35+ Git Commands List Every Programmer Should Know

In this article, I will talk about the Git Commands that you will be using often when you are working with Git.

Abhimanyu Singh Rathore
By Abhimanyu Singh Rathore
February 17, 2021
2 min read

Git is an important part of daily programming and is commonly used in the software industry. Since you can use a lot of different commands, mastering Git needs time. But some commands are more commonly used. So I'm going to share the most useful Git commands in this post that every developer should know.

But first you need to know the fundamentals of Git to understand this article.

Useful Git Commands List

Command Description
git init Initialize a local Git repository
git clone repo_url Clone public repository
git clone ssh://[email protected]/[username]/[repository-name].git Clone private repository
git status Check status
git add [file-name] Add a file to the staging area
git add -A Add all new and changed files to the staging area
git commit -m "[commit message]" Commit changes
git rm -r [file-name.txt] Remove a file (or folder)
git branch List of branches (the asterisk denotes the current branch)
git branch -a List all branches (local and remote)
git branch [branch name] Create a new branch
git branch -d [branch name] Delete a branch
git branch -D [branch name] Delete a branch forcefully
git push origin --delete [branch name] Delete a remote branch
git checkout -b [branch name] Create a new branch and switch to it
git checkout -b [branch name] origin/[branch name] Clone a remote branch and switch to it
git branch -m [old branch name] [new branch name] Rename a local branch
git checkout [branch name] Switch to a branch
git checkout - Switch to the branch last checked out
git checkout -- [file-name.txt] Discard changes to a file
git merge [branch name] Merge a branch into the active branch
git merge [source branch] [target branch] Merge a branch into a target branch
git stash Stash changes in a dirty working directory
git stash clear Remove all stashed entries
git push origin [branch name] Push a branch to your remote repository
git push -u origin [branch name] Push changes to remote repository (and remember the branch)
git push Push changes to remote repository (remembered branch)
git push origin --delete [branch name] Delete a remote branch
git pull Update local repository to the newest commit
git pull origin [branch name] Pull changes from remote repository
git remote add origin ssh://[email protected]/[username]/[repository-name].git Add a remote repository
git remote set-url origin ssh://[email protected]/[username]/[repository-name].git Set a repository's origin branch to SSH
git log View changes
git log --summary View changes (detailed)
git log --oneline View changes (briefly)
git diff [source branch] [target branch] Preview changes before merging
git revert commitid Revert commit changes
git config --global user.name "your_username" Set globally Username
git config --global user.email "[email protected]" Set globally Email id
git config --global --list Get global config

So these are the most helpful git commands I find in my everyday programming. There are several more things to learn about Git, I will explain them in a separate post.

Abhimanyu Singh Rathore

Written by Abhimanyu Singh Rathore

He is a fun-loving technocrat, artist, photographer, nature lover, leisure traveler, and developer. He actively develops full-stack apps and programs in Go and various JavaScript frameworks and libraries, especially React.

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