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Git Cheatsheet

Published on December 24, 2020

This document was migrated from DigiDocs

tip

Basic knowledge of Git is assumed in this tutorial. If you are new to Git, visit http://rogerdudler.github.io/git-guide/ to learn the basics first.

Get branch information​

I want to find out what branches I have locally:

git branch

I want to find out what is the upstream branch for a given branch:

git branch -v

Even more verbose information:

git branch -vv

Delete local and remote branches​

Example scenario:
I have merged my development branch feat/new-feature into develop and wish to delete the local and remote branch of feat/new-feature now.

The solution:

  • Delete the local branch:
    • git branch -d feat/new-feature
    • or with --force: git branch -D feat/new-feature
  • Delete the remote branch: git push <remote> -d <branch>

The general command format it is based on:

  • Delete a local branch:
    • git branch -d|--delete <branch>
    • or with --force: git branch -D <branch>
  • Delete a remote branch: git push <remote> -d|--delete <branch>

Reset a branch​

Example scenario:
I messed up my local master branch. I want to reset it such that it will revert to being the same as origin/master.

The one-line solution:
git checkout -B master origin/master

The general command format it is based on:
git checkout -b|-B <new_branch> [<start point>]

How does it work?

git checkout -b|-B <new_branch> is typically used to create and switch to a new branch. However, if <new_branch> already exists, it will be reset instead.

Cite

If -B is given, <new_branch> is created if it doesn’t exist; otherwise, it is reset.

Ignore a file's changes temporarily​

Example scenario:
I want to stop tracking changes for a given file temporarily, as I am still editing it and do not want an incomplete copy of it to be added to staging when I do git add * (to add all changes in the current path).

The solution:

To temporarily ignore (stop tracking) a file:

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

To start tracking a file again:

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

See Git Ignore file for more information.

Resources​