Master Uncommon Git Commands: From Basics to Advanced Rebase Techniques

Basic Commands

git clone [email protected]:username/repo.git

– clone a remote repository to the local machine.

git pull origin master

– fetch the remote master branch and merge it into the current branch.

git branch -a

– list all local and remote branches.

git checkout -b bugFix

– create a new branch named bugFix and switch to it (omit

-b

if the branch already exists).

git status

– show the current working tree status.

git add .

– stage all changes in the current directory.

git commit -m 'message'

– commit staged changes with a message.

git push

– push local commits to the remote branch.

git tag v1.0

– create a tag v1.0 on the current commit.

Advanced Commands

Merge vs Rebase

Git integrates changes from different branches mainly via merge or rebase . merge creates a special commit with two parents, preserving the full history, while rebase rewrites commits onto another base, producing a linear history.

<code>git checkout master; git merge bugFix</code>

After merging, a new commit (e.g.,

C4

) appears on

master

that contains all changes from both branches.

<code>git checkout bugFix; git rebase master</code>

Rebase copies the commits from

bugFix

onto the tip of

master

, resulting in a linear sequence of commits.

Extended Rebase Usage

git rebase targetBranch originBranch

– rebase

originBranch

onto

targetBranch

without switching branches.

git rebase -i commitid

– interactively edit, reorder, squash, or drop commits starting from the specified

commitid

.

Cherry‑Pick

git cherry-pick copies a specific commit from anywhere in the commit graph onto the current HEAD .

<code>git checkout master; git cherry-pick C2</code>

Reset vs Revert

git revert HEAD creates a new commit that undoes the changes of the specified commit, preserving history; git reset moves the branch pointer backward, discarding commits as if they never existed.

<code>git reset HEAD~1</code>

<code>git revert HEAD</code>

Using

reset

after a push can cause conflicts, whereas

revert

safely adds a compensating commit.

HEAD^n and HEAD~n

HEAD^ moves one parent up; HEAD~3 moves three commits back. These operators can be chained (e.g., HEAD^2~3 ).

<code>git branch -f master HEAD~3</code>

This forces

master

to point to the third ancestor of the current

HEAD

.

Conclusion

The guide summarizes several less‑common Git commands, encouraging regular practice so they become familiar tools for everyday development.