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https://github.com/afirestriker/git-guide

A comprehensive guide to the most commonly used Git commands, workflows, and best practices—covering about 70-80% of the commands you’ll use in day-to-day work at the organizational level. Whether you're a beginner or looking to deepen your Git knowledge, this repo will help you efficiently manage code, collaborate with teams, and navigate key Git.
https://github.com/afirestriker/git-guide

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A comprehensive guide to the most commonly used Git commands, workflows, and best practices—covering about 70-80% of the commands you’ll use in day-to-day work at the organizational level. Whether you're a beginner or looking to deepen your Git knowledge, this repo will help you efficiently manage code, collaborate with teams, and navigate key Git.

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README 

          

# Git Tutorial Repository



This repository serves as a comprehensive guide to using **Git**. It includes step-by-step instructions for basic Git operations such as cloning repositories, managing branches, and performing pull & push actions with **Remote**.



## Table of Contents



1. [Setting Up Git](#setting-up-git)

2. [Initializing and Cloning Repositories](#initializing-and-cloning-repositories)

3. [Branch Management](#branch-management)

4. [Working with Files (status, add, and commit)](#working-with-files)

5. [Git Stash](#git-stash)

6. [Git Show](#git-show)

7. [Git Diff](#git-diff)

8. [Working with Remote Repositories](#working-with-remote-repositories)

9. [Git Pull and Push On Remote](#git-pull-and-push-on-remote)

10. [Git Cherry-Pick](#git-cherry-pick)

11. [Gitk (GUI)](#gitk)



---



## Setting Up Git



Before starting with Git, you need to configure your global Git settings such as your username and email. These settings will be used for all repositories on your local machine unless overridden by repository-specific settings.



### Set Global Username and Email



```bash

git config --global user.name "Your Name"

git config --global user.email "your-email@example.com"

```



To set username and email for the current repository only (overriding global settings), omit `--global`.



---



## Initializing and Cloning Repositories



### Initialize a New Git Repository



To initialize a new Git repository in the current directory:



```bash

git init

```



### Clone an Existing Remote Repository



To clone a repository from Remote:



```bash

git clone 

```



To clone a specific subfolder from the repository:



```bash

git clone  

```



This will create a new directory with the repository name, or clone only the specified folder.



### Check Files in the Directory



To view all files, including hidden ones:



```bash

ls -la

```



---



## Branch Management



### Create and Switch Branches



To create a new branch:



```bash

git branch 

```



To rename the current branch:



```bash

git branch -m 

```



To list all branches:



```bash

git branch # Lists only local branches, showing the currently active branch with `*`



git branch -l # Lists local branches only (same as `git branch`)



git brahcn -r # Lists only remote-tracking branches, prefixed by the remote name (e.g., `origin/`)



git branch -a # Lists both local branches and remote-tracking branches

```



To switch to an existing branch:



```bash

git switch  

# or

git checkout 

```



To create and switch to a new branch in one step:



```bash

git switch -c 

# or

git checkout -b 

```



To create a new branch or reset an existing branch and switch to it.



```bash

git switch -C 

# or

git checkout -B 

```



### Merge Branches



To merge changes from another branch into the current branch:



1. Switch to the branch you want to merge into (e.g., `main` or `master`):



   ```bash

   git checkout master

   ```



2. Merge the desired branch:



   ```bash

   git merge 

   ```



### Delete a Branch



To delete a branch that is no longer needed:



```bash

git branch -d  # only if it has been fully merged to it's target branch

```

```bash

git branch -D  # force delete a branch, regardless of whether it has been merged or not

```



---



## Working with Files



### Check the Status of Your Repository



To see the current status of your working directory (untracked, modified, staged files):



```bash

git status

```



For a brief, summary view:



```bash

git status --short

```



### Add Files to Staging Area



To stage a specific file:



```bash

git add 

```



To stage all changes:



```bash

git add -A

```



After staging, you can check the status again to confirm the changes are staged for commit.



### Commit Changes



To commit the staged changes with a custom message:



```bash

git commit -m "Your commit message"

```



To combine both staging and committing into one step:



```bash

git commit -am "Your commit message"

```



### View Commit History



To view the commit history of the repository:



```bash

git log

```



To view the last `n` commits:



```bash

git log -n 

```



Press `q` to exit the log view.



---



## Git Stash



`git stash` is used to **temporarily save changes** in your working directory that are not yet ready to commit. This is useful when you need to switch branches but don’t want to commit partial work.



### 1. Stash Changes



- **Purpose**: Save your local changes (including tracked files) without committing them, but **not** untracked files.

- **Command**: 

  ```bash

  git stash

  ```



- If you want to **stash both tracked and untracked files**, use the `-u` option:

  ```bash

  git stash -u

  ```



### 2. List Stashes



- **Purpose**: See a list of all stashes you've saved.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git stash list # list all saved stashes, along with reference ID

  ```



### 3. Apply Stash



- **Purpose**: Reapply the changes from a stash to your working directory.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git stash apply [stash@{n}]

  ```

  - `[stash@{n}]` is optional. If not specified, the most recent stash will be applied. If you want to apply a specific stash, use the stash ID from `git stash list`.



### 4. Pop Stash



- **Purpose**: Apply a stash and **remove it** from the stash list.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git stash pop [stash@{n}]

  ```



### 5. Drop Stash



- **Purpose**: Delete a stash from the stash list.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git stash drop [stash@{n}]

  ```

  Use this to delete a specific stash by its ID.



### 6. Clear All Stashes



- **Purpose**: Remove all stashes.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git stash clear

  ```



---



## Git Show



`git show` displays detailed information about a commit, object, or tag. It’s often used to view the content of a specific commit.



- **Purpose**: Show detailed information about a commit or object.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  git show  # show the commit details, including the commit message, author, date, and the changes made (diff)

  ```



- **Additional Options**:

  ```bash

  git show --stat  # Shows a summary of the files modified in the commit.

  git show --patch  # Shows the patch (diff) introduced by the commit.

  ```



---



## Git Diff



The `git diff` command is used to show the differences between various states of your repository. You can use it to compare changes in your working directory (not staged), staging area, , between commits, or between branches. By using different options like `--cached`, `--color`, and `--word-diff`, you can customize the output to fit your needs.



### Viewing Changes in the Working Directory



To view the changes you have made in your working directory (but not yet staged), use:



```bash

git diff

git diff --color # display the diff with color-coded changes (additions in green and deletions in red)

git diff --word-diff # view word-level differences.

```



This will show the differences between your working directory and the index (staging area), i.e., what changes you have made that are not yet staged for commit.



> Note: you can use the flags like `--color`, `--word-diff`, etc... with other `git diff` commands as well. 



### Viewing Staged Changes



To see what changes are staged for the next commit (i.e., what you have added to the index), use:



```bash

git diff --cached # shows differences between the staging area and the last commit.

```



### Comparing Two Branches/ Commits/ Tags



Useful for seeing what changes have been made on different branches before merging them. 

To compare the differences between two branches, use:



```bash

git diff .. # compare differences between branches

```



```bash

git diff   # compare differences between commits

```



```bash

git diff   # compare differences between tags

```



### Viewing Specific Files or Directories



You can limit the `git diff` output to a specific file or directory by specifying it after the command. For example, to see the changes in a particular file:



```bash

git diff 

```



This will show the differences for the file at `` in your working directory or staging area.



---



## Working with Remote Repositories



When working with remote repositories, you'll often need to add, remove, or update remotes.



### Add a Remote Repository



To link your local repository to a remote:



```bash

git remote add origin 

```



You can add multiple remotes with different names, e.g., `origin`, `upstream`, etc.



### Update a Remote URL



To update the URL for a remote repository:



```bash

git remote set-url origin 

```



### Remove a Remote Repository



To remove a remote repository:



```bash

git remote rm origin

# or

git remote remove origin

```



### List All Remote Repositories



To view all remotes associated with the repository:



```bash

git remote -v

```



### Fetch Updates from Remote Repository



To fetch all changes from the remote repository without merging:



```bash

git fetch origin # get all the latest changes from the remote repository (e.g., new branches, tags, or updates to existing branches)

```



```bash

git fetch origin  # fetch a specific branch (e.g., a feature branch)

```



---



## Git Pull and Push On Remote



### Pull Changes from Remote



To fetch and merge changes from the remote repository into your local branch:



```bash

git pull origin 

```



This is equivalent to running `git fetch` followed by `git merge`.



### Push Changes to Remote



To push your local commits to the remote repository:



```bash

git push origin 

```



This will push your changes to the corresponding branch on Remote.



### Pull a Branch from Remote



To fetch and checkout a new branch from the remote repository:



```bash

git pull origin 

```



### Push a New Branch to Remote



To create a new branch locally, make changes, commit, and push to Remote:



```bash

git branch -b  # create a new branch on local

git push origin  # push new-branch to remote

```



---



## Git Cherry-Pick



The `git cherry-pick` command is used to apply the changes introduced by a specific commit from one branch onto another. This is useful when you want to bring over a commit (or multiple commits) without merging the entire branch.



### Usage



To cherry-pick a single commit, use the following syntax:



```bash

git cherry-pick 

```



Where `` is the hash of the commit you want to apply to your current branch.



### Example



Let's say you are on the `feature-branch`, and you want to apply a commit from the `main` branch to your current branch. First, you need to identify the commit hash of the commit you want to cherry-pick. You can do this by running:



```bash

git log main

```



Once you have the commit hash, cherry-pick the commit:



```bash

git cherry-pick abc1234

```



This will apply the changes from commit `abc1234` to the current branch. If there are no conflicts, Git will automatically create a new commit for this change.



### Handling Conflicts



If there are conflicts during the cherry-pick, Git will stop and allow you to resolve them. After resolving the conflicts, you can continue the cherry-pick process with:



```bash

git add 

git cherry-pick --continue

```



If you want to abort the cherry-pick operation, you can run:



```bash

git cherry-pick --abort

```



### Cherry-Picking Multiple Commits



You can also cherry-pick multiple commits at once by providing a commit range:



```bash

git cherry-pick ^..

```



This will apply all commits from `` to `` (inclusive) to your current branch.



---



## Gitk



`gitk` is a graphical user interface (GUI) for Git that allows you to visualize and explore the history of a repository.



- **Purpose**: Open a GUI to view commit history, branches, and tags.



- **Command**:

  ```bash

  gitk

  ```

  

- **Usage**: Great for visualizing your commit history and performing complex operations like merges or rebase in a more intuitive way.



---



## Conclusion



This guide covers essential Git commands for interacting with local and remote repositories. By following these steps, you'll be able to effectively manage your projects, collaborate with others, and keep your work organized.

****