Git Commands Reference

A complete list of commonly used Git commands for daily development: commits, merges, tags, comparisons, branching, stashing, logs, remotes, and more.

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1. Basic Commands

Initialize Repository

git init

Clone Repository

git clone <repo-url>

Check Status

git status

Add Files

git add <file>
git add .
git add -A

Remove Files

git rm <file>
git rm --cached <file>

Change Default Branch Name

git config --global init.defaultBranch <branch-name>

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2. Commit Commands

Commit with message

git commit -m "message"

Commit all changes

git commit -a -m "message"

Amend last commit

git commit --amend

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3. Branch Commands

List branches

git branch

Create branch

git branch <name>

Switch branch

git checkout <branch>
git switch <branch>

Create & switch branch

git checkout -b <branch>
git switch -c <branch>

Delete branch

git branch -d <branch>
git branch -D <branch>

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4. Merge Commands

Merge branch into current

git merge <branch>

Abort merge

git merge --abort

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5. Rebase Commands

Rebase onto another branch

git rebase <branch>

Interactive rebase

git rebase -i HEAD~5

Abort rebase

git rebase --abort

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6. Tag Commands

Create tag

git tag <tag-name>

Create annotated tag

git tag -a <tag-name> -m "message"

List tags

git tag

Push tag

git push origin <tag>

Push all tags

git push --tags

Delete tag

git tag -d <tag>
git push origin :refs/tags/<tag>

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7. Compare Files (Diff)

Compare working directory changes

git diff

Compare staged changes

git diff --staged

Compare two commits

git diff <commit1> <commit2>

Compare branches

git diff <branch1> <branch2>

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8. Log Commands

Basic log

git log

One-line log

git log --oneline

Log with graph

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

Show commit details

git show <commit>

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9. Stash Commands

Save changes

git stash

Save with message

git stash push -m "message"

List stash

git stash list

Apply stash

git stash apply
git stash apply stash@{n}

Pop stash

git stash pop

Drop stash

git stash drop stash@{n}

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10. Remote Commands

List remotes

git remote -v

Add remote

git remote add origin <url>

Change remote URL

git remote set-url origin <url>

Remove remote

git remote remove <name>

Fetch

git fetch
git fetch --all

Pull

git pull

Push

git push

Force push

git push --force

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11. Reset Commands

Soft reset

git reset --soft <commit>

Mixed reset (default)

git reset <commit>

Hard reset

git reset --hard <commit>

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12. Clean Commands

Preview clean

git clean -n

Delete untracked files

git clean -f

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13. Submodule Commands

Add submodule

git submodule add <url> <path>

Update submodules

git submodule update --init --recursive

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14. Useful Shortcuts

View last commit

git log -1

Check which branch you are on

git branch --show-current

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15. Git Ignore Files & Local File Management

Create .gitignore file

# Create .gitignore in root directory
touch .gitignore

Common .gitignore entries

# Environment files
.env
.env.local
.env.*.local

# Node modules
node_modules/
package-lock.json
yarn.lock

# Python
__pycache__/
*.pyc
*.pyo
venv/
env/

# IDE
.vscode/
.idea/
*.swp
*.swo

# Build directories
dist/
build/
out/

# Logs
logs/
*.log
npm-debug.log*

# OS files
.DS_Store
Thumbs.db

Check if file matches .gitignore pattern

git check-ignore <file>
git check-ignore -v <file>

List all ignored files

git status --ignored

Show all tracked files

git ls-files

Show ignored files

git ls-files --others --ignored --exclude-standard

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16. Assume-Unchanged & Skip-Worktree Commands

These commands allow you to tell Git to ignore local changes to tracked files without committing gitignore changes.

Mark file as assumed-unchanged

git update-index --assume-unchanged <file>

This tells Git to assume the file hasn't changed locally, useful for configuration files modified locally.

Unmark assumed-unchanged

git update-index --no-assume-unchanged <file>

List all assumed-unchanged files

git ls-files -v | grep '^[a-z]'

The lowercase letter indicates an assume-unchanged file.

Skip-worktree (preferred alternative)

Skip-worktree is more reliable than assume-unchanged:

# Mark file as skip-worktree
git update-index --skip-worktree <file>

# Unmark skip-worktree
git update-index --no-skip-worktree <file>

# List all skip-worktree files
git ls-files -v | grep '^S'

Difference between assume-unchanged and skip-worktree

Feature	assume-unchanged	skip-worktree
Purpose	Optimize performance	Ignore local changes
Git operations	Bypass stat check	Skip file entirely
Reliability	Can break with certain operations	More reliable
Use case	Large binary files	Config files with local changes

Clear assume-unchanged files for a fresh start

# Remove all assume-unchanged flags
git ls-files -v | grep '^[a-z]' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs git update-index --no-assume-unchanged

# Remove all skip-worktree flags
git ls-files -v | grep '^S' | awk '{print $2}' | xargs git update-index --no-skip-worktree

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