A comprehensive guide for developers and students learning version control
"Version control is the foundation of modern software development. Whether you're working on a personal project or collaborating in a large team, understanding Git and GitHub helps you track, manage, and share your code effectively."
🔹 Introduction
This quick revision guide covers the most essential Git and GitHub commands every developer should know.
I originally compiled these commands for my own use while learning version control — written in simple, natural language to ensure clarity. Over time, they've become my go-to reference whenever I need a quick refresher.
Let's dive in 👇
⚙️ Git Basics
✅ Check Git Version
Make sure Git is installed and check its version:
git --version
🧩 Configure Git
Set up your username and email (these appear in your commits):
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your@email.com"
View your configuration:
git config --list
📁 Local Repository Management
🏗️ Initialize a Repository
Create a new Git repository in your project folder:
git init
🔍 Check Repository Status
View changes, staged files, and untracked files:
git status
➕ Add Files
Add specific files or all files to the staging area:
git add filename
git add .
💾 Commit Changes
Save staged changes with a descriptive message:
git commit -m "Your message here"
🌿 Branch Information
View all branches or see which branch you're on:
git branch
📜 View Commit History
List all commits:
git log
🧮 Working with File Versions
🧐 Compare Changes
Compare modified files before committing:
git diff
Compare staged files:
git diff --cached
🕓 View Previous File Versions
See the content of a file in a previous commit:
git show commit-id:filename
🔁 Switch Between Versions
Checkout an older version and return to current:
git checkout commit-id -- filename
git checkout branch-name -- filename
🔧 Undoing Changes
🧹 Restore Unstaged Changes
Undo changes before staging:
git restore filename
🧱 Restore Staged Changes
Undo files added with git add:
git restore --staged filename
⏪ Reset Committed Changes
Undo commits:
git reset --soft HEAD^ # Uncommit but keep changes
git reset --hard HEAD^ # Uncommit and delete changes
💾 Stash Temporary Changes
Save changes temporarily without committing:
git stash # Save current changes
git stash push -m "message" # Save with message
Retrieve stashed changes:
git stash pop # Apply and remove latest stash
git stash apply # Apply but keep stash
Manage stashes:
git stash list # View all stashes
git stash drop # Delete latest stash
🕰️ Git Logs & History
View your project's commit history in different formats:
git log -p -2 # Last two commits with diff
git log --stat # Summary of changes
git log --pretty=oneline
git log --pretty=format:"%h - %an, %ar : %s"
🔎 Search Within Logs
Find specific commits:
git log -S function_name
git log --grep="keyword"
🗓️ Filter by Time or Author
git log --since="2024-01-01"
git log --author="Sameen"
git log --no-merges
☁️ Remote Repository Management (GitHub)
🌐 Link Local Repo to Remote
git remote add origin remote_URL
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main
🚀 Push & Pull
Push your commits:
git push
Pull updates from the remote repo:
git pull
📦 Clone a Repository
git clone repo_URL
This downloads the repo and full commit history to your local machine.
🌿 Branching & Merging
🔧 Branch Management
Create and switch to a new branch (modern way):
git switch -c new-branch
Or the traditional way:
git branch new-branch
git checkout new-branch
Switch between existing branches:
git switch branch-name
git checkout branch-name
🔄 Merge Branches
git checkout main
git merge feature-branch
🔄 Rebase (Alternative to Merge)
Rebase replays commits on top of another branch (creates linear history):
git checkout feature-branch
git rebase main
Interactive rebase (edit commit history):
git rebase -i HEAD~3 # Rebase last 3 commits
Rebase vs Merge: Rebase creates cleaner history but rewrites commit history. Use merge for shared branches.
⚠️ Handling Merge Conflicts
If the same file is edited differently in two branches, Git will flag a merge conflict. You'll need to manually resolve it, save, and commit again.
🍒 Cherry-Pick Commits
Apply specific commits from one branch to another:
git cherry-pick commit-hash
Cherry-pick multiple commits:
git cherry-pick commit1 commit2 commit3
Cherry-pick a range of commits:
git cherry-pick start-commit^..end-commit
Useful for applying hotfixes or specific features to different branches.
🧭 GitHub Workflow
🍴 Forking and Pull Requests
On GitHub:
- Click Fork to create your own copy of a repo.
- Make your changes locally.
- Push your updates to your forked repo.
- Open a Pull Request (PR) to suggest merging your changes into the original repository.
This is the core of open-source collaboration.
🧹 Git Utilities
🪄 .gitignore
Exclude files or folders from version control:
# Example .gitignore
node_modules/
.env
__pycache__/
🧽 Clean Untracked Files
git clean -n # Preview
git clean -f # Delete untracked files
🏷️ Tags (Versioning)
Create and manage version tags:
git tag -a v1.0 -m "Initial release"
git push origin --tags
Delete tags:
git tag -d tag_name
git push origin --delete tag_name