Table of contents

Introduction
.Preface
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5.
Concepts

1. Basics
.Init
. . .repo
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7.
. . . . file
Add . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8.
. . . . file
Edit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9.
. . . . . . . . file
Rename . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
..
. . . . . . file
Delete . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
..
. . . . . .current
Show . . . . . . status
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
..
. . . . . .commit
Show . . . . . . .log
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13
..
. . . . . .specific
Show . . . . . . .commit
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
..
. . . . . . .repo
Search . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16
..

2. Branch and merge

.Branch
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
Merge ..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Rebase ..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Squash ..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Cherry-pick ..

3. Local and remote

.Push
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Pull ..
. . . . . . . .conflict
Resolve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27
..
. . . . . branch
Push . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29
..
. . . . . .branch
Fetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Tags ..

TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
4. Undo
.Amend
. . . . . . commit
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33
..
. . . . . .uncommitted
Undo . . . . . . . . . . . .changes
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
..
. . . . . .local
Undo . . . . commit
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
..
. . . . . .remote
Undo . . . . . . commit
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
..
. . . . . . . history
Rewind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
..
. . . . . .changes
Stash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
..

5. Advanced
.Log
. . . summary
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .47
Worktree ..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49
Bisect ..
. . . . . . .checkout
Partial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .52
..
. . . . . . .clone
Partial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .54
..

. . . . . thoughts
Final . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
..

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3
Preface
Git is the distributed version control system used in software development to‐
day. It’s very powerful, but also known for its not-so-obvious syntax.

I got tired of googling the same Git commands over and over again. So I cre‐
ated this step-by-step guide to Git operations, from basic to advanced. You
can read it from start to finish to (hopefully) learn more about Git, or jump to a
specific use case that interests you.

The guide is available in the following formats:

Interactive online cookbook
Bookmarkable playground
PDF minibook

Licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Anton Zhiyanov, 2024

PREFACE 4
Concepts
This is the only piece of theory in the guide. I’ll keep it short and simplified to
the π == 3 level. Please don’t judge me if you’re a Git master.

Working tree, staging area, repository

┌──────────────┐ ┌──────────────┐
│ local │ push ─> │ remote │
│ repo │ pull │ repo │
└──────────────┘ └──────────────┘
check │ ↑↓ commit / reset
out │ ┌──────────────┐
│ │ staging area │
│ └──────────────┘
▽ ↑↓ add / restore
┌──────────────┐
│ working tree │
│ . │
│ ├── go.mod │
│ └── main.go │
└──────────────┘

A working tree is the slice of the project at any given moment (usually it’s the
current moment). When you add or edit code, you change the working tree.

A staging area is where you stage the changes from the working tree before
making them permanent.

A repo (repository) is the collection of permanent changes (commits) made

throughout the history of the project. Typically, there is a single remote repo
(managed by GitHub/GitLab/etc) and many local repos — one for each devel‐
oper involved in a project.

When you make a change in the staging area permanent, it is removed from
the staging area and committed to the local repo. A commit is the permanent
record of that change. The repo contains all the commits that have been
made.

CONCEPTS 5
When you checkout a specific commit, the working tree is updated to reflect
the project state at the time of that commit.

Local and remote repos are frequently synchronized so that all repos contain
all commits from all developers.

Branch, tag, HEAD

main ○ v1.1
feat-2 │ │
╲│ •
│ feat-1 │
│╱ ○ v1.0
│ │

A branch is an alternate version of the project reality. Typically, there is a main

branch, and separate branches for features under development. When work
on a feature branch is complete, it is merged into the main branch (or
discarded).

A tag is a named state of the project. Typically, tags are created on the main
branch for important milestones such as releases.

The currently checked-out commit (usually the latest commit in a branch) is

referenced as HEAD.

Now that the boring stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the recipes!

CONCEPTS 6
1. Basics
Let’s start with basic Git operations on a local repo.

Init repo
Create an empty repo:

git init

Initialized empty Git repository in /tmp/repo/.git/

Set user name and email for the repo (they are required):

git conf g user.email alice@example.com

git conf g user.name "Alice Zakas"

Use the global flag to set the name and email at the OS user level instead
of the repo level.

Show user and repo configs:

git conf g list show origin

f le:/sandbox/.gitconf g user.email=sandbox@example.com
f le:/sandbox/.gitconf g user.name=sandbox
f le:/sandbox/.gitconf g init.defaultbranch=main
f le:.git/conf g core.repositoryformatversion=0
f le:.git/conf g core.f lemode=true
f le:.git/conf g core.bare=false
f le:.git/conf g core.logallrefupdates=true
f le:.git/conf g user.email=alice@example.com
f le:.git/conf g user.name=Alice Zakas

BASICS 7
Add file
Create a file and add it to the staging area:

echo "git is awesom" > message.txt

git add message.txt

View changes in the staging area:

git diff cached

diff git a/message.txt b/message.txt

new f le mode 100644
index 0000000 0165e86
/dev/null
b/message.txt
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
git is awesom

Commit to the local repo:

git commit m "add message"

[main (root commit) 3a2bd8f] add message

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 message.txt

BASICS 8
Edit file
Edit the previously committed file:

echo "git is awesome" > message.txt

View local changes:

git diff

diff git a/message.txt b/message.txt

index 0165e86 118f108 100644
a/message.txt
b/message.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
git is awesom
git is awesome

Add modified files and commit in one command:

git commit am "edit message"

[main ecdeb79] edit message

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Note that a does not add new files, only changes to the already committed
files.

BASICS 9
Rename file
Rename the previously committed file:

git mv message.txt praise.txt

The change is already in the staging area, so git diff won’t show it. Use
cached :

git diff cached

diff git a/message.txt b/praise.txt

similarity index 100%
rename from message.txt
rename to praise.txt

Commit the change:

git commit m "rename message.txt"

[main d768287] rename message.txt

1 f le changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
rename message.txt praise.txt (100%)

BASICS 10
Delete file
Delete the previously committed file:

git rm message.txt

rm 'message.txt'

The change is already in the staging area, so git diff won’t show it. Use
cached :

git diff cached

diff git a/message.txt b/message.txt

deleted f le mode 100644
index 0165e86 0000000
a/message.txt
/dev/null
@@ -1 +0,0 @@
git is awesom

Commit the change:

git commit m "delete message.txt"

[main 6a2d19b] delete message.txt

1 f le changed, 1 deletion(-)
delete mode 100644 message.txt

BASICS 11
Show current status
Edit the previously committed file and add the changes to the staging area:

echo "git is awesome" > message.txt

git add message.txt

Create a new file:

echo "git is great" > praise.txt

Show the working tree status:

git status

On branch main
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore staged <f le> " to unstage)
modif ed: message.txt

Untracked f les:
(use "git add <f le> " to include in what will be committed)
praise.txt

Note that message.txt is in the staging area, while praise.txt is not

tracked.

BASICS 12
Show commit log
Show commits:

git log

commit ecdeb79aad4565d8d7d725678ffadc48b3cdec52
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

edit message

commit 3a2bd8f0929c605193120bd1ad12732f49457e99
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

add message

Show only the commit message and the short hash:

git log oneline

ecdeb79 edit message

3a2bd8f add message

BASICS 13
Show commits as an ASCII graph:

git log graph

* commit ecdeb79aad4565d8d7d725678ffadc48b3cdec52
| Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
| Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000
|
| edit message
|
* commit 3a2bd8f0929c605193120bd1ad12732f49457e99
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

add message

Show compact ASCII graph:

git log oneline graph

* ecdeb79 edit message

* 3a2bd8f add message

BASICS 14
Show specific commit
Show the last commit contents:

git show HEAD

commit ecdeb79aad4565d8d7d725678ffadc48b3cdec52
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

edit message

diff git a/message.txt b/message.txt

index 0165e86 118f108 100644
a/message.txt
b/message.txt
@@ -1 +1 @@
git is awesom
git is awesome

Show the second-to-last commit:

git show HEAD~1

commit 3a2bd8f0929c605193120bd1ad12732f49457e99
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

add message

diff git a/message.txt b/message.txt

new f le mode 100644
index 0000000 0165e86
/dev/null
b/message.txt

Use HEAD~n to show the nth-before-last commit or use the specific commit
hash instead of HEAD~n .

BASICS 15
Search repo
There are 3 commits, each adding a new line to message.txt :

git log oneline

cc5b883 no debates
2774a8b is great
31abe57 is awesome

The current message.txt state:

cat message.txt

git is awesome
git is great
there is nothing to debate

Search in working tree (current state):

git grep "debate"

message.txt:there is nothing to debate

Search the project as of the second-to-last commit:

git grep "great" HEAD~1

HEAD~1:message.txt:git is great

You can use the specific commit hash instead of HEAD~n .

BASICS 16
2. Branch and merge
Let’s dive into the wondrous world of merging.

Branch
Show branches (there is only main now):

git branch

* main

Create and switch to a new branch:

git branch ohmypy

git switch ohmypy

Switched to branch 'ohmypy'

Show branches (the current one is ohmypy ):

git branch

main
* ohmypy

Add and commit a file:

echo "print('git is awesome')" > ohmy.py

git add ohmy.py
git commit m "ohmy.py"

BRANCH AND MERGE 17

 [ohmypy a715138] ohmy.py
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 ohmy.py

Show only commits from the ohmypy branch:

git log oneline main ohmypy

a715138 ohmy.py

BRANCH AND MERGE 18

Merge
Show commits from all branches (two commits in main , one in ohmypy ):

git log all oneline graph

* ecdeb79 edit message

| * a715138 ohmy.py
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

We are now on the main branch, let’s merge the ohmypy branch back into
main:

git merge ohmypy

Merge made by the 'ort' strategy.

ohmy.py | 1 +
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 ohmy.py

There are no conflicts, so git commits automatically. Show the new commit
history:

git log all oneline graph

* 7d5ac4f Merge branch 'ohmypy'

|\
| * a715138 ohmy.py
* | ecdeb79 edit message
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

BRANCH AND MERGE 19

Rebase
Show commits from all branches (two commits in main , one in ohmypy ):

git log all oneline graph

* ecdeb79 edit message

| * a715138 ohmy.py
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

We are now on the main branch, let’s rebase the ohmypy branch back into
main:

git rebase ohmypy

Rebasing (1/1)
Successfully rebased and updated refs/heads/main.

Note that the new commit history is linear, unlike when we do a

git merge ohmypy :

git log all oneline graph

* c2b0c60 edit message

* a715138 ohmy.py
* 3a2bd8f add message

Rebasing rewrites history. So it’s better not to rebase branches that have al‐
ready been pushed to remote.

BRANCH AND MERGE 20

Squash
Show commits from all branches (two commits in main , three in ohmypy ):

git log all oneline graph

* ecdeb79 edit message

| * b9a7d0f ohmy.lua
| * 5ca4d55 ohmy.sh
| * a715138 ohmy.py
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

If we do git merge ohmypy to merge the ohmypy branch into main , the main
branch will receive all three commits from ohmypy.

Sometimes we prefer to “squash” all the branch commits into a single com‐
mit, and then merge it into main. Let’s do it.

Switch to the ohmypy branch:

git switch ohmypy

Switched to branch 'ohmypy'

Combine all ohmypy changes into a single commit in the working directory:

git merge squash main

Squash commit not updating HEAD

BRANCH AND MERGE 21

Commit the combined changes:

git commit m "ohmy[py,sh,lua]"

[ohmypy 4f2a17f] ohmy[py,sh,lua]

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Switch back to the main branch:

git switch main

Merge the ohmypy branch into main :

git merge no ff ohmypy m "ohmy[py,sh,lua]"

Merge made by the 'ort' strategy.

ohmy.lua | 1 +
ohmy.py | 1 +
ohmy.sh | 1 +
3 f les changed, 3 insertions(+)

Note the single commit in main made of three commits in ohmypy :

git log all oneline graph

* 008dce6 ohmy[py,sh,lua]
|\
| * 4f2a17f ohmy[py,sh,lua]
| * b9a7d0f ohmy.lua
| * 5ca4d55 ohmy.sh
| * a715138 ohmy.py
* | ecdeb79 edit message
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

BRANCH AND MERGE 22

Cherry-pick
I have a typo in message.txt :

cat message.txt

git is awesom

And I accidentally fixed it in the ohmypy branch instead of main :

git log all oneline graph decorate

* 568193c (HEAD main) add praise

| * bbce161 (ohmypy) ohmy.sh
| * cbb09c6 f x typo
| * a715138 ohmy.py
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

I’m not ready to merge the entire ohmypy branch, so I will cherry-pick the
commit:

git cherry pick cbb09c6

[main b23d3ee] f x typo

Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

BRANCH AND MERGE 23

cherry pick applied the comment to the main branch:

git log all oneline graph decorate

* b23d3ee (HEAD main) f x typo

* 568193c add praise
| * bbce161 (ohmypy) ohmy.sh
| * cbb09c6 f x typo
| * a715138 ohmy.py
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

The typo is fixed:

cat message.txt

git is awesome

BRANCH AND MERGE 24

3. Local and remote
Working with a local repo is fun, but adding a remote repo is even funnier.

Push
Alice wants to clone our repo and make some changes.

Clone the remote repo:

git clone https: example.org/remote.git /tmp/alice

Cloning into '/tmp/alice'

done.

Set user name and email:

cd /tmp/alice
git conf g user.email alice@example.com
git conf g user.name "Alice Zakas"

Make some changes and commit:

echo "Git is awesome!" > message.txt

git commit am "edit from alice"

[main b9714f2] edit from alice

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Push locally committed changes to the remote repo:

git push

LOCAL AND REMOTE 25

Pull
I want to pull Alice’s changes to the local repo.

No commits from Alice yet:

git log oneline

3a2bd8f add message

Pull the latest changes from the remote repo:

git pull

Updating 3a2bd8f b9714f2

Fast forward
message.txt | 2 +-
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

The local repo now contains commits from Alice:

git log oneline

b9714f2 edit from alice

3a2bd8f add message

LOCAL AND REMOTE 26

Resolve conflict
I have a local commit (not yet pushed to the remote) that conflicts with Alice’s
changes (already pushed to the remote), so I need to resolve it.

Pull the changes from the remote repo:

git pull

Auto merging message.txt

CONFLICT (content) Merge conflict in message.txt
Automatic merge failed; f x conflicts and then commit the result.
3a2bd8f b9714f2 main origin/main (exit status 1)

There is a conflict in message.txt ! Let’s show it:

cat message.txt

<<<<<<< HEAD
git is awesome

Git is awesome!
>>>>>>> b9714f2c59c7dbd1205cf20e0a99939b7a686d97

I like Alice’s version better, so let’s choose it:

git checkout theirs message.txt

# to choose our version, use ours

LOCAL AND REMOTE 27

Add the resolved file to the staging area and complete the merge:

git add message.txt

git commit m "merge alice"

[main cbb6112] merge alice

LOCAL AND REMOTE 28

Push branch
Create the local ohmypy branch:

git branch ohmypy

git switch ohmypy

Switched to branch 'ohmypy'

Add and commit a file:

echo "print('git is awesome')" > ohmy.py

git add ohmy.py
git commit m "ohmy.py"

[ohmypy c64073e] ohmy.py

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 ohmy.py

Push the local branch to remote:

git push u origin ohmypy

branch 'ohmypy' set up to track 'origin/ohmypy'.

Show both local and remote branches:

git branch all

main
* ohmypy
remotes/origin/main
remotes/origin/ohmypy

LOCAL AND REMOTE 29

Fetch branch
Fetch remote branches:

git fetch

Remote has the ohmypy branch, but it’s not checked out locally:

git branch

* main

Checkout the ohmypy branch:

git switch ohmypy

# or: git checkout ohmypy

branch 'ohmypy' set up to track 'origin/ohmypy'.

Show branches:

git branch

main
* ohmypy

LOCAL AND REMOTE 30

Tags
Create a tag for the latest commit:

git tag 0.1.0 HEAD

Create a tag for the nth-before-last commit:

git tag 0.1.0-alpha HEAD~1

You can use the commit hash instead of HEAD~n .

Show tags:

git tag l

0.1.0
0.1.0-alpha

Show compact log with tags:

git log decorate oneline

ecdeb79 (HEAD main, tag: 0.1.0, origin/main) edit message

3a2bd8f (tag: 0.1.0-alpha) add message

Delete tag:

git tag d 0.1.0-alpha

Deleted tag '0.1.0-alpha' (was 3a2bd8f)

LOCAL AND REMOTE 31

Push tags to the remote:

git push tags

LOCAL AND REMOTE 32

4. Undo
“Damn, how do I undo what I just did?” — is the eternal Git question. Let’s an‐
swer it once and for all.

Amend commit
Edit a file and commit:

echo "git is awesome" > message.txt

git commit am "edit nessage"

[main c0206a0] edit nessage

1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Show commits:

git log oneline

c0206a0 edit nessage

3a2bd8f add message

I made a typo, so I want to change the commit message:

git commit amend m "edit message"

[main ecdeb79] edit message

Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

UNDO 33
Git has replaced the last commit:

git log oneline

ecdeb79 edit message

3a2bd8f add message

To change the commit message for one of the last n commits, use
git rebase i HEAD~n (interactive) and follow the instructions on the
screen.

Amend only works if the commit has not yet been pushed to the remote repo!

UNDO 34
Undo uncommitted changes
Edit the previously committed file and add the changes to the staging area:

echo "git is awesome" > message.txt

git add message.txt

Show the working tree status:

git status

On branch main
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore staged <f le> " to unstage)
modif ed: message.txt

Remove the changes from the staging area:

git restore staged message.txt

The local file is still modified, but it’s not staged for commit:

git status

On branch main
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <f le> " to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <f le> " to discard changes in work dir)
modif ed: message.txt

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit a")

UNDO 35
Now let’s discard the changes altogether:

git restore message.txt

# or: git checkout message.txt

Show the file contents:

cat message.txt

git is awesom

The changes are gone.

UNDO 36
Undo local commit
I changed my mind about the last commit and I want to undo it.

Show commits:

git log oneline

ecdeb79 edit message

3a2bd8f add message

Undo the last one:

git reset soft HEAD~

The commit is gone:

git log oneline

3a2bd8f add message

But the changes are still in the staged area:

git status

On branch main
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore staged <f le> " to unstage)
modif ed: message.txt

UNDO 37
To remove both the commit and the local changes, use hard instead of
soft :

git reset hard HEAD~

git status

HEAD is now at 3a2bd8f add message

On branch main
nothing to commit, working tree clean

Reset only works if the commit has not yet been pushed to the remote repo!

UNDO 38
Undo remote commit
I changed my mind about the last commit and I want to undo it, but the com‐
mit is already pushed to the remote repo.

Show commits:

git log oneline

ecdeb79 edit message

3a2bd8f add message

Undo the last one:

git revert HEAD no edit

[main 9ffa044] Revert "edit message"

Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

You can revert to nth-before-last commit by using HEAD~n or use the specific
commit hash instead of HEAD~n .

Since the commit has already been pushed, git can’t delete it. Instead it cre‐
ates an “undo” commit:

git log oneline

9ffa044 Revert "edit message"

ecdeb79 edit message
3a2bd8f add message

UNDO 39
Push the “undo” commit to the remote:

git push

UNDO 40
Rewind history
Show commits:

git log oneline graph

* 7d5ac4f Merge branch 'ohmypy'

|\
| * a715138 ohmy.py
* | ecdeb79 edit message
|/
* 3a2bd8f add message

Show all repo states in reverse chronological order:

git reflog

7d5ac4f HEAD@{0} merge ohmypy: Merge made by the 'ort' strategy.

ecdeb79 HEAD@{1} commit: edit message
3a2bd8f HEAD@{2} checkout: moving from ohmypy to main
a715138 HEAD@{3} commit: ohmy.py
3a2bd8f HEAD@{4} checkout: moving from main to ohmypy
3a2bd8f HEAD@{5} commit (initial) add message

Suppose I want to go back to HEAD@{3} :

git reset hard HEAD@{3}

HEAD is now at a715138 ohmy.py

UNDO 41
This resets the entire repo and the working tree to the moment of HEAD@{3} :

git log oneline graph

* a715138 ohmy.py
* 3a2bd8f add message

UNDO 42
Stash changes
Edit the previously committed file:

echo "git is awesome" > message.txt

git add message.txt

Let’s say we need to switch to another branch, but we don’t want to commit
the changes yet.

Stash the local changes (i.e. save them in “drafts”):

git stash

Saved working directory and index state WIP on main:

3a2bd8f add message

Stash is a stack, so you can push multiple changes onto it:

echo "Git is awesome!" > message.txt

git stash

Saved working directory and index state WIP on main:

3a2bd8f add message

Show stash contents:

git stash list

stash@{0} WIP on main: 3a2bd8f add message

stash@{1} WIP on main: 3a2bd8f add message

UNDO 43
Now we can switch to another branch and do something:

(omitted for brevity)

Switch back to the main branch and re-apply the latest changes from the
stash:

git switch main

git stash pop

On branch main
Changes not staged for commit:
(use "git add <f le> " to update what will be committed)
(use "git restore <f le> " to discard changes in work dir)
modif ed: message.txt

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit a")
Dropped refs/stash@{0} (96af1a51462f29d7b947a7563938847efd5d5aeb)

pop returns changes from the stack in “last in, first out” order.

Clear the stash:

git stash clear

UNDO 44
5. Advanced stuff
While git gurus probably know all about these features, most developers have
never heard of them. Let’s fix that.

Log summary
Since the 1.0 release (tag v1.0 ), we have 6 commits from 3 contributors:

git log pretty=format:'%h %an %s %d'

7611979 bob ohmy.lua (HEAD main, origin/main)

ef4f23e bob ohmy.sh
3d8f700 bob ohmy.py
c61962c alice no debates
2ab82f6 alice go is great
ecdeb79 sandbox edit message
3a2bd8f sandbox add message (tag: v1.0)

Note the pretty option which customizes the log fields:

%h commit hash
%an author
%s message
%d decoration (e.g. branch name or tag)

List the commits grouped by contributors:

git shortlog v1.0

ADVANCED STUFF 45
 alice (2)
go is great
no debates

bob (3)
ohmy.py
ohmy.sh
ohmy.lua

sandbox (1)
edit message

A couple of useful options:

n ( numbered ) sorts the output by descending number of commits
per contributor.
s ( summary ) omits commit descriptions and prints only counts.

List contributors along with the number of commits they have authored:

git shortlog ns v1.0

3 bob
2 alice
1 sandbox

ADVANCED STUFF 46
Worktree
I’m in the middle of something important in the ohmypy branch:

echo " pwd "

pwd
echo " branches "
git branch
echo " status "
git status

pwd
/tmp/repo
branches
main
* ohmypy
status
On branch ohmypy
Changes to be committed:
(use "git restore staged <f le> " to unstage)
new f le: ohmy.py

Suddenly I need to fix an annoying typo in the main branch. I can stash the lo‐
cal changes with git stash , or I can checkout multiple branches at the same
time with git worktree .

Checkout the main branch into /tmp/hotf x :

git worktree add b hotf x /tmp/hotf x main

HEAD is now at 3a2bd8f add message

Fix the typo and commit:

cd /tmp/hotf x
echo "git is awesome" > message.txt
git commit am "f x typo"

ADVANCED STUFF 47
 [hotf x c3485cd] f x typo
1 f le changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-)

Push to remote main:

git push set upstream origin main

branch 'main' set up to track 'origin/main'.

Now I can return to /tmp/repo and continue working on the ohmypy branch.

ADVANCED STUFF 48
Bisect
I have 5 poorly named commits:

git log oneline

2f568eb main.sh
31ed915 main.sh
f8b2baf main.sh
5e0cf35 main.sh
8f0f1e4 main.sh
51c34ff test.sh

And a failing test:

sh test.sh

FAIL (exit status 1)

I will use the bisection algorithm to find the commit that introduced the bug:

git bisect start

status: waiting for both good and bad commits

ADVANCED STUFF 49
The current state is obviously buggy, but I’m pretty sure the first “main.sh”
commit was good:

git bisect bad HEAD

git bisect good HEAD~4

status: waiting for good commit(s), bad commit known

Bisecting: 1 revision left to test after this (roughly 1 step)
[f8b2baf93964ec9e0daa87c9ed262bbf5cf66b67] main.sh

Git has automatically checked out the middle commit. Let’s test it:

sh test.sh

PASS

The test passes. Mark the commit as good:

git bisect good

Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test after this (roughly 0 steps)

[31ed915660c42a00aa30b51520a16e3f48201299] main.sh

Git has automatically checked out the middle commit. Let’s test it:

sh test.sh

FAIL (exit status 1)

ADVANCED STUFF 50
The test fails. Show the commit details:

git show

commit 31ed915660c42a00aa30b51520a16e3f48201299
Author: sandbox <sandbox@example.com>
Date: Thu Mar 14 15 00 00 2024 +0000

main.sh

diff git a/main.sh b/main.sh

index 7f8f78c ce533e0 100644
a/main.sh
b/main.sh
@@ -1,2 +1,2 @@
# sum two numbers
echo $(expr $1 + $2)
echo $(expr $1 - $2)

This is the commit that introduced the bug (subtraction instead of addition)!

ADVANCED STUFF 51
Partial checkout
The remote repo looks like this:

.
├── go.mod
├── main.go
├── products
│ └── products.go
└── users
└── users.go

We will selectively checkout only some of the directories.

Clone the repo, but do not checkout the working tree:

git clone no checkout /tmp/remote.git /tmp/repo

cd /tmp/repo

Cloning into '/tmp/repo'

done.

Tell git to checkout only the root and users directories:

git sparse checkout init cone

git sparse checkout set users

Checkout the directories:

git checkout main

Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.

ADVANCED STUFF 52
Only the root and users directories are checked out:

tree

.
├── go.mod
├── main.go
└── users
└── users.go

1 directories, 3 f les

The products directory was not checked out.

ADVANCED STUFF 53
Partial clone
The partial checkout approach we tried earlier still clones the entire repo. So if
the repo itself is huge (which is often the case if it has a long history or large
binary files), the clone step can be slow and traffic-intensive.

To reduce the amount of data downloaded during cloning, use partial clone
with one of the following commands:

# Download commits and trees (directories),

# but not blobs (f le contents)
git clone f lter=blob:none f le: tmp/remote.git

# Download commits only, without trees (directories)

# or blobs (f le contents)
git clone f lter=tree:0 f le: tmp/remote.git

In both cases, git will lazily fetch the missing data later when needed.

Note that for this to work, the remote server should support partial cloning
(GitHub does).

ADVANCED STUFF 54
Final thoughts
We’ve covered important Git operations, from basic editing to branching and
merging, remote syncing, undoing changes, and performing some moderate
magic. I hope Git incantations make a little more sense to you now than they
did before.

If you find this book useful — please spread the word and subscribe to my oth‐
er projects at antonz.org/subscribe.

Now go and put your knowledge to good use. And may Git be with you!

FINAL THOUGHTS 55