For a while now, I’ve had a gradually-expanding note with various git commands that I’ve been using as a cheat sheet for git tasks that I do not do often, but regularly enough to write them down.

I figure putting them here will not only make them (slightly) easier to get to every time, but may also help other folks out.

So here they are! Keep in mind that this is just a quick (and intentionally incomplete) cheat sheet – if you are learning git for the first time, you’re better off looking elsewhere this is a good place to start.

General

Delete a file from the repo (opposite of ‘git add’):

git rm filename

revert a file to the current committed version:

git checkout -- filename

cache credentials when using https (seconds):

git config credential.helper 'cache --timeout=300'

clear cached credentials:

git credential-cache exit

ignore changes to a versioned file:

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>

stop ignoring those changes:

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

change commit message of last commit:

git commit --amend -m "New commit message"

Branches

See all branches, including remote branches:

git branch -a

Pull a branch from a remote (“origin” here) and track it (this is tested and works with git 1.7.2.3 and higher)

git fetch --all
git checkout -b branch_name origin/branch_name

push a new local branch to origin:

git push -u origin branch-name

create a new branch:

git checkout -b new_branch

merge changes from branch hotfix into master:

git checkout master
git merge hotfix

delete the local branch:

git branch -d hotfix

track a remote branch:

git branch --set-upstream krystof_plots origin/krystof_plots

Tags

create a tag and push it to origin:

git tag -a v1.4 -m 'my version 1.4'
git push origin --tags

pull tags:

git pull --tags

find out what tag you’re on:

git describe --tags

Forks

Add upstream remote:

git remote add upstream git@github.com:krystofl/krystof-utils.git

sync a fork (https://help.github.com/articles/syncing-a-fork):

git fetch upstream
git checkout master
git merge upstream/master

Reset a fork to whatever is on upstream:

git fetch upstream
git checkout master
git reset --hard upstream/master
git push origin master --force

Submodules

Add a git repo as a submodule:

git submodule add https://github.com/krystofl/krystof-utils.git

To make the submodule track a the master branch: open .gitmodules, and add a line to the submodule info:

branch = master

Move a submodule:

git mv path/to/old/submod path/to/new/submod

Remove a submodule (works most of the time):

git rm path/to/submodule

If the above doesn’t work, see this StackOverflow answer.