| Command |
Shows |
git status -sb |
Short status with the branch and its ahead/behind count. |
git log --oneline --graph --all |
The whole history as a compact graph. |
git show <commit> |
Message and diff of one commit. |
git diff |
Unstaged changes. |
git diff --staged |
Staged changes, i.e. what the next commit contains. |
git diff main..feature |
Difference between two branches. |
git diff --name-status main..feature |
Only the changed file names and their status. |
git log -p -- <file> |
Every change to one file. |
git blame <file> |
Which commit last changed each line. |
Which command you need depends on how far the change has traveled:
flowchart TB
q1(["committed?"])
q1 -->|no, only edited| restore["git restore <file>"]
q1 -->|no, but staged| unstage["git restore<br/>--staged <file>"]
q1 -->|yes| q2(["pushed?"])
q2 -->|no| reset["git reset <commit><br/>git commit --amend"]
q2 -->|yes| revert["git revert <commit>"]
git revert adds a new commit that undoes an old one, so it’s safe on shared branches. git reset moves the branch
pointer back and drops the commits after it from the branch:
git reset mode |
Branch pointer |
Index |
Working tree |
Use case |
--soft |
moved |
kept |
kept |
Combine the last commits into one. |
--mixed (default) |
moved |
reset |
kept |
Undo commits but keep the changes unstaged. |
--hard |
moved |
reset |
reset |
Throw everything away. |
| Task |
Command |
| Fix the message or content of the last commit |
git commit --amend |
| Make the branch identical to the remote |
git fetch origin && git reset --hard origin/main |
| Park unfinished work |
git stash, later git stash pop |
| Take a single commit from another branch |
git cherry-pick <commit> |
| Delete untracked files (preview first) |
git clean -n, then git clean -fd |
| Find the commit that introduced a bug |
git bisect start, git bisect bad, git bisect good <commit> |
Make another branch the new main |
git switch main && git reset --hard feature, then git push --force-with-lease |
