Essential Git Commands Cheat Sheet for Version Control

1. Git diff operations

Show differences between the working directory and the index (staging area) git diff Show differences between the index and the latest commit (HEAD) git diff --cached Show differences among working directory, index, and the latest commit git diff HEAD Show file changes between any two commits

git diff <commit-id-1> <commit-id-2>

2. Git branch management

List local branches with upstream tracking information git branch -vv List all remote branches git branch -r List both local and remote branches git branch -a Show the relationship between a local branch and its remote counterpart git remote show origin Delete a local branch git branch -d <local-branch-name> Create and switch to a new local branch git checkout -b <branch-name> Rename a local branch git branch -m <new-branch-name> Switch back to the previous branch git checkout - Cherry‑pick a commit onto another branch

git checkout <target-branch> && git cherry-pick <commit-id>

Delete a remote branch

git push origin --delete <remote-branch-name>

Prune stale remote‑tracking branches git remote prune origin Set upstream for a local branch

git branch -u origin/<branch-name>

3. Git file handling

List all tracked files (including their status flags) git ls-files -t List all untracked files git ls-files --others Show ignored files

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

Force‑delete a specific untracked file git clean -f <file-name> Force‑delete all untracked files and directories git clean -df Remove only files ignored by .gitignore git clean -X -f Recover a deleted file

# Find the commit that removed the file
git rev-list -n 1 HEAD -- <path/to/file>
# Checkout the file from the commit before the deletion
git checkout <deleting-commit>^ -- <path/to/file>

4. Git remote repository operations

List all configured remotes git remote Change the URL of an existing remote git remote set-url origin <new-url> Add a new remote

git remote add origin <remote-url>

5. Git stash operations

Save current changes without committing git stash Include untracked files in the stash git stash -u List all stash entries git stash list Apply a specific stash without dropping it git stash apply <stash@{n}> Apply the latest stash and drop it git stash pop Delete all stash entries git stash clear Extract a single file from a stash

git checkout <stash@{n}> -- <file-path>

6. Git proxy configuration

Configure SSH proxy (e.g., via Shadowsocks SOCKS5)

# ~/.ssh/config
Host gitlab.com
  ProxyCommand nc -X 5 -x 127.0.0.1:1080 %h %p
Host github.com
  ProxyCommand nc -X 5 -x 127.0.0.1:1080 %h %p

Configure global HTTP and SOCKS proxies

git config --global socks.proxy '127.0.0.1:1080'
git config --global http.proxy 'http://127.0.0.1:8001'
git config --global https.proxy 'http://127.0.0.1:8001'

7. Advanced Git operations

Create a bundle from a branch (useful for offline transfer)

git bundle create <bundle-file> <branch-name>

Clone a bundle as a new repository and check out a specific branch

git clone <bundle-file> <repo-dir> -b <branch-name>

Amend the most recent commit (e.g., to edit the commit message or add staged changes) git commit --amend Show line‑by‑line attribution for a file git blame <file-name> Reset to a specific commit

Mixed (default) – resets HEAD and index, leaves working tree untouched: git reset <commit-id> Soft – moves HEAD only, keeping index and working tree as‑is: git reset --soft <commit-id> Hard – resets HEAD, index, and working tree to the given commit: git reset --hard <commit-id> Force local repository to match a remote branch

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

Delete the entire commit history (useful for starting a fresh history) git update-ref -d HEAD Find commits that deleted a specific file

git log --diff-filter=D --summary | grep delete
# For a precise path use:
git log --diff-filter=D -- <path/to/file>

8. GitHub RSS feed URLs

Repository releases: https://github.com/:owner/:repo/releases.atom Repository commits: https://github.com/:owner/:repo/commits.atom Private feed (requires a personal token): https://github.com/:user.private.atom?token=:secret Repository tags: https://github.com/:user/:repo/tags.atom User activity:

https://github.com/:user.atom