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Tahsin Abrar
Tahsin Abrar

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Unlock Git’s Hidden Powers: 4 Commands That Will Save Your Code and Your Sanity

#git #developerproductivity #debuggingtools #versioncontrol

If you’re like me, you probably use Git every day with commands like git add, git commit, and git push. But Git has superpowers-commands that can save hours, rescue broken codebases, and help you understand who wrote what and why.

In this post, I’ll break down four powerful (but often underused) Git commands:

  • git bisect
  • git stash -p
  • git blame
  • git cherry-pick

For each command, I’ll share:
✅ What problem it solves
📖 The story behind why you’d use it
🛠️ How to use it with real examples

Let’s dive in!

🕵️‍♂️ 1. git bisect - Hunt Down the Bug Like a Detective

✅ What Problem It Solves:

You’re working in a large codebase. Something used to work, and now it’s broken. You don’t know which commit caused the bug.

📖 The Story:

Let’s say you run a test that used to pass:

npm run test
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Now it’s failing. But you have hundreds of commits. Manually checking them one-by-one is a nightmare. That’s where git bisect becomes your bug detective!

🛠️ How to Use It: 

git bisect start
git bisect bad                    # current commit is bad
git bisect good v1.0.0           # last known good commit
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Git now checks out a commit in the middle. You test it. If it’s good:

git bisect good
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If it’s bad:

git bisect bad
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Git will narrow it down-binary search style-until it tells you the exact commit that introduced the bug.

To finish:

git bisect reset
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🚀 Great for: bug hunters, testers, QA engineers, or developers fixing regressions.

🧺 2. git stash -p - Stash Only What You Want

✅ What Problem It Solves:

You’re working on multiple changes but only want to temporarily save part of it -not everything.

📖 The Story:

You’re fixing a bug and suddenly get a Slack message:

"Hey, can you quickly switch branches and check this issue?"

You’ve edited 10 files but only want to stash 2.

🛠️ How to Use It: 

git stash -p
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Git will go file-by-file, hunk-by-hunk, asking:

Stage this hunk [y,n,q,a,d,/,e,?]?
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Press:

  • y to stash this hunk
  • n to skip
  • q to quit

Now your working directory is clean, and you can safely switch branches.

🧠 Pro tip: Later, use git stash pop to bring it back.

🚀 Great for: multitaskers, bug-fixers, or anyone working with large diffs.

👤 3. git blame - Find Out Who Wrote What (And Why)

✅ What Problem It Solves:

You’re staring at a confusing line of code and wondering:

Who wrote this? When? And maybe… why?

📖 The Story:

You find this suspicious line:

if (isActive && data.length > 0) {
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You’re not sure if it’s safe to remove. Time to investigate.

🛠️ How to Use It: 

git blame src/utils/isActive.js
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It will show:

a1b2c3d4 (Alice 2023-11-12) if (isActive && data.length > 0) {
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Now you know who, when, and which commit it came from. Want to dig deeper?

git show a1b2c3d4
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🚀 Great for: understanding legacy code, reviewing changes, or contacting the original author for context.

🍒 4. git cherry-pick - Pick Just One Commit and Apply It Elsewhere

✅ What Problem It Solves:

You want to move just one commit from one branch to another-without merging everything.

📖 The Story:

You fixed a bug on feature/login. Your teammate says:

"That fix is perfect! Can you apply it to main too?"

Instead of re-writing the code or merging the whole branch, you can cherry-pick that one commit.

🛠️ How to Use It:

  1. Find the commit hash: 
git log --oneline
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Example output:

b7f4d1f Fixed the login redirect bug
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  1. Switch to main: 
git checkout main
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  1. Cherry-pick the commit: 
git cherry-pick b7f4d1f
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Boom. That single fix is now on main.

🚀 Great for: hotfixes, backporting features, or syncing branches surgically.

🧠 Summary: When to Use What

Command Use Case Best For
git bisect Find which commit broke something Bug fixers, testers
git stash -p Temporarily save only part of your changes Multitaskers, hotfix responders
git blame See who wrote a specific line and why Legacy explorers, reviewers
git cherry-pick Move a specific commit to another branch Feature syncing, hotfixing

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