Git has an extensive set of commands that lets you manage changes and perform collaboration over the life of a project. Conveniently though, you can manage with a small set of basic operations and workflows once you understand the basic philosophy behind Git. You do not have to be an expert in Git to be functional. A good place to look for instruction on a minimal set of Git commands is here.
If you do not know much about Git, you should educate yourself by visiting the links previously mentioned.
The following list of Git commands briefly describes some basic Git operations as a way to get started. As with any set of commands, this list (in most cases) simply shows the base command and omits the many arguments they support. See the Git documentation for complete descriptions and strategies on how to use these commands:
git init:
Initializes an empty Git repository.
You cannot use Git commands unless you have a
.git repository.
git clone:
Creates a local clone of a Git repository that is on
equal footing with a fellow developer’s Git repository
or an upstream repository.
git add:
Locally stages updated file contents to the index that
Git uses to track changes.
You must stage all files that have changed before you
can commit them.
git commit:
Creates a local "commit" that documents the changes you
made.
Only changes that have been staged can be committed.
Commits are used for historical purposes, for determining
if a maintainer of a project will allow the change,
and for ultimately pushing the change from your local
Git repository into the project’s upstream repository.
git status:
Reports any modified files that possibly need to be
staged and gives you a status of where you stand regarding
local commits as compared to the upstream repository.
git checkout branch-name:
Changes your working branch.
This command is analogous to "cd".
git checkout –b working-branch:
Creates and checks out a working branch on your local
machine that you can use to isolate your work.
It is a good idea to use local branches when adding
specific features or changes.
Using isolated branches facilitates easy removal of
changes if they do not work out.
git branch:
Displays the existing local branches associated with your
local repository.
The branch that you have currently checked out is noted
with an asterisk character.
git branch -D branch-name:
Deletes an existing local branch.
You need to be in a local branch other than the one you
are deleting in order to delete
branch-name.
git pull:
Retrieves information from an upstream Git repository
and places it in your local Git repository.
You use this command to make sure you are synchronized with
the repository from which you are basing changes
(.e.g. the "master" branch).
git push:
Sends all your committed local changes to the upstream Git
repository that your local repository is tracking
(e.g. a contribution repository).
The maintainer of the project draws from these repositories
to merge changes (commits) into the appropriate branch
of project's upstream repository.
git merge:
Combines or adds changes from one
local branch of your repository with another branch.
When you create a local Git repository, the default branch
is named "master".
A typical workflow is to create a temporary branch that is
based off "master" that you would use for isolated work.
You would make your changes in that isolated branch,
stage and commit them locally, switch to the "master"
branch, and then use the git merge
command to apply the changes from your isolated branch
into the currently checked out branch (e.g. "master").
After the merge is complete and if you are done with
working in that isolated branch, you can safely delete
the isolated branch.
git cherry-pick:
Choose and apply specific commits from one branch
into another branch.
There are times when you might not be able to merge
all the changes in one branch with
another but need to pick out certain ones.
gitk:
Provides a GUI view of the branches and changes in your
local Git repository.
This command is a good way to graphically see where things
have diverged in your local repository.
gitk
package on your development system to use this
command.
git log:
Reports a history of your commits to the repository.
This report lists all commits regardless of whether you
have pushed them upstream or not.
git diff:
Displays line-by-line differences between a local
working file and the same file as understood by Git.
This command is useful to see what you have changed
in any given file.