Version Control with Git

See here for a presentation on using git.

Basic git configuration

Git’s user interface has become simpler in recent releases, so I strongly suggest installing version 1.8 or later. You can check which version of git you’re running using the git --version command.

Use git config user.name 'First Last' and git config user.email 'name@domain.com' to tell git what name and email to use in commit messages; you must run these commands before you run git for the first time.

If using git 1.8 or later, I strongly suggest running git config --global push.default simple so git push behaves a bit more intuitively.

Basic git commands

Command Effect
git init . Create a new git repository in the current directory
git clone <url> foo Copy the repository at <url> into directory foo.
If dir. name foo is omitted, clone will generate one based on <url>.
git add foo Stage changes to file foo (if existing) or add it to repository (if new).
Must run git commit for changes to take effect.
git rm foo “Remove” file foo from the repository.
Must run git commit for changes to take effect.
git mv foo bar Rename file from foo to bar.
Must run git commit for changes to take effect.
git commit Commit staged changes to repository
git commit -a Stage all changes to tracked files and commit them to repository
git status Show changes in repository relative to last commit
git diff foo Show diff of unstaged changes in file foo made since last commit.
If file name foo is omitted, show unstaged changes in all tracked files.
git log -<N> Show messages for last <N> commits;
if -<N> is omitted, show entire repository history.

Working with branches and remotes

Command Effect
git checkout -b foo Create a new local branch named foo and switch to it
git checkout foo Switch to an existing local branch named foo
git branch List all local branches; current branch indicated with an ‘*’.
git branch -vv List local branches with last commit info and upstream branch (if any)
git merge foo Merge changes from local branch foo into current branch.
git remote add baz <url> Add url as a remote named baz
git fetch baz Get changes from all branches in remote repository baz.
NOTE: this does not actually merge remote changes into the current branch.
git fetch baz bar Get changes from remote branch bar in remote repository baz.
NOTE: this does not actually merge remote changes into the current branch.
git checkout -t baz/bar Create a new local branch named bar with remote branch baz/bar as its upstream
git merge baz/bar Merge fetched changes from remote branch ‘baz/bar’ into the current local branch.
git pull fetch and merge changes from remote upstream into current local branch.
git push Send updates from current local branch to its remote upstream.
git push baz bar Create (or update) remote branch ‘baz/bar’ with local HEAD (last commit).

[top]