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Work faster with Git aliases

Peter Jausovec on March 22, 2019

Back when I started with programming, there was no Git yet. I tried using Visual Sourcesafe a couple of times for some pet projects and the only th...

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Ian Spence • Mar 23 '19

Aliases are great - they can really save a lot of time, but I always caution people from using them too much. If you ever end up in a spot where you don't have any of your aliases, you'll be struggling to remember the original command.

Trevor Nemanic • Mar 23 '19 • Edited

This is a good point. You can commit your aliases to a Github gist, or other online source control, just in case.

Peter Jausovec • Mar 23 '19

Good point. I usually have all my settings in a Github repo where I can pull it down if needed.

Shawn Seymour • Mar 23 '19

Nice article! I use git aliases heavily -- I personally use the zsh shell with oh-my-zsh, which comes with a huge list of git aliases in the form of a plugin (github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/...)

It's great!

Trevor Nemanic • Mar 23 '19 • Edited

s = stash
st = status
cp = cherry-pick
co = checkout

I use Android Studio (Intellij-based) to checkout remote branches via GUI or the co alias to create a local branch with "git co -b ". s and st come into play in many pull-requests because I can make test modifications and revert back to where I was. Lastly, cp is useful because "cherry-pick" is very annoying to type out correctly.

Brandon Sarà • Dec 20 '19 • Edited

I love aliases so much, I have A TON, but the most useful are these:

rv = !git stash && git stash drop

pr = remote update --prune

rmb = !sh -c 'git push origin :refs/heads/$1 && git branch -D $1' -
rmt = !sh -c 'git push origin :refs/tags/$1 && git tag -d $1' -

This next list is all of the log aliases that I have...and I'd be lost without them:

l   = log --abbrev-commit --first-parent --pretty=format:'%C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'
ll  = log --abbrev-commit --graph --pretty=format:'%C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'

ld  = log --abbrev-commit --first-parent --pretty=format:'%C(bold blue)%ai%C(reset) - %C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'
lda = log --abbrev-commit --graph --pretty=format:'%C(bold blue)%ai%C(reset) - %C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'

la  = log --abbrev-commit --name-status --first-parent --pretty=format:'%C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'
lla = log --abbrev-commit --name-status --pretty=format:'%C(dim white)%h%C(reset)%C(bold green)%d%C(reset) %s %C(yellow)<%an>%C(reset)'

lg  = !git lg1
lg1 = !git lg1-specific --all
lg2 = !git lg2-specific --all
lg3 = !git lg3-specific --all

lg1-specific = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)'
lg2-specific = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n''          %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)'
lg3-specific = log --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%aD%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset) %C(bold cyan)(committed: %cD)%C(reset) %C(bold yellow)%d%C(reset)%n''          %C(white)%s%C(reset)%n''          %C(dim white)- %an <%ae> %C(reset) %C(dim white)(committer: %cn <%ce>)%C(reset)'

Martin Markström Riddar • Sep 22 '19

Thanks for the article, but (yes, the infamous but) maybe you would consider adding a short paragraph early on explaining what a git alias is? I didn't know about them before and even though I found it obvious upon reading your article it would be nice to get an explanation early on.
/a git novice

SharpTVRepairDubai • Jul 24 '19

Nice point. I have all my settings in a Github repo. it works very great.
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Gyandeep Singh • Mar 22 '19

Here is my list: gyandeeps.com/git-helpers/