Advanced Git Commands For Dummies & Try hards

Important

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Table of Contents

• 🔥Latest Finds
• Table of Contents
• Latest
• 📌 git push --force-with-lease
  • 🔹 Problem
  • 🔹 Solution
  • Tutorial
• 📌 git worktree
  • 🔹 Problem
  • 🔹 Solution
  • 🔹 Flags
  • 🔹 Tutorial
• 📌 git clean
  • 🔹 Problem
  • 🔹 Solution
  • 🔹 Flags
  • Tutorial
• 📌 git log --oneline -- filename.txt
  • 🔹 Problem
  • 🔹 Solution
  • Tutorial
• Repository Management
• Branching and Merging
• History and Inspection
• Stashing and Cleaning
• Submodules
• Advanced Configuration
• Rewriting History
• Collaboration and Review
• 🛠 View and Clean Up Local Git Branches
  • 🐧 Bash
  • 🖥 PowerShell
• Miscellaneous
• Contributors & Credits
  • 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Contributors
  • 🧑‍💻 Credits & Authors
  • 📖 References & Resources

Advanced Git Commands

🔥Latest Finds

• git push --force-with-lease - Cancels git push if someone else did a commit on the same remote branch and safe guards git push
• git maintenance start - Runs a cronJob in background for the specified repo for periodic maintanence

📌 git push --force-with-lease

git push --force-with-lease ensures you don’t accidentally overwrite someone else’s work when force-pushing. It checks if the remote branch still matches what you last pulled. If someone else has pushed changes in the meantime, your push is rejected, preventing unintended data loss.

🔹 Problem

When users are within the same branch and they want to push to remote but not sure if there is a commit pushed from the other dev that might block you

🔹 Solution

use the ---force with lease flag while pushing to check it there is a push. If there is a push from the other person - your push to the same branch is cancelled.

Tutorial

Checkout Tutorial Here

📌 git worktree

🔹 Problem

Switching branches in Git can be slow and disruptive to make changes to different branches can be tedious and problematic if you need to work at different branches simultaneously.

🔹 Solution

Git Worktree allows you to work on multiple branches simultaneously without the overhead of constant switching and reconfiguration.

🔹 Flags

• git worktree add <path> <branch>: Creates a new worktree for an existing branch.
• git worktree add -b <branch> <path>: Creates a new worktree with a new branch.
• git worktree list: Lists all active worktrees.
• git worktree remove <path>: Detaches a worktree from the repo without deleting files.
• git worktree prune: Cleans up stale worktree references after manual deletion.
• git worktree move <old-path> <new-path>: Moves a worktree to a different location.

🔹 Tutorial

Checkout Tutorial Here

📌 git clean

git clean removes untracked files and directories from your Git repository, helping to keep your workspace clean by deleting unnecessary files not tracked by version control.

🔹 Problem

Over time, untracked files (e.g., logs, build artifacts, temporary files) can clutter your repository, making it harder to manage. Manually deleting them is inefficient and error-prone.

🔹 Solution

Use git clean to safely remove untracked files and directories.

🔹 Flags

• -n → Shows what will be deleted without actually deleting anything.
• -f → Forces deletion of untracked files.
• -d → Deletes untracked directories.
• -i → Interactive mode, allowing selective deletion.
• -x → Removes ignored and untracked files.
• -X → Removes only ignored files.

Tutorial

Checkout Tutorial Here

git log --oneline -- filename.txt

git log --oneline -- filename.txt shows all past commits that changed a specific file (filename.txt) in a short and easy-to-read format.

🔹 Problem

When users want to see past commits of a specific file to either revert back a commit/cherrypick/review etc.

🔹 Solution

use the git log --oneline -- filename.txt to review the past commits and view the differences. Users can then subsequently revert, reset, review and do whatever makes sense with that commit of the specific file.

Tutorial

Checkout Tutorial Here

Repository Management

• git init --bare: Initialize a bare repository, typically used for remote repositories.
• git clone --mirror <repository>: Clone a repository in mirror mode, including all refs and branches.

Branching and Merging

• git branch -m <old-branch> <new-branch>: Rename a branch.
• git branch -d <branch>: Delete a branch that has been merged.
• git branch -D <branch>: Force delete a branch that hasn’t been merged.
• git checkout -b <new-branch>: Create and switch to a new branch.
• git cherry-pick <commit>: Apply the changes from a specific commit onto the current branch.
• git rebase <branch>: Reapply commits on top of another base tip.
• git merge --squash <branch>: Merge a branch, combining all commits into one.
• git merge --no-ff <branch>: Merge with a merge commit even if fast-forward is possible.
• git stash branch <branch>: Create a new branch and apply the stashed changes.

History and Inspection

• git log --graph --oneline --decorate --all: Visualize the commit history in a graphical format.
• git log -p: Show patches (differences) introduced in each commit.
• git show <commit>: Show various types of objects (e.g., commits, tags, trees).
• git reflog: Show the history of changes to the repository’s refs.
• git diff <commit1> <commit2>: Show changes between two commits.
• git blame <file>: Show what revision and author last modified each line of a file.
• git bisect start: Begin a binary search to find the commit that introduced a bug.
• git bisect bad <commit>: Mark a commit as bad in the bisect process.
• git bisect good <commit>: Mark a commit as good in the bisect process.

Stashing and Cleaning

• git stash save "description": Save changes to the stash with a description.
• git stash pop: Apply the last stashed changes and remove them from the stash.
• git stash apply stash@{n}: Apply a specific stash.
• git stash list: List all stashes.
• git stash drop stash@{n}: Remove a specific stash.
• git clean -fd: Remove untracked files and directories.
• git clean -n: Show what would be removed by git clean.

Submodules

• git submodule add <repository> <path>: Add a submodule.
• git submodule init: Initialize the submodules.
• git submodule update: Update the submodules to the latest commit.
• git submodule foreach <command>: Run a command in each submodule.
• git submodule sync: Synchronize the submodule URLs.

Advanced Configuration

• git config --global alias.<alias-name> '<git-command>': Create a Git command alias.
• git config --global core.editor "<editor>": Set the default text editor for Git.
• git config --global user.name "<name>": Set the user name for Git commits.
• git config --global user.email "<email>": Set the user email for Git commits.
• git config --global --edit: Edit the global configuration file.

Rewriting History

• git commit --amend: Modify the most recent commit.
• git rebase -i <base>: Start an interactive rebase session.
• git filter-branch --tree-filter <command> -- --all: Rewrite branches to modify the working tree.
• git reset --soft <commit>: Move the HEAD to a commit, staging all changes.
• git reset --hard <commit>: Move the HEAD to a commit, discarding all changes.
• git revert <commit>: Create a new commit that undoes the changes from a previous commit.

Collaboration and Review

• git remote add <name> <url>: Add a new remote repository.
• git fetch <remote>: Download objects and refs from another repository.
• git pull --rebase <remote> <branch>: Fetch the branch and rebase onto the current branch.
• git push <remote> <branch>: Push changes to a remote repository.
• git push --force-with-lease <remote> <branch>: Force push with a safety check to ensure you’re not overwriting someone else’s work.
• git push --tags: Push all tags to the remote repository.
• git request-pull <start> <url> <end>: Generate a request to pull changes into a repository.

🛠 View and Clean Up Local Git Branches

🐧 Bash

List Local Branches Without a Remote Connection. git branch -vv | grep -E '^\s*\S+\s+[^\[]+$'
Automatically Delete Local Branches Without Remote Tracking.

git branch -vv | grep -E '^\s*\S+\s+[^\[]+$' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs git branch -D

View Local Branches That Had Their Remote Deleted (Ex: PR Merged & Deleted in remote but still exist in local).**

git branch -vv | grep ': gone]'

Delete Stale Local Branches That Had Their Remote Deleted.

git branch -vv | grep ': gone]' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs git branch -D

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🖥 PowerShell

List Local Branches Without a Remote Connection.

git branch -vv | Select-String -NotMatch "origin/"

Automatically Delete Local Branches Without Remote Tracking

git branch -vv | Select-String -NotMatch "origin/" | ForEach-Object {
   $branch = ($_ -split "\s+")[1]
   git branch -D $branch
}

View Local Branches That Had Their Remote Deleted (Ex: PR Merged & Deleted in remote but still exist in local).**

git branch -vv | Select-String ": gone\]"

Delete Stale Local Branches That Had Their Remote Deleted.**

git fetch -p && git branch -vv | Select-String ': gone]' | ForEach-Object { $_.ToString().Trim().Split()[0] } | ForEach-Object { git branch -D $_ }

Miscellaneous

• git archive --format=zip --output=<file.zip> <tree-ish>: Create an archive of files from a named tree.
• git shortlog -sn: Summarize commit activity by author.
• git gc: Cleanup unnecessary files and optimize the local repository.
• git fsck: Verify the connectivity and validity of objects in the database.
• git worktree add <path> <branch>: Create a new working tree linked to a branch.
• git bundle create <file> <revision>: Create a bundle file from specified revisions.
• git bundle verify <file>: Verify the integrity of a bundle file.
• git bundle unbundle <file>: Extract a bundle into a repository.
• git rm --cached -r <file/folder>: Removes Git tracking without deleting files from local machine which prevents Git from tracking future changes if it’s added to .gitignore.(Ex: most useful for deleting .env when you accidentally push it to remote)

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Contributors & Credits

Note

Add yourself, your links you have used, or even your blogs if you have some or is an author

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Contributors

A list of individuals who have contributed to this project.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 View Contributors

🧑‍💻 Credits & Authors

Acknowledgment of the original authors.

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📖 References & Resources

A collection of blogs, articles, and materials used to learn more about Git.

📖 View References & Resources

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