Master Git Branch Management: Essential Commands and Best Practices

Branch Management Diagram

Basic Operations

git pull                     # pull default master branch
git pull origin master       # pull specified branch

git add .                    # add all files in current directory
git add *                    # add all files in repository
git add dirname test.php hello.txt   # add specific files or directories

git commit -m 'comment'      # commit with message

git push                     # push to remote repository

git checkout .              # discard all local changes
git checkout test.php       # discard changes to test.php
git clean -fd               # remove untracked files and directories

git reset HEAD test.php     # unstage a file
git checkout test.php       # discard changes after unstaging

git reset --hard HEAD^      # revert to previous commit

git log                     # view commit history
# Example commit line:
# commit 4aa614980a3db998f3f6299f7c22e82f4e248e27
# Author: Gong Fuxiang <[email protected]>
# Date: Thu Aug 27 21:47:26 2015 +0800

git reset --hard d496317fc   # revert to specific commit (short hash ok)

git push origin master       # push reverted state to remote

File/Folder Management

git rm test.php                     # delete a file
git rm -r dirname                   # delete a directory and its contents
git mv test.php new_file_name.php   # rename a file
git commit -m 'file rename'         # commit rename
git push                            # push to remote

Branch Management

git branch develop                  # create a branch
git checkout develop               # switch to branch (shows * develop)
git checkout -b develop            # create and switch to new branch
git fetch origin test               # fetch remote branch without merging
git checkout test                  # switch to fetched branch
git branch                         # list local branches
git branch -a                      # list all branches (local + remote)
git branch -m develop new_name     # rename local branch
git push origin develop             # push local branch to remote
git branch -d develop              # delete local branch
git push origin --delete develop   # delete remote branch (Git < 1.7.0 use git push origin :develop)
git merge develop                  # merge specified branch into current

Tag Management

git tag v_0.0.1                     # create a tag
git log --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit   # view short commit IDs
# tag a specific commit:
git tag v_0.0.1 2663f5a

git tag                           # list all tags
git push origin v_0.0.1           # push a single tag
git push origin --tags            # push all tags

git tag -d v_0.0.1                # delete local tag
git push origin --delete tag v_0.0.1   # delete remote tag (Git < 1.7.0 use git push origin :refs/tags/v_0.0.1)

git fetch origin tag v_0.0.1      # fetch a specific remote tag

Stashing Changes

git stash                         # stash current changes
git stash list                    # list stash entries
git stash pop                     # apply latest stash and drop it
git stash apply                   # apply latest stash without dropping
git stash apply stash@{0}         # apply specific stash entry
git stash drop                    # delete the latest stash entry

Git Usage Guidelines

1. Create separate branches for different features; for multi‑developer work, push to the remote repository and develop collaboratively on the new branch.

2. Tag the code before merging branches to clearly mark version numbers.

3. Write detailed commit messages.

Source: 21CTO compiled from the web