Master the 20 Essential Git Commands Every Developer Needs

Basic Configuration Commands

1. Initialize Configuration

Configuring user information is the first step when using Git:

# Configure global username and email
git config --global user.name "FedJavaScript"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

# View configuration
git config --list

2. Repository Initialization

Create a new Git repository:

# Initialize a new repository
git init

# Clone a remote repository
git clone <repository-url>

Daily Workflow Commands

3. Status Check

View the current repository status in real time:

# Show working tree status
git status

# Show short status
git status -s

# Show branch information
git branch -v

4. Add and Commit

Basic version‑control operations:

# Add specific file to staging area
git add <file-name>

# Add all changes
git add .

# Commit to local repository
git commit -m "commit message"

# Add and commit together
git commit -am "commit message"

5. Branch Operations

Branch management is a core Git feature:

# Create a new branch
git branch <branch-name>

# Switch branch
git checkout <branch-name>

# Create and switch
git checkout -b <branch-name>

# Delete branch
git branch -d <branch-name>

Advanced Collaboration Commands

6. Remote Repository Operations

Interact with remote repositories:

# Add remote
git remote add origin <repository-url>

# List remotes
git remote -v

# Push to remote
git push origin <branch-name>

# Pull from remote
git pull origin <branch-name>

7. Merge and Rebase

Handle branch merging:

# Merge branch
git merge <branch-name>

# Rebase
git rebase <branch-name>

# Continue rebase after conflicts
git rebase --continue

8. Stash Operations

Temporarily save work progress:

# Save current work
git stash

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash
git stash pop

# Clear all stashes
git stash clear

Advanced Inspection Commands

9. Log Viewing

Inspect commit history:

# Show full log
git log

# One‑line log
git log --oneline

# Graphical log
git log --graph --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit

10. Diff Comparison

Compare file differences:

# Diff working tree vs index
git diff

# Diff staged vs last commit
git diff --staged

# Diff between two branches
git diff <branch1> <branch2>

Undo and Reset

11. Undo Operations

Correct mistaken actions:

# Discard changes in working tree
git checkout -- <file-name>

# Unstage a file
git reset HEAD <file-name>

# Revert a commit
git revert <commit-id>

12. Reset Operations

Reset versions:

Team Collaboration Advanced

13. Tag Management

Version tagging:

14. Submodules

Manage project dependencies:

15. Workflow Related

Configuration and Optimization

16. Alias Configuration

Shortcut commands to boost efficiency:

17. Ignoring Files

Manage files that should not be version‑controlled:

18. History Management

19. Remote Branch Management

20. Advanced Search

Daily Workflow

Update local code

git pull origin main

Create feature branch

git checkout -b feature/new-feature

Commit regularly

Push to remote

git push origin feature/new-feature

Commit Message Guidelines

Use conventional commit format:

# Feature development
feat: add new feature

# Bug fix
fix: resolve issue #123

# Documentation update
docs: update README.md

Branch Management Strategy

main/master: stable main branch

develop: development branch

feature/*: feature branches

hotfix/*: urgent fix branches

release/*: release branches

Feel free to add more.