Wade Zimmerman

Posted on Sep 17, 2022 • Edited on Oct 29, 2022 • Originally published at devmap.org

The Git Commands I Use Every Day

#git #beginners #programming #javascript

1. Get all latest changes without merging

Stop pulling code that you think will break! Having fetch in your workflow allows you to grab updated code without immediately merging it. Once the code is fetched, you can check it out like any other branch. When you're satisfied, then you can merge.

git fetch --all
# git checkout upstream/some-branch

2. Push upstream regardless of current branch name

Stop typing the branch names especially when they are long branch names. Just tell git you want to push the current branch to a remote location. HEAD is a key word that tells git to use the current branch.

git push production head
# git push origin head
# git push github head

3. Label your stash

This is useful if you stash a lot of code and you want to remember what the stash contains at a glance.

git stash save -m "my work in progress"

4. Use a stash from ages ago

Stop undoing stashes with git pop to get to an old stash. You can apply a stash that you created ages ago by using the following command.

# git stash list
git stash apply 3

5. Checkout the previous branch

This is super helpful when you are working on small features and you want to compare behavior/performance by toggling branches. You don't have to type the names, just use the minus sign.

git checkout -

I like this command so much that I made a quick YouTube shorts video showing it off!

6. Change the base of the branch after doing a checkout

This is useful if you created a new branch but you based it off the wrong branch. For example, say you wanted to branch from the beta code, but you accidentally branched using the production code.

git rebase --onto beta production feature
# git rebase newBase oldBase currentBranch

7. Move uncommitted changes to new/existing branch

git switch -c new-branch
# git switch existing-branch

Bonus - Fuzzy Checkout

This custom command allows you to quickly switch to another branch without typing the entire name. This is super useful when you are using a naming convention and you are tired of typing a prefix like feature/ or issue/

function fc() {
    gco "$(git branch --format='%(refname:short)' | grep $1)"
}

If your branch name was called feature/dropdown-select-color you could quickly switch branches by doing something like this.

fc dropdown

Top comments (32)

José Pablo Ramírez Vargas • Sep 18 '22

Call me crazy, but I have never, EVER, had to type a single git command. I use Visual Studio Code with the Git Graph extension. It does everything for me without having to invest brain cells in learning a bunch of CLI commands.

Wade Zimmerman • Sep 18 '22

It's worth it because then you can pretend to be a hacker!

Jesse Phillips • Sep 19 '22

The issue I have had is that people don't know how to use their UI. This is true with command line as well, but then we would at least be in the same environment.

If we used the same GUI then that would be the same. But I find every GUI to be dangerous. They try their best to help but always make it easy to throw out unsaved changes (git hates doing this).

I have not found a git GUI where I don't need to spend mental energy getting the GUI to do what I want.

Mark Roeling • Sep 21 '22

But I find every GUI to be dangerous.
I almost agree. I find most git GUI too dangerous. I use GitCola for basic things, I but almost always fall back to the good old cli.

Btw, new command learned! git switch -c new-branch
I normally run git stash ; git checkout -b new-branch ; git stash pop to achieve the same result.

Jesse Phillips • Sep 21 '22 • Edited

But switch -c and checkout -b are the same. They both require stash if git needs to update a modified file.

Valentin Nechayev • Sep 18 '22

Does it allow interactive rebase? Rebase onto another branch? Bisecting?
Pushing of a specific revision (not head)?
(I mention only actions I have to do regularly)

José Pablo Ramírez Vargas • Sep 18 '22

Rebase for sure but don't ask me. Install it and see for yourself. If it suits you then great.

૮༼⚆︿⚆༽つ • Sep 19 '22

lol

Madalin Ignisca • Sep 19 '22

So you depend on many others for minimal needed git things for CI/CD?

José Pablo Ramírez Vargas • Sep 19 '22

I have my minions for CI/CD, yes. I focus on programming, and then I let them lift that part for me. :-)

Ivan Karabadzhak • Sep 21 '22

I work inside IDE, but use console for git just for fun.

If I should make some complex merge, then I prefer to use some GUI to be sure everything is going OK.

PNS11 • Sep 26 '22

So you're not the go-to guy when things break in unexpected ways in your workplace.

José Pablo Ramírez Vargas • Sep 26 '22

Git-related? Usually not. But then again, under my eagle eye things don't break. :-)

Tahsin Ahmed • Sep 19 '22

I use that too but being old school have it's own level of satisfaction :P Cheers

Dan Jones • Sep 22 '22

I would encourage you to add that last function as a git alias, rather than a command in your .bashrc.

Something like:

git config --global alias.fc 'f(){git checkout "$(git branch --format="%(refname:short)" | grep $1)";}; f'

Then, you call it with git fc dropdown. Sure, it's more characters to type, but it enforces mentally that it's a git command that you're running, and, if you ever switch shells, you don't have to move that over.

spO0q • Sep 17 '22

you can also type git push -u origin HEAD for the upstream.

Wade Zimmerman • Sep 17 '22 • Edited

Yeah definitely use the -u or --set-upstream flag if you use git pull in your workflow otherwise you'll have to type git pull origin <branch>.

I don't use pull though

Valentin D. • Oct 26 '22

I'm sorry, maybe I'm missing something. But why do need to type git push production head if you can just do git push? It will push your current branch to it's remote.