CheatSheetsHero

Catalog / Version Control Cheatsheet

Version Control Cheatsheet

A comprehensive cheat sheet covering essential version control concepts, commands, and workflows with Git.

Git Basics

Core Concepts

Repository: A directory containing project files and a .git subdirectory that stores the repository’s metadata, object database, and configuration.

Working Directory: The directory on your file system containing the actual files you are working on. This is where you make changes.

Staging Area (Index): A file that stores information about the changes you want to include in your next commit. Use git add to stage changes.

Commit: A snapshot of your repository at a specific point in time. Commits have a unique ID (SHA-1 hash).

Branch: A movable pointer to a commit. Branches allow you to work on different features or fixes without affecting the main codebase.

Remote: A repository hosted on another computer or server. Used for collaboration and backups.

Basic Commands

git init

Initializes a new Git repository in the current directory.

git clone <repository_url>

Clones a remote repository to your local machine.

git status

Displays the status of the working directory and staging area.

git add <file>

Adds a file to the staging area.

git commit -m "<message>"

Commits the staged changes with a descriptive message.

git log

Shows the commit history of the repository.

Branching and Merging

Branch Management

git branch

Lists all local branches. The current branch is marked with an asterisk (*).

git branch <branch_name>

Creates a new branch with the specified name.

git checkout <branch_name>

Switches to the specified branch.

git checkout -b <branch_name>

Creates a new branch and switches to it.

git branch -d <branch_name>

Deletes the specified branch (if it has been merged).

git branch -D <branch_name>

Force deletes the specified branch (even if it hasn’t been merged).

Merging Branches

git merge <branch_name>

Merges the specified branch into the current branch.

git mergetool

Opens a merge tool to resolve conflicts manually.

git commit

After resolving conflicts, commit the merge.

git merge --abort

Aborts the merge process and returns to the state before the merge.

Rebasing

Rebasing is an alternative to merging that integrates changes from one branch into another by moving or combining a sequence of commits to a new base commit.

git rebase <branch_name> - Rebase the current branch onto <branch_name>.

After resolving conflicts, use git rebase --continue to proceed.

Use git rebase --abort to stop rebasing process.

Remote Repositories

Working with Remotes

git remote add <name> <url>

Adds a remote repository with a specified name and URL.

git remote -v

Lists all remote repositories with their URLs.

git remote remove <name>

Removes the remote repository with the specified name.

git fetch <remote>

Fetches the latest changes from the remote repository without merging them.

git pull <remote> <branch>

Fetches and merges changes from a remote branch into the current branch.

git push <remote> <branch>

Pushes local commits to the remote branch.

Collaboration Workflow

  1. Clone the repository: git clone <repository_url>
  1. Create a branch for your changes: git checkout -b <feature_branch>
  1. Make changes and commit them locally: git add ., git commit -m "<descriptive_message>"
  1. Push your branch to the remote repository: git push origin <feature_branch>
  1. Create a pull request on the remote repository.
  1. After review and approval, your changes will be merged.

Advanced Git

Stashing

git stash

Temporarily saves changes that you don’t want to commit immediately.

git stash list

Lists all stashed changesets.

git stash apply

Applies the most recent stashed changes.

git stash apply stash@{2}

Applies a specific stashed changeset (e.g., the third one).

git stash drop

Removes the most recent stashed changes.

git stash pop

Applies and removes the most recent stashed changes.

Rewriting History

Warning: Rewriting history can cause issues if you’re collaborating with others. Use with caution.

git commit --amend - Modify the last commit (e.g., to fix the commit message or add staged changes).

git rebase -i <commit> - Interactive rebase, allows you to edit, reorder, or squash commits.

Ignoring Files

.gitignore

A file that specifies intentionally untracked files that Git should ignore.

Example

*.log - Ignores all files with the .log extension.
/temp/ - Ignores the temp directory at the root of the repository.
Download PDF