Git is the most widely used modern version control system. When you learn git, you may encounter issues to master all the git commands. In this tutorial, we list the essential git commands. After master these commands, you can use git to accomplish most of the version control tasks.

The following two diagrams show how git manages your files.

The four stages of a file in git

1. Create a Repository

   Create a new local repository from scratch

   git init [my_project] or cd my_project git init

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   git init [my_project]   or   cd my_project git init

   Download from an existing repository

   git clone remote_reposity_url_on_github

   1	git clone remote_reposity_url_on_github

2. Check your repository

   List the files that have not been committed

   git status

   1	git status

   Show the changes to files not staged

   git diff

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   git diff

   Show full change history

   git log

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   git log

   Show more detailed change history

   git reflog

   1	git reflog

   show the changes between two commits ids

   git diff commit_id1 commit_id2

   1	git diff commit_id1 commit_id2

3. Git Branches

   List all local branches

   git branch

   1	git branch

   List all local and remote branches

   git branch -av

   1	git branch -av

   create a new branch

   git branch my_branch_name

   1	git branch my_branch_name

   Switch to a branch

   git checkout my_branch_name

   1	git checkout my_branch_name

   create a new branch using an old branch and switch to the new branch

   git checkout old_branch_name git checkout -b new_branch_name or git checkout old_branch_name git branch new_branch_name git checkout new_branch_name

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   git checkout old_branch_name git checkout -b new_branch_name   or git checkout old_branch_name git branch new_branch_name git checkout new_branch_name

   delete a local branch

   git branch -d branch_name

   1	git branch -d branch_name

   delete a remote branch

   git push origin :{the_remote_branch} or git push origin --delete the_remote_branch

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   git push origin :{the_remote_branch} or git push origin --delete the_remote_branch

   tag a branch

   git tag my_tag

   1	git tag my_tag

   merge branch_a to branch_b

   git checkout branch_b git merge branch_a

   1 2	git checkout branch_b git merge branch_a

4. Add files to repository and do commit

   Add a single file to index, ready for commit

   git add file_name

   1	git add file_name

   Add all the updated tracked files to index, ready for commit

   git add -u

   1	git add -u

   Add all the files to index, ready for commit

   git add .

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   git add .

   Commit the staging files

   git commit -m "the message for this commit"

   1	git commit -m "the message for this commit"

   Unstage files, keep the file changes

   git reset file_name

   1	git reset file_name

   Revert everything to the last commit

   git reset --hard

   1	git reset --hard

5. Word with remote repository

   Upload your local branch to your remote branch

   git checkout branch_name git push origin branch_name

   1 2	git checkout branch_name git push origin branch_name

   Get all the remote forked branches to local

   git fetch origin

   1	git fetch origin

   List the current configured remote repository for your fork.

   git remote -v origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch) origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)

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   git remote -v   origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch) origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push)

   Specify a new remote upstream repository that will be synced with the fork.git

   remote add upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git

   1	remote add upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git

   Verify the new upstream repository you’ve specified for your fork.

   git remote -v origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch) origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push) upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (fetch) upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (push)

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   git remote -v   origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (fetch) origin https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/YOUR_FORK.git (push) upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (fetch) upstream https://github.com/ORIGINAL_OWNER/ORIGINAL_REPOSITORY.git (push)

   Build a new branch using upstream master

   git fetch upstream git checkout upstream/master -b new_branch_name

   1 2	git fetch upstream git checkout upstream/master -b new_branch_name

   Rebase your local branch with the upstream master branch

   git fetch upstream git checkout your_branch git rebase -i upstream/master

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   git fetch upstream git checkout your_branch git rebase -i upstream/master

6. Reference:

   https://help.github.com/articles/configuring-a-remote-for-a-fork/

   http://zeroturnaround.com/rebellabs/git-commands-and-best-practices-cheat-sheet/