I use the git cli every single day for my source code management needs. Sometimes I forget how to do certain things with git or I just haven’t automated it yet, so I’m writing it all down so that I have something to easily refer to:
Squash all commits on a branch
git reset $(git merge-base main $(git rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD))
Get the number of commits added to your branch
git rev-list --count main..
Squash and merge your X latest commits
git reset --soft HEAD~3 &&
git commit --edit -m"$(git log --format=%B --reverse HEAD..HEAD@{1})"
Create a repo on GitHub
gh repo create <name> --private
create a repo on github and push current changes
gh repo create <name> --private --push --source .
Merging in a branch with lots of commits without a merge commit
git merge --squash v1.0
git commit
Delete a remote branch
git push origin --delete branch-name
Delete local branch
git branch -D branch-name
Show diff of last commit
git show
Undo a git add
git reset <file>
Undo changes to a single file
git checkout <file>
Undo changes to a single file from a specific commit
git checkout <commit>~1 -- <file>
the ~1 means in will checkout out the file in the commit right before the specified commit.
Undo changes to all unstaged files
This was the initial way I removed all my unstaged files:
git diff --name-only | xargs -n1 git checkout
but a much better way is:
git restore .
Create a PR
gh pr create --fill
Create a draft PR
gh pr create --fill --draft
Create a PR with a different base branch
gh pr create --base <base> --fill
Fetch a remote branch
I often have my own remote separate from origin that I need to pull a branch from.
git fetch <remote> <rbranch>:<lbranch>
git checkout <lbranch>
Change/Amend last commit message
Sometimes you notice a typo in your commit message after generating a PR or looking at it on GitHub. If it’s not too late you can fix your commit message and then force push it up.
git commit --amend
Search commit messages
git log --grep=<regex>
Disable LEFTHOOK checks
Sometimes you just want to save your work no matter what state it is in
git commit --no-verify
View your remote branches
On GitHub.com you can view your branches on a repo by appending /yours to the branches url.
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/branches/yours
List files changed in a branch
I often resume working on a branch, but I don’t remember all the filenames I’ve been working on.
git diff --name-only main
Have vim open up all those files in tabs:
vim -p $(git diff --name-only main | tr '\n' ' ')
This appears to be more accurate if your working branch wasn’t just created off of the current main branch state:
vim -p $(git diff --name-only HEAD~$(git rev-list --count main..) | tr '\n' ' ')
And this one appears to accomplish the same thing with a single git command
git log --oneline --pretty="format:" --name-only main..
all together now:
vim -p $(git log --oneline --pretty="format:" --name-only main..)
List remotes
Instead of using cat .git/config like an animal
git remote -v
Execute git command from a specific directory
I’ve been working on automating some tasks that pull down git repos along with various other git commands and rather than cd’ing into different directories you can just use the -C flag:
git -C /some/other/directory checkout main
github.com
I also use the GitHub.com ui quite a bit. Here are some useful URLs that you can adapt to your own repos.
List only your commits
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/commits/main?author=oblakeerickson
See only your PRs
https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pulls/oblakeerickson
When merging an existing branch with uncommitted changes
You can use the --autostash flag instead of manually stashing and popping.
git merge --autostash