Basic Git Commands: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners

Certainly! Below are some of the most commonly used basic Git commands, along with brief explanations of what they do:

Git Commands – Configuration

1. Configure Git with your name and email address

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"

Creating Repositories

2. Initialize a new Git repository

git init

This command creates a new Git repository in the current directory.

3. Clone an existing repository

git clone https://github.com/user/repo.git

This command copies an existing repository from a URL to your local machine.

Basic Snapshotting

4. Check the status of your files

git status

This command shows the status of changes as untracked, modified, or staged.

5. Add files to the staging area

git add <file> git add .

This command adds a file or all files (using .) to the staging area.

6. Commit changes

git commit -m "Commit message"

This command records the changes in the repository with a descriptive message.

7. View commit history

git log

This command shows the commit history for the repository.

Branching and Merging

8. Create a new branch

git branch <branch-name>

This command creates a new branch.

9. Switch to a branch

git checkout <branch-name>

This command switches to the specified branch.

10. Create and switch to a new branch

git checkout -b <branch-name>

This command creates a new branch and switches to it.

11. Merge a branch into the current branch

git merge <branch-name>

This command merges the specified branch into the current branch.

Remote Repositories

12. Add a remote repository

git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

This command adds a remote repository.

13. View remote repositories

git remote -v

This command lists remote repositories associated with the local repository.

14. Fetch changes from a remote repository

git fetch origin

This command fetches changes from the remote repository but does not merge them.

15. Pull changes from a remote repository

git pull origin <branch-name>

This command fetches and merges changes from the remote branch into the current branch.

16. Push changes to a remote repository

git push origin <branch-name>

This command pushes your local branch commits to the remote repository.

Undoing Changes

17. Remove files from the staging area

git reset <file>

This command removes a file from the staging area but keeps the file changes.

18. Undo the last commit

git revert <commit-id

This command creates a new commit that undoes the changes from a specified commit.

19. Revert all changes in the working directory to the last commit

git reset --hard HEAD

This command resets the index and working directory to the last commit’s state.

Additional Useful Commands

20. Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.

git diff

This command shows changes between commits, commit and working tree, etc.

21. Show commit history in a more compact format

git log --oneline

This command shows the commit history in a compact format.

22. Stash changes in a dirty working directory

git stash

This command stashes your local modifications to a new stash and reverts your working
directory to match the HEAD commit.

23. Apply stashed changes

git stash apply

This command applies the stashed changes back to the working directory.

By familiarizing yourself with these basic Git commands, you can effectively manage version control for your projects.