Presented by Swapnil Meshram within mentorship DevSync.in
🏢 Shoutout to DevSync for inspiring this beginner-friendly Git and GitHub series. Perfect for those starting out or looking to build hands-on experience with version control and collaboration. Follow DevSync for more developer-focused learning!
🧩 What are Git & GitHub?
🔹 Git
A fast, distributed version control system that helps you track changes in your source code and collaborate with others.
🔹 GitHub
A cloud-based Git repository hosting service. It enables remote collaboration, pull requests, code reviews, and issue tracking.
Here is a complete list of Git commands with syntax from basic to advanced, including setup, workflow, branching, stash, logs, remotes, recovery, and more.
🧰 1. Git Setup (Global Configuration)
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
git config --global core.editor "code --wait" # Optional: VS Code as default editor
git config --global init.defaultBranch main # Default branch name
git config --list # View current config
📦 2. Repository Management
git init # Initialize a new Git repo
git clone <repo-url> # Clone an existing repo
git remote -v # Show remotes
git remote add origin <url> # Add a remote origin
git remote remove origin # Remove remote
📄 3. File Tracking
git status # Check repo status
git add <file> # Stage a file
git add . # Stage all changes
git add -A # Add all (tracked/untracked)
git reset <file> # Unstage a file
git reset # Unstage everything
💾 4. Committing
git commit -m "Commit message" # Commit with message
git commit -a -m "Quick commit" # Commit all tracked changes
git commit --amend # Edit last commit (don’t use after pushing)
🌳 5. Branching & Merging
git branch # List branches
git branch <branch> # Create new branch
git checkout <branch> # Switch branch
git switch <branch> # Modern alternative to checkout
git checkout -b <new-branch> # Create & switch
git merge <branch> # Merge into current branch
git branch -d <branch> # Delete a local branch
git branch -D <branch> # Force delete
📥 6. Pull, Push, and Remotes
git pull # Pull and merge changes
git pull origin main # Pull specific branch
git push # Push current branch
git push origin <branch> # Push specific branch
git push -u origin <branch> # Set upstream branch
git fetch # Download changes (don’t merge)
git fetch --all # Fetch all remotes
🕵️ 7. Viewing History & Logs
git log # View commit log
git log --oneline # Condensed log
git log --graph --oneline --all # Visual graph
git show <commit> # Show specific commit
git diff # Compare working directory to index
git diff --cached # Compare index to last commit
🧳 8. Stashing (Save work temporarily)
git stash # Stash changes
git stash list # View stashed changes
git stash pop # Apply & remove latest stash
git stash apply # Apply latest stash (keep it)
git stash drop # Delete latest stash
🧼 9. Cleaning (Remove untracked)
git clean -n # Show what will be deleted
git clean -f # Delete untracked files
git clean -fd # Delete untracked files and dirs
♻️ 10. Resetting, Reverting, Recovering
git reset --soft HEAD~1 # Undo commit (keep changes staged)
git reset --mixed HEAD~1 # Undo commit (unstage changes)
git reset --hard HEAD~1 # Undo everything (destructive)
git revert <commit-id> # Safely undo a commit by creating a new one
git reflog # Show history of HEAD changes
git checkout -- <file> # Discard local changes to a file
🍒 11. Rebase & Cherry-pick
git rebase <branch> # Rebase current branch onto another
git rebase -i HEAD~3 # Interactive rebase last 3 commits
git cherry-pick <commit-id> # Apply specific commit to current branch
🔖 12. Tagging
git tag # List tags
git tag <tagname> # Create lightweight tag
git tag -a <tagname> -m "msg" # Annotated tag
git push origin <tagname> # Push tag to remote
git tag -d <tagname> # Delete local tag
git push origin --delete <tagname> # Delete remote tag
💡 13. Aliases
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.cm 'commit -m'
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.unstage 'reset HEAD --'
Then you can use
git co main
git br
git cm "Fast commit"
🧪 14. Workflow (Example)
mkdir test-repo
cd test-repo
git init
echo "Hello Git" > index.txt
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit"
git branch dev
git checkout dev
echo "Working on dev" >> index.txt
git commit -am "Update on dev"
git checkout main
git merge dev
🧾 Summary
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
git init |
Initializes a new Git repository in the current directory. |
git config --global user.name "Your Name" |
Sets your Git username globally. |
git config --global user.email "you@example.com" |
Sets your Git email globally. |
git status |
Shows the status of changes (tracked, untracked, staged, etc.). |
git add <file> |
Stages a specific file for commit. |
git add . |
Stages all modified and new files in the current directory. |
git commit -m "message" |
Commits staged files with a message. |
git log |
Shows the commit history. |
git clone <repo-url> |
Clones a repository from GitHub or other remote. |
git remote -v |
Shows configured remote repositories. |
git push |
Pushes commits to the remote repository. |
git pull |
Fetches and merges updates from the remote. |
git diff |
Shows the difference between working directory and last commit. |
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