- In an empty folder, open the terminal and clone the github repo
git clone [repo url]
- Change directory (cd) to the repo folder
cd [repo name]
- Get all updates from the remote repository
git fetch
- Create a local branch that tracks an existing remote branch
git checkout [branch name]
- Now you are ready to contribute!
See which branch you’re currently on
git branch
Switch to another branch
git switch [branch name]
See if you have anything in the staging area and check if your current branch is up to date with the remote branch
git status
Always run git fetch first in case the remote branch was updated recently
Track an existing remote branch
git branch -u origin/[branch name]
Fetch updates from remote and merge updates into the current branch
git pull
If git tells you your branch can be "fast forwarded" when you git pull, then no merge commit will be created on your local branch.
If your branch cannot be fast forwarded, that means the remote branch was updated since the last time you made a commit on your local branch. Without fast forwarding, a merge commit will be created with all the changes from the remote branch.
Tell git to only execute the merge step of "git pull" if fast forwarding is possible. If fast forwarding is not possible, then you will have to run "git merge" separately. This prevents any unintentional merge commits.
git config --global pull.ff only
Fetch updates from remote and rebase updates into the current branch
git pull --rebase
Rebasing takes your local branch and moves it ahead of updates from the remote branch, making it appear as if the commits
in the remote branch happened first. This is useful when "git pull" cannot be fast forwarded, and you want to avoid unnecessary merge commits in your branch history.
Don't rebase a remote branch because it alters the remote branch history. Only rebase local branches.
Just merge the current branch with the one you declare
git merge [branch name]
Just rebase the current branch with the one you declare
git rebase [branch name]
View the commit history of the current branch
git log --oneline
Create a local branch (when a remote branch doesn’t exist for it yet)
git checkout -b [branch name]
Add files that have been edited to the staging area
git add -A (all files)
git add [filename] (a specific file)
Commit changes that are in the staging area to the current branch
git commit -m “[your commit message]”
Push commits made to the current branch to an existing remote branch
git push
Push a local branch to the remote repo and create a corresponding remote branch
git push -u origin [branch name]
Remove files from the staging area
git reset
Remove files from the staging area and revert uncommitted changes to those files
git reset --hard
Reset the branch to the given commit and revert changed files
git reset --hard [commit id]
Undo the last commit and revert changed files
git reset --hard HEAD^
Reset the branch to the given commit and place changed files in the staging area
git reset --soft [commit id]
Undo the last commit and place changed files in the staging area
git reset --soft HEAD^
Completely replace the current branch with the latest version of the remote branch
git reset --hard origin/[branch name]
Add files to your previous commit or simply change your previous commit message
git commit --amend -m "[New commit message]"
Add files to your previous commit without changing your previous commit message
git commit --amend --no-edit
Don't alter commits that have already been pushed to the remote. This alters the remote branch history.
Save all file changes to a stash that you can access later
git stash
This is useful when you want to switch to another branch, but you have uncommitted changes you don't want to lose
Save the stash with a name
git stash push -m "[name]"
View your stashes
git stash list
Apply file changes from a specific stash
git stash pop [stash index]
Delete a specific stash
git stash drop [stash index]
Delete all your stashes
git stash clear
The easiest way to make a PR is on github. “A pull request is a proposal to merge a set of changes from one branch into another” (github docs). Make sure the correct branch is being merged into the other one. You can see the two merging branches in the top left corner.