Git and Git Flow Cheat Sheet

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📖 About

This comprehensive Git cheat sheet helps you master Git commands without memorizing everything. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced developer, this guide provides quick reference to essential Git operations.

Contributions Welcome! Feel free to:

• Fix grammar mistakes
• Add new commands
• Translate to your language
• Improve explanations

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📋 Table of Contents

• 🔧 Setup
• ⚙️ Configuration Files
• 🆕 Create Repository
• 📝 Local Changes
• 🔍 Search
• 📖 Commit History
• 📁 Move / Rename
• 🌿 Branches & Tags
• 🔄 Update & Publish
• 🔀 Merge & Rebase
• ↩️ Undo
• 🌊 Git Flow
• 🌍 Other Languages

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🔧 Setup

View Configuration

Show current configuration:

git config --list

Show repository configuration:

git config --local --list

Show global configuration:

git config --global --list

Show system configuration:

git config --system --list

User Configuration

Set your name for version history:

git config --global user.name "[firstname lastname]"

Set your email address:

git config --global user.email "[valid-email]"

Display & Editor Settings

Enable automatic command line coloring:

git config --global color.ui auto

Set global editor for commits:

git config --global core.editor vi

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⚙️ Configuration Files

Scope	Location	Command Flag
Repository	<repo>/.git/config	--local
User	~/.gitconfig	--global
System	/etc/gitconfig	--system

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🆕 Create Repository

Clone Existing Repository

Via SSH:

git clone ssh://user@domain.com/repo.git

Via HTTPS:

git clone https://domain.com/user/repo.git

Initialize New Repository

Create repository in current directory:

git init

Create repository in specific directory:

git init <directory>

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📝 Local Changes

Check Status & Differences

View working directory status:

git status

Show changes to tracked files:

git diff

Show changes in specific file:

git diff <file>

Staging Changes

Add all current changes:

git add .

Add specific files:

git add <filename1> <filename2>

Interactively add parts of a file:

git add -p <file>

Committing Changes

Commit all tracked file changes:

git commit -a

Commit staged changes:

git commit

Commit with message:

git commit -m 'message here'

Skip staging and commit with message:

git commit -am 'message here'

Commit with specific date:

git commit --date="`date --date='n day ago'`" -am "<Commit Message Here>"

Modify Last Commit

⚠️ Warning: Don't amend published commits!

Amend last commit:

git commit -a --amend

Amend without changing commit message:

git commit --amend --no-edit

Change committer date:

GIT_COMMITTER_DATE="date" git commit --amend

Change author date:

git commit --amend --date="date"

Stashing Changes

Save current changes temporarily:

git stash

Apply last stashed changes:

git stash apply

Apply specific stash:

git stash apply stash@{stash_number}

Use git stash list to see available stashes

Remove last stash:

git stash drop

Move uncommitted changes to another branch:

git stash
git checkout branch2
git stash pop

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🔍 Search

Text Search

Search for text in all files:

git grep "Hello"

Search in specific version:

git grep "Hello" v2.5

Commit Search

Find commits that introduced specific keyword:

git log -S 'keyword'

Search with regular expression:

git log -S 'keyword' --pickaxe-regex

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📖 Commit History

Basic History

Show all commits (detailed):

git log

Show commits (one line each):

git log --oneline

Show commits by specific author:

git log --author="username"

Show changes for specific file:

git log -p <file>

Advanced History

Compare branches:

git log --oneline <origin/master>..<remote/master> --left-right

Show who changed what and when:

git blame <file>

Reference Logs

Show reference log:

git reflog show

Delete reference log:

git reflog delete

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📁 Move / Rename

Rename a file:

git mv Index.txt Index.html

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🌿 Branches & Tags

List Branches

List local branches:

git branch

List all branches (local + remote):

git branch -a

List remote branches:

git branch -r

List merged branches:

git branch --merged

Switch & Create Branches

Switch to existing branch:

git checkout <branch>

Create and switch to new branch:

git checkout -b <branch>

Switch to previous branch:

git checkout -

Create branch from existing branch:

git checkout -b <new_branch> <existing_branch>

Create branch from specific commit:

git checkout <commit-hash> -b <new_branch_name>

Create branch without switching:

git branch <new-branch>

Create tracking branch:

git branch --track <new-branch> <remote-branch>

Branch Operations

Checkout single file from different branch:

git checkout <branch> -- <filename>

Apply specific commit from another branch:

git cherry-pick <commit hash>

Rename current branch:

git branch -m <new_branch_name>

Delete local branch:

git branch -d <branch>

Force delete local branch:

git branch -D <branch>

⚠️ Warning: You will lose unmerged changes!

Tags

Create tag at HEAD:

git tag <tag-name>

Create annotated tag:

git tag -a <tag-name>

Create tag with message:

git tag <tag-name> -am 'message here'

List all tags:

git tag

List tags with messages:

git tag -n

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🔄 Update & Publish

Remote Management

List configured remotes:

git remote -v

Show remote information:

git remote show <remote>

Add new remote:

git remote add <remote> <url>

Rename remote:

git remote rename <remote> <new_remote>

Remove remote:

git remote rm <remote>

ℹ️ Note: This only removes the remote reference locally, not the remote repository itself.

Fetch & Pull

Download changes without merging:

git fetch <remote>

Download and merge changes:

git pull <remote> <branch>

Get changes from main branch:

git pull origin master

Pull with rebase:

git pull --rebase <remote> <branch>

Push & Publish

Publish local changes:

git push <remote> <branch>

Delete remote branch:

# Git v1.7.0+
git push <remote> --delete <branch>

# Git v1.5.0+
git push <remote> :<branch>

Publish tags:

git push --tags

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🔀 Merge & Rebase

Merge Operations

Merge branch into current HEAD:

git merge <branch>

Configure merge tool globally:

git config --global merge.tool meld

Use configured merge tool:

git mergetool

Rebase Operations

⚠️ Warning: Don't rebase published commits!

Rebase current HEAD onto branch:

git rebase <branch>

Abort rebase:

git rebase --abort

Continue rebase after resolving conflicts:

git rebase --continue

Conflict Resolution

Mark file as resolved:

git add <resolved-file>

Remove resolved file:

git rm <resolved-file>

Squashing Commits

Interactive rebase for squashing:

git rebase -i <commit-just-before-first>

Example squash configuration:

# Before
pick <commit_id>
pick <commit_id2>
pick <commit_id3>

# After (squash commit_id2 and commit_id3 into commit_id)
pick <commit_id>
squash <commit_id2>
squash <commit_id3>

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↩️ Undo

Discard Changes

Discard all local changes:

git reset --hard HEAD

Unstage all files:

git reset HEAD

Discard changes in specific file:

git checkout HEAD <file>

Reset Operations

Reset to previous commit (discard all changes):

git reset --hard <commit>

Reset to remote branch state:

git reset --hard <remote/branch>
# Example: git reset --hard upstream/master

Reset preserving changes as unstaged:

git reset <commit>

Reset preserving uncommitted local changes:

git reset --keep <commit>

Revert Commits

Revert commit (create new commit with opposite changes):

git revert <commit>

Clean Ignored Files

Remove accidentally committed files that should be ignored:

git rm -r --cached .
git add .
git commit -m "remove ignored files"

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🌊 Git Flow

Improved Git-flow: git-flow-avh

📋 Table of Contents

• 🔧 Setup
• 🚀 Getting Started
• ✨ Features
• 🎁 Make a Release
• 🔥 Hotfixes
• 📊 Commands Overview

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🔧 Setup {#setup-1}

Prerequisite: Working Git installation required. Git-flow works on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

macOS (Homebrew):

brew install git-flow-avh

macOS (MacPorts):

port install git-flow

Linux (Debian-based):

sudo apt-get install git-flow

Windows (Cygwin):

Requires wget and util-linux

wget -q -O - --no-check-certificate https://raw.githubusercontent.com/petervanderdoes/gitflow/develop/contrib/gitflow-installer.sh install <state> | bash

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🚀 Getting Started

Git-flow needs initialization to customize your project setup.

Initialize (interactive):

git flow init

You'll answer questions about branch naming conventions. Default values are recommended.

Initialize (use defaults):

git flow init -d

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✨ Features

Features are for developing new functionality for upcoming releases. They typically exist only in developer repositories.

Start new feature:

git flow feature start MYFEATURE

Creates feature branch based on 'develop' and switches to it

Finish feature:

git flow feature finish MYFEATURE

This will:

1. Merge MYFEATURE into 'develop'
2. Remove the feature branch
3. Switch back to 'develop'

Publish feature (for collaboration):

git flow feature publish MYFEATURE

Get published feature:

git flow feature pull origin MYFEATURE

Track origin feature:

git flow feature track MYFEATURE

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🎁 Make a Release

Releases support preparation of new production releases, allowing minor bug fixes and preparing meta-data.

Start release:

git flow release start RELEASE [BASE]

Creates release branch from 'develop'. Optionally specify [BASE] commit SHA-1.

Publish release:

git flow release publish RELEASE

Track remote release:

git flow release track RELEASE

Finish release:

git flow release finish RELEASE

This will:

1. Merge release branch into 'master'
2. Tag the release
3. Back-merge release into 'develop'
4. Remove release branch

💡 Don't forget: Push your tags with git push --tags

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🔥 Hotfixes

Hotfixes address critical issues in live production versions. They branch off from the corresponding tag on master.

Start hotfix:

git flow hotfix start VERSION [BASENAME]

Finish hotfix:

git flow hotfix finish VERSION

Merges back into both 'develop' and 'master', and tags the master merge

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📊 Commands Overview

🌊 Git Flow Schema

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🌍 Other Languages

This cheat sheet is available in multiple languages:

Language	Link
🇸🇦 Arabic	git-cheat-sheet-ar.md
🇧🇩 Bengali	git-cheat-sheet-bn.md
🇧🇷 Brazilian Portuguese	git-cheat-sheet-pt_BR.md
🇨🇳 Chinese	git-cheat-sheet-zh.md
🇩🇪 German	git-cheat-sheet-de.md
🇬🇷 Greek	git-cheat-sheet-el.md
🇮🇳 Hindi	git-cheat-sheet-hi.md
🇰🇷 Korean	git-cheat-sheet-ko.md
🇵🇱 Polish	git-cheat-sheet-pl.md
🇪🇸 Spanish	git-cheat-sheet-es.md
🇹🇷 Turkish	git-cheat-sheet-tr.md

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions! You can:

• 🐛 Report bugs or typos
• ✨ Add new Git commands
• 🌍 Translate to new languages
• 💡 Improve explanations
• 📝 Enhance formatting

How to contribute:

1. Fork this repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

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📄 License

This project is open source and available under the MIT License.

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