Useful Git Commands

Git is a most widely used and powerful version control system for tracking changes in computer files and coordinating work on those files. Here are some useful git commands for everyday use.

Upload all files in a local directory to a new Git repository

If you have a project on your computer and you just created an empty Git repository in GitHub, use these commands to upload everything to Git.

cd directory
git init
git remote add origin git@github.com:your-username/repo.git
git add .
git commit -am "Message"
git push -u origin master

Download all files from Git repository to a local directory

The opposite of the above option - for example, if your repository exists in GitHub, and you're working on it in a different local computer. Run this command outside of where you want the new directory to appear (not within the directory you want it to appear).

git clone git@github.com:your-username/repo.git     # using SSH
git clone https://github.com/your-username/repo.git # using HTTPS

Remove one file from Git cache

Remove one cached file.

git rm -r —-cached file.txt

Override entire local directory

If you have some merge conflicts, or accidentally started to make a change to your local directory before pulling the changes from the master, here's how you can revert your local directory to what's on GitHub.

git fetch --all
git reset --hard origin/master

Ignore a directory

If you've been tracking a directory and later decide to ignore the whole directory, simply adding it to .gitignore isn't enough. First you must add the directory to .gitignore, then run this command:

git rm -r --cached directory

Then push the changes.

Add .gitignore to an existing repository

Similar to above, but if you've added a .gitignore with a lot of changes.

git rm -r --cached .
git add .
git commit -m "Message"

Force a push or pull

When you really want your local repository to override the remote.

git push -f origin master
git pull -f origin master

Merging changes from remote pull request with conflicts

Make a new branch with their changes.

git checkout -b their-branch master
git pull their.git master

Play with the files and commit them.

git add files
git commit -m “Message"
git push origin master

Merge back into your branch.

git checkout master
git merge --no-ff <their-branch) (:wq!)
git push origin master

Remove branch

Put a : in front to remove instead of update remotely.

git push origin :branch-name

Use --delete or -D for local.

git branch --delete branch-name

Replace master with contents of another branch

git checkout branch-name
git merge -s ours master
git checkout master
git merge branch-name

Remove all local branches except master

git branch | grep -v "master" | xargs git branch -D

More than one branch may be added to the grep. To remove all local branches except "master" and "develop":

git branch | grep -v "master\|develop" | xargs git branch -D

Allow empty commit

Fix the problem of git hooks claiming everything is "Up-to-date".

git push production master
git commit --allow-empty -m 'push to execute post-receive'
git push production master

Merge new-feature branch into master

Merge branches.

git checkout master
git pull origin master
git merge new-feature
git push origin master

Switch to branch that exists on origin

git fetch --prune --all
git checkout other-branch

Fetch branch from origin

git fetch origin
git checkout --track origin/<remote_branch_name>

Accept all incoming changes

git pull -Xtheirs

Rebase from develop

git fetch --prune --all
git rebase origin/develop
git pull
git push

Stashing

Put your changes away and switch to another branch

git stash
git checkout -b new-branch
git stash pop

Accidentally committed to develop and want to move that commit to a branch

git branch new-branch
git reset HEAD~1
git checkout <files>