Quick Git Tips#

1. Switch Branches Without Losing Changes#

Problem: Switching branches with uncommitted changes.
Solution: Stash the changes and reapply them later:

git stash
git stash apply

For more information on stashing, see git's documentation on stashing.

2. View Commit History Across Branches#

Problem: Viewing a detailed log of commits and branches.
Solution: Git's log command comes with many options to visualize commit history in a pretty way:

git log --oneline --graph --decorate --all

In the handbook, we have a dedicated branch that handles the deployment of the website called gh-pages. To avoid seeing this branch in your git log, you can use the following command:

git log --exclude="*/gh-pages" --graph --oneline --all

For more information on the log command, see git's documentation on log.

3. Edit the Last Commit#

Problem: You committed changes but realize you forgot something.
Solution: Amend the last commit with:

git commit --amend

This doc by Atlassian does a great job explaining different ways to rewrite history in git.

For more information on git commits and their options, see git's documentation commits.

4. Check for Merge Conflicts#

Problem: Identifying conflicts before merging branches.
Solution: Use a dry-run merge to check for conflicts:

git merge --no-commit --no-ff <branch>

5. Simplify Commands with Aliases#

Problem: Repeatedly typing long Git commands.
Solution: Create shortcuts for common commands:

git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.st status

This allows you to shorten commands like git checkout to git co.

git co <branch>

You can even add common options to your aliases. For example, to always use the -m flag when committing, you can set up an alias like this:

git config --global alias.cm 'commit -m'

Now to write a commit message, you can use:

git cm "Your commit message here"

You can see all the aliases you have set up by running:

git config --global --get-regexp alias

7. Remove local branches that have been deleted remotely#

Problem: You or another lab member have deleted a branch on the remote repository, but it still shows up in your local repository.
Solution: Use the following command to remove local branches that have been deleted remotely:

git fetch --prune

This command will remove all local branches that have been deleted on the remote repository.