This document gives all git commands you will ever need clearly and concisely as a reference. Enter the following commands in the command prompt or terminal
First time using Git
git config --global user.name “github user name”
git config --global user.email <github email >
If this is the first time your using Git then enter these commands. The git config command is used initially to configure the user.name and user.email. This specifies what email id and username will be used from a local repository.
When git config is used with --global flag, it writes the settings to all repositories on the computer.
Working With Local Repositories
git init
The command git init is used to create an empty Git repository.
After the git init command is used, a .git folder is created in the directory with some subdirectories. Once the repository is initialized, the process of creating other files begins.
git add .
Add command is used after checking the status of the files, to add those files to the staging area.
Before running the commit command, "git add" is used to add any new or modified files.
git commit –m "<message>"
The commit command makes sure that the changes are saved to the local repository.
The command above allows you to describe everyone and help them understand what has happened.
git status
The git status command tells the current state of the repository.
The command provides the current working branch. If the files are in the staging area, but not committed, it will be shown by the git status. Also, if there are no changes, it will show the message no changes to commit, working directory clean.
Working With Branches
The git branch command is used to determine what branch the local repository is on
The command enables adding and deleting a branch.
*git branch <branch_name>*
Creates a new branch
git branch -a
List all remote or local branches
git branch -d <branch_name>
Delete a branch
The git checkout command is used to switch branches, whenever the work is to be started on a different branch. The command works on three separate entities: files, commits, and branches.
*git checkout <branch_name>*
Checkout an existing branch
git checkout -b <new_branch>
Checkout and create a new branch with that name
The git merge command is used to integrate the branches together. The command combines the changes from one branch to another branch. It is used to merge the changes in the staging branch to the stable branch.
git merge <branch_name>
Working With Remote Repositories
The git remote command is used to create, view, and delete connections to other repositories.
The connections here are not like direct links into other repositories, but as bookmarks that serve as convenient names to be used as a reference.
git remote add origin <address>
If you want to remove a already existing remote.
git remote remove origin
The “fatal: refusing to merge unrelated histories” Git error occurs when two unrelated projects are merged (i.e., projects that are not aware of each other’s existence and have mismatching commit histories).
git pull origin master --allow-unrelated-histories
The git clone command is used to create a local working copy of an existing remote repository.
The command downloads the remote repository to the computer. It is equivalent to the Git init command when working with a remote repository.
git clone <remote_URL>
The git pull command is used to fetch and merge changes from the remote repository to the local repository.
The command "git pull origin master" copies all the files from the master branch of the remote repository to the local repository.
git pull <branch_name> <remote URL>
The command git push is used to transfer the commits or pushing the content from the local repository to the remote repository.
The command is used after a local repository has been modified, and the modifications are to be shared with the remote team members.
git push -u origin master
Advanced Git Commands
The git stash command takes your modified tracked files and saves it on a pile of incomplete changes that you can reapply at any time. To go back to work, you can use the stash pop.
The git stash command will help a developer switch branches to work on something else without committing to incomplete work.
git stash -u
Store current work with untracked files
git stash pop Bring stashed work back to the working directory
The git log command shows the order of the commit history for a repository.
The command helps in understanding the state of the current branch by showing the commits that lead to this state.
git log
Conclusion
I hope this Git commands documentation has helped you understand different useful commands in Git. You have learned the fundamentals of Git and the different commands that are used, various basic Git commands according to the type of repository they are used in followed by some advanced commands. We understood what each of the mentioned commands does and also came across the syntax of each command.