Git Commands Cheat Sheet

This cheat sheet provides a quick reference to commonly used Git commands, from beginner to advanced.

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Basic Commands

Command	Description
git init	Initialize a new Git repository.
git clone <repo>	Clone a repository.
git status	Show working tree status.
git add <file>	Stage a file.
git add .	Stage all changes.
git add -p	Interactively stage parts of files.
git commit -m "message"	Commit staged changes.
git commit -a -m "message"	Stage tracked files and commit.
git commit --amend	Modify the previous commit.
git commit --amend --no-edit	Add staged changes to the previous commit without changing its message.
git log	View commit history.
git log --oneline	Compact commit history.
git log --graph --all --decorate	Visualize the complete commit graph.
git diff	Show unstaged changes.
git diff --cached	Show staged changes.
git diff HEAD	Show all changes since last commit.
git diff <commit1> <commit2>	Compare two commits.
git shortlog -sn	Show commit counts per contributor.

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Branching

Command	Description
git branch	List branches.
git branch -a	List local and remote branches.
git branch <branch>	Create a branch.
git checkout <branch>	Switch branches.
git checkout -b <branch>	Create and switch to a branch.
git switch <branch>	Switch branches (modern alternative).
git switch -c <branch>	Create and switch to a new branch.
git merge <branch>	Merge a branch.
git merge --no-ff <branch>	Force a merge commit.
git rebase <branch>	Rebase onto another branch.
git rebase -i HEAD~5	Interactive rebase of the last 5 commits.
git cherry-pick <commit>	Apply a specific commit.
git branch -d <branch>	Delete a merged branch.
git branch -D <branch>	Force delete a branch.
git branch -m <new-name>	Rename current branch.

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Remote Repositories

Command	Description
git remote -v	Show remotes.
git remote add <name> <url>	Add a remote.
git remote remove <name>	Remove a remote.
git remote rename <old> <new>	Rename a remote.
git remote show <remote>	Show remote details.
git fetch	Fetch all remotes.
git fetch --all --prune	Fetch all remotes and remove deleted remote branches.
git pull	Fetch and merge.
git pull --rebase	Fetch and rebase instead of merge.
git push	Push current branch.
git push -u origin <branch>	Push and set upstream branch.
git push --force-with-lease	Safer force push.
git push origin --delete <branch>	Delete remote branch.

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Git Worktrees

Git Worktrees allow you to work on multiple branches simultaneously without creating multiple clones.

Command	Description
git worktree list	List all worktrees.
git worktree add ../feature feature-branch	Create a worktree for an existing branch.
git worktree add -b feature ../feature	Create a new branch and worktree.
git worktree remove ../feature	Remove a worktree.
git worktree prune	Remove stale worktree metadata.
git worktree lock	Prevent a worktree from being pruned.
git worktree unlock	Unlock a worktree.
git worktree repair	Repair broken worktree metadata.

Example

git checkout main

git worktree add ../feature-login feature/login

cd ../feature-login

# main and feature/login are now open simultaneously

Benefits

• Work on multiple branches simultaneously.
• No need to stash changes when switching tasks.
• Faster than cloning repositories.
• Great for code reviews and hotfixes.

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Stashing Changes

Command	Description
git stash	Stash current changes.
git stash push -m "message"	Stash with a message.
git stash -u	Include untracked files.
git stash list	List stashes.
git stash show	Show stash summary.
git stash show -p	Show full stash diff.
git stash apply	Apply a stash.
git stash pop	Apply and remove latest stash.
git stash drop	Delete a stash.
git stash clear	Delete all stashes.

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Viewing Changes

Command	Description
git show <commit>	Show commit details.
git show HEAD	Show latest commit.
git blame <file>	Show line authorship.
git log --stat	Show commit statistics.
git log --name-only	Show modified files.
git log --follow <file>	Track file history across renames.
git diff --word-diff	Show word-level changes.
git whatchanged	Show changed files for each commit.

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Undoing Changes

Command	Description
git restore <file>	Restore a file.
git restore --staged <file>	Unstage a file.
git checkout -- <file>	Discard changes (legacy).
git reset <file>	Unstage a file.
git reset --soft HEAD~1	Undo last commit and keep changes staged.
git reset HEAD~1	Undo last commit and keep changes unstaged.
git reset --hard HEAD	Reset everything to the latest commit.
git revert <commit>	Undo a commit with a new commit.
git clean -fd	Remove untracked files and directories.
git clean -fdx	Remove ignored files as well.

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Tags

Command	Description
git tag	List tags.
git tag <tag>	Create a lightweight tag.
git tag -a <tag> -m "message"	Create an annotated tag.
git show <tag>	Show tag details.
git push origin <tag>	Push a tag.
git push --tags	Push all tags.
git tag -d <tag>	Delete a local tag.
git push origin --delete <tag>	Delete a remote tag.

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Advanced Commands

Command	Description
git reflog	View all HEAD movements (excellent for recovering lost commits).
git bisect start	Start binary search for a bug.
git bisect good	Mark a commit as good.
git bisect bad	Mark a commit as bad.
git bisect reset	Finish bisect session.
git cherry -v	Show commits not yet merged upstream.
git describe --tags	Show the nearest tag to the current commit.
git archive	Create a ZIP/TAR archive of the repository.
git fsck	Verify repository integrity.
git gc	Optimize and clean the repository.
git maintenance run	Run Git maintenance tasks.
git sparse-checkout init	Enable sparse checkout.
git sparse-checkout set <dir>	Check out only selected directories.
git submodule update --init --recursive	Initialize and update submodules.
git submodule foreach git pull	Pull updates in all submodules.

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Configuration

Command	Description
git config --global user.name "Name"	Set your username.
git config --global user.email "email@example.com"	Set your email.
git config --list	Display current configuration.
git config --global alias.st status	Create a Git alias.
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"	Set default editor.
git config --global init.defaultBranch main	Set default branch name.

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Helpful Aliases

Alias	Expands To
git st	git status
git co	git checkout
git sw	git switch
git br	git branch
git ci	git commit
git lg	git log --graph --decorate --oneline --all
git last	git log -1 HEAD

Configure aliases

git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.sw switch
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.last "log -1 HEAD"
git config --global alias.lg "log --graph --decorate --oneline --all"

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Help

Command	Description
git help	Show Git help.
git <command> --help	Show help for a specific command.
git config --help	Configuration documentation.

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Professional Tips

• Use git pull --rebase to maintain a cleaner commit history.
• Use git push --force-with-lease instead of --force.
• Learn git reflog—it's one of Git's most valuable recovery tools.
• Use Git Worktrees to work on multiple branches simultaneously.
• Clean up your commit history with git rebase -i before opening a pull request.
• Use git bisect to quickly identify the commit that introduced a bug.
• Consider sparse checkout when working in very large monorepositories.