = add --patch

Glauco Leme • Dec 10 '19

Excellent guide! I like the idea of git-standup. ☕

For alias, to work even with mistyping, I also use:

alias gti='git'

Also, one thing that was really useful for me is the meta repository of Matt Walters, so I can avoid git submodule and subtree to work with multiple repositories.

Maxence Poutord • Dec 10 '19

Thanks Sean :)

View full discussion (60 comments)

DEV Community

Git: Cheat Sheet (advanced)

🧭 Navigation - Go to the previous branch

🔍 Get the history

🙈Ooops #1: I reseted an unwanted commit. How to rollback?

What's happens when you `git commit`

Maxence Poutord ・ Oct 16 '19 ・ 5 min read

🤦‍♀️Ooops #2: I mixed-up with my local repo. How to clean it?

🕵🏻‍♂️Difference between my branch and `master`

✔ Custom commits

♻️ Squash commits

🎯Fixup

🕹Execute command on each commit when rebasing

🦋Stash

🗑 Clean

🐙 GitHub = `Git` + `Hub`

🦄 Bonus: my favourite git aliases

Latest comments (58)

useful for daily stand-up

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🧭 Navigation - Go to the previous branch

🔍 Get the history

🙈Ooops #1: I reseted an unwanted commit. How to rollback?

What's happens when you `git commit`

Maxence Poutord ・ Oct 16 '19 ・ 5 min read

🤦‍♀️Ooops #2: I mixed-up with my local repo. How to clean it?

🕵🏻‍♂️Difference between my branch and master

✔ Custom commits

♻️ Squash commits

🎯Fixup

🕹Execute command on each commit when rebasing

🦋Stash

🗑 Clean

🐙 GitHub = Git + Hub

🦄 Bonus: my favourite git aliases

useful for daily stand-up

Read next

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🐙 GitHub = `Git` + `Hub`