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GitBasicNotes

1. Git Configuration​

Basic Configuration​

Git needs basic configuration to work effectively. The most common settings are the user name and email, which Git uses to label commits.

# Set your name
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

# Set your email
git config --global user.email "[email protected]" 
git config --global user.name "spnarkhede"
git config --global user.email [email protected]
git config --global core.autocrlf false
git config --global core.editor vim
git config --global credential.helper store
git config --global color.ui true
git config --global init.defaultBranch main
git config --global push.default simple
git config --global merge.conflictstyle diff3
git config --global pull.rebase true
git config --global rebase.autoStash true
git config --global alias.s "status"
git config --global alias.c "commit --verbose"
git config --global alias.a "add"
git config --global alias.rs "restore --staged"
git config --global alias.st "stash"
git config --global alias.pr "pull --rebase"
git config --global alias.rpo "remote prune origin"
git config --global commit.template $HOME/.gitmsg.md
git config --global commit.gpgsign true
git config --global gpg.program gpg
git config --global user.signingkey <pub-keyID>
# after 1s, git auto correct wrong command
git config --global help.autocorrect 10

Proxy Configuration​

If you're behind a proxy, you can configure Git to use it:

# Set HTTP proxy
git config --global http.proxy http://proxy.example.com:8080

# Set HTTPS proxy
git config --global https.proxy https://proxy.example.com:8080

# Remove proxy
git config --global --unset http.proxy
git config --global --unset https.proxy
# GitHub proxy.
git config --global url."https:/hub.fastgit.org/".insteadOf "https://github.com/"

# Socks5 proxy.
git config --global http.proxy 'socks5://127.0.0.1:1080'
git config --global https.proxy 'socks5://127.0.0.1:1080'

# Post buffer configuration.
git config --global http.postbuffer 524288000
git config --global https.postbuffer 1048576000

List and Help​

You can list all the Git configurations with:

git config --list

For help with any Git command:

git help <command>
git config --list
git --help
man git-
git help
git help config

Git Ignore File​

A .gitignore file tells Git which files or directories to ignore in a project.

Example .gitignore for a Node.js project:

node_modules/
.DS_Store
.env

Add .gitignore to your repository:

git add .gitignore
git commit -m "Add .gitignore"

GitHub Cheat Sheet

2. Git Operations​

Add​

Adds changes to the staging area before committing:

git add <file>
git add .

Remove​

Removes files from the working directory and the index:

git rm <file>

Move​

Moves or renames a file:

git mv <old-name> <new-name>

Clean​

Cleans up untracked files in your working directory:

git clean -fd

Commit​

Commits the staged changes:

git commit -m "Your commit message"

Commit Style Guide​

Follow these guidelines for commit messages:

  1. Use the imperative mood ("Fix bug", not "Fixed bug").
  2. Be concise yet descriptive.
  3. Keep lines under 72 characters.
  4. Capitalize the first letter of the message.

Git Commit Tool​

Use the interactive commit tool:

git commit --amend

Git Commit Emoji​

Use emojis for clearer commit messages. Some common examples:

  • 🐛 for bug fixes
  • ✨ for new features
  • 📝 for documentation updates

To enable Git commit emojis, you can use a tool like gitmoji-cli.

Stash​

Temporarily saves changes without committing:

git stash
git stash pop

Revert​

Reverts a commit by creating a new commit that undoes the changes:

git revert <commit-id>

Reset​

Resets your working directory and staging area to a previous state:

git reset --hard <commit-id>

Log​

Shows the commit history:

git log

Pretty Format​

You can format the log output:

git log --oneline
git log --graph --oneline --decorate --all

Log Options​

You can filter the log output:

git log --since="2 weeks ago"
git log --author="John Doe"

Log Filter​

To show logs for specific files:

git log <file-name>

Reflog​

Shows the history of the HEAD and updates:

git reflog

Show​

Shows the content of a commit or branch:

git show <commit-id>

Alias​

Create shortcuts for Git commands:

git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.ci commit

3. Remote Operations​

Remote​

Add a remote repository:

git remote add origin https://github.com/username/repository.git

Pull​

Fetch and merge changes from the remote repository:

git pull origin main

Fetch​

Fetch updates from the remote without merging:

git fetch origin

Merge​

Merge changes from one branch into another:

git merge <branch-name>

Rebase​

Rebase your branch onto another:

git rebase <branch-name>

Push​

Push local commits to the remote repository:

git push origin <branch-name>

4. Branching​

Basic Branch Workflow​

  1. Create a new branch:

    git branch <branch-name>

  2. Switch to the branch:

    git checkout <branch-name>

  3. Merge the branch:

    git merge <branch-name>

  4. Delete the branch after merging:

    git branch -d <branch-name>

Advanced Branch Workflow​

  1. Create and switch to a new branch in one step:

    git checkout -b <branch-name>

  2. Rebase a branch onto another:

    git rebase <base-branch>

Tag​

Tags are useful for marking specific commits:

git tag v1.0.0
git push origin v1.0.0

5. Submodule​

Git submodules are repositories inside another repository:

git submodule add <repository-url> <path-to-submodule>
git submodule update --init --recursive

6. Diff and Patch​

Diff​

Shows the difference between changes:

git diff

Patch​

Generates a patch from the diff:

git diff > patch.diff

7. Bisect​

Used to find the commit that introduced a bug:

git bisect start
git bisect bad
git bisect good <commit-id>

8. Reverse List​

Reverses the order of commits in a log:

git log --reverse

9. Filter Branch​

Used to rewrite the history of a repository:

git filter-branch --tree-filter 'rm -f <file>' -- <branch-name>

10. Cherry Pick​

Applies the changes from a specific commit to the current branch:

git cherry-pick <commit-id>

11. GitHub​

GPG Usage​

Sign commits with GPG for added security:

git commit -S -m "Signed commit"

LICENSE​

GitHub supports various licenses. A common license is MIT, which you can add by creating a LICENSE file in the root of your repository.

Teamwork​

GitHub makes it easy to collaborate on projects. You can create teams, set permissions, and manage pull requests.

12. GitHub CLI Tool​

The GitHub CLI allows you to manage GitHub repositories from the command line:

gh repo create
gh pr create
gh issue create

13. GitHub Wiki​

You can enable a wiki in a GitHub repository to document your project. Access it via the "Wiki" tab on your repository's GitHub page.

14. Shorten GitHub URL​

Use GitHub Shortener to shorten URLs.

15. GitHub Flavored Markdown​

GitHub uses a slightly different flavor of Markdown. For more details, refer to GitHub Flavored Markdown.

16. GitHub Pages​

GitHub Pages allows you to host static websites directly from your GitHub repository.

17. GitHub Git Attributes​

Define how Git should treat files with .gitattributes.

*.jpg binary

18. GitHub Actions​

Automate your workflow using GitHub Actions. Set up CI/CD pipelines.

19. GitHub Dependabot​

GitHub Dependabot automatically keeps your dependencies up-to-date by submitting pull requests for outdated dependencies.

20. GitHub Copilot​

GitHub Copilot assists with code completion and suggestions inside your editor.

21. Git Internals​

Git Objects​

Git stores data as objects. The main objects are:

  • Commit: A snapshot of the project at a point in time.
  • Tree: A directory of files.
  • Blob: A file's contents.
  • Tag: A reference to a commit.

Git Packfiles​

Git uses packfiles to store objects efficiently, allowing the repository to grow without consuming excessive space.

22. Git Inside Commands​

These commands reflect the internal workings of Git:

Add Inside​

git add <file-name>

Commit Inside​

git commit -m "Commit message"

Checkout Inside​

git checkout <branch-name>

Merge Inside​

git merge <branch-name>

Fetch Inside​

git fetch <remote>

Clone Inside​

git clone <repository-url>

Push Inside​

git push <remote> <branch-name>

Branch Inside​

Git Resources

Here are some helpful resources to understand and work with Git: