Git Tips

I got inspired by this great git-tips/tips repo and want to generate my own list based on my personal usage.

It is always good to check out the official docs if you want a detailed explanation, or the man-page (Git Manual) for each git command.

Set up local git user

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Configure for global gitignore file

git config --global core.excludesfile ~/.gitignore_global

Then create a .gitignore_global file under the home directory.

Show all untracked files and untracked directories

git status -u

-u option defaults to -uall which shows all individual files in untracked directories. Without the -u option, the command will only show untracked files and directories, but not the files inside of those directories.

Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.

git diff

# show the numbers of lines changes
git diff --stat

Show all the commit history including all remotes, branches, tags

git log --remotes --branches --tags --graph --oneline

Limit the number of logs

git log -n <number>

Search logs by commit messages

git log -i --grep=<pattern>

• -i or --regexp-ignore-case ignore case
• --grep=<pattern> limit the log messages matching the <pattern>

Search logs by file or code changed

git log -S<string>

Search by string, binary files are also searched, good for tracking a block of code.

Search log by file name and/or directory

git log -- </dir/filename>

Show commit history with a custom format

git log --pretty=format:'%C(yellow)%h%C(reset) - %an %Cgreen[%ar]%Creset %s'

This is just an example, more customization can be achieved.

• %h abbreviated commit hash
• %an author name
• %ar author date, relative
• %s subject
• %C(yellow) or %Cgreen color specification
• %C(reset) or %Creset reset color

Shows a commit's log message and textual diff

git show <commit_hash>

Show the last modified revision and author of each line of a file

git blame </dir/filename>

Rebase all commits reachable from the current branch.

git rebase -i --root

Delete a local branch

git branch -d <branch>

List tags

git tag

Add a local tag

git tag <tag>               # from the current commit
git tag <tag> <commit_hash> # from a different commit

Delete local tags

git tag -d <tag>      # single tag
git tag -d $(git tag) # all tags

Change capitalization of filenames

git mv example.txt Example.txt

Simply changing the filename by mv example.txt Example.txt won't work in macOS because it's case preserving but case insensitive. In the future it will cause path collision. So avoid changing the filename directly; use git mv to change filenames.

Remove (prune) remote-tracking branches that no longer exist in the remote

git fetch -p # prune

Push a local branch to remote and set up remote-tracking

git push -u <remote> <branch>

Delete a remote branch

git push -d <remote> <branch>
git push <remote> :<branch>   # alternative, using the ref syntax

Push local tags to remotes

git push <remote> <tag>  # single tag
git push <remote> --tags # all tags

Delete remote tags

git push -d <remote> <tag>         # single tag
git push -d <remote> $(git tag)    # all tags
git push <remote> :refs/tags/<tag> # alternative, using the refs syntax