Git has a lot of bells and whistles, some of which I find myself recommending to people often.
To save myself some time, I compiled a list of some of my favourite commands and options.
Take a look around, you might find something useful.
Content:
- Aliases (git config)
- Patch mode (git add)
- Interactive mode (git rebase)
- git reflog
- Searching with git log
- git bisect
Aliases (git config)#
You can configure aliases for commands in git, allowing you to do more with fewer keystrokes:
git config alias.<shortname> "<command>"
In the following example, I configure st to be an alias for status.
$ git config --global alias.st "status"
$ git st
On branch main
Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'.
nothing to commit, working tree clean
My personal favourite is my alias for a pretty log:
git config --global alias.graph "log --graph --pretty=tformat:'%C(bold blue)%h%Creset %s %C(bold green)%d%Creset %C(blue)<%an>%Creset %C(dim cyan)%cr' --abbrev-commit --decorate"
Netting me the following with little effort:
Patch mode (git add)#
Patch mode allows you to stage changes interactively, allowing for fine-grained control over what goes into your commit.
git add -p <paths>
In the following example, I have two changes. I stage the former, but choose not to stage the latter.
$ git add -p .
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a5af44b..fbce946 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@
-Tagging a version makes deploys it to the production environment <https://verifa.io>
+Tagging a version deploys it to the production environment <https://verifa.io>
(1/2) Stage this hunk [y,n,q,a,d,e,?]? y
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a5af44b..fbce946 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@
+ TODO: add a section on local testing here
+
(2/2) Stage this hunk [y,n,q,a,d,e,?]? n
I love patch mode for two reasons; it allows me to stage on a finer granularity than all changes in a file, and it’s great for reviewing what I’m actually committing. It allows me to craft clean atomic commits, and keeps those debug printouts I forgot to clean up out of my commits.
Interactive mode (git rebase)#
Interactive rebase is a powerful tool for rewriting local history.
git rebase -i <target>
In the following example, I rebase my my-feature branch onto main.
git switch my-feature
git rebase -i main
My text editor pops up, asking me what I wish to do with the commits. Here’s what I asked git to do for me:
# Argh, typos! Please let me rewrite the commit message
reword aa82449 Updaet order interfce
# Hmm, let's just add these small changes to the previous commit
fixup a32c293 small tweak to interface change
# Uhh, I don't need this commit anymore, drop it.
drop fc560aa add some debug printout
# This commit's fine as is.
pick a3c6428 Update Order interface documentation
After closing my editor, git does what I specified, netting me a clean history:
* 0b4c83e Update Order interface documentation (HEAD -> my-feature)
* d3f750e Update Order interface
* d3c7e07 Fix off-by-one in item paging (main, tag: v0.2.4)
I find interactive rebase to be an amazing tool for tidying up local changes before pushing them upstream.
It’s without a doubt one of my favourite tools in the git arsenal.
git reflog#
Reflog lists the local history and movements of a ref (branch/HEAD/etc.)
git reflog <ref>
In the following example, you see the short history of where my HEAD’s been, including the commands that moved it:shows you
$ git reflog HEAD
4c89d17 (HEAD) HEAD@{0}: commit: Add Service and Project to Request OpenAPI schema
34fd162 HEAD@{1}: commit: Move logout to NavBar
23e58c7 HEAD@{2}: commit: Vaporize dead code
e50695b HEAD@{3}: pull -r: Fast-forward
cc4c5fd HEAD@{4}: commit: Started work on request form generation
d6e9edb HEAD@{5}: pull -r: Fast-forward
888fcb5 HEAD@{6}: commit: Donut session - Start working on request form
fe65c7e HEAD@{7}: clone: from github.com:verifa/coastline
reflog is an invaluable tool when troubleshooting a colleague or student’s git issues. It lets me see what they actually did to get tangled up, rather than what they remember they did.
Searching with git log#
Git log has some powerful search options, helping you track down changes.
git log -S <pattern>git log -G <regex>
In the example below, I look for any commits with changes including filterPosts, netting me three commits:
$ git log --oneline -S filterPosts
75b9ce3 Upgrade SvelteKit with major design overhaul
79169d2 Cleanup of posts logic and fix missing related blogs
207461e Create single endpoint for all post types
The -G option functions in the same way, but matches regular expressions instead of a plain string. Note that these are just options to log, you can combine them with others as you wish.
git bisect#
Git bisect facilitates searching through your history for the commit that introduced a bug.
git bisect <subcommand> <options>
When using bisect, you mark two commits as start- and endpoints. Git will then perform a binary search through your history, checking out commits as it goes. All you do is check if the bug is present or not, then mark the commit as good or bad, until git pinpoints the commit that introduced the problem.
In the below example, I supply git bisect run with a script that tests if the bug is present. This automates the testing process, quickly netting me the culprit:
$ git bisect start # start a new bisect run
$ git bisect bad HEAD # current commit is BAD
$ git bisect good 0.1.0 # bug wasn't present in 0.1.0, it was GOOD
Bisecting: 8 revisions left to test after this (roughly 3 steps)
[7423a9476e708d766c8373c434951a0d74b76810] Added image caption checking
$ git bisect run ../test-filters.sh
running ../test-filters.sh
Bisecting: 4 revisions left to test after this (roughly 2 steps)
[ab5d5a375ca8edf3d24f2c1be6ca36990feb0cb3] Small fix to post filtering
running ../test-filters.sh
Bisecting: 1 revision left to test after this (roughly 1 step)
[c4405540d56f16699d32baf791ede0ab3d23a1b8] Update K8S + Vault blog
running ../test-filters.sh
Bisecting: 0 revisions left to test after this (roughly 0 steps)
[125f83d85742c93d2b34f3574ccdefdfc5c612f6] Update main page styling
running ../test-filters.sh
db5d5a375ca8edf3d24f2c1be6ca36990feb0cb3 is the first bad commit
commit ab5d5a375ca8edf3d24f2c1be6ca36990feb0cb3
Author: grinch bugsly <gbugsly@verifa.io>
Date: Wed Nov 20 09:58:45 2022 +0200
Improve sorting after post filtering
src/lib/posts.ts | 4 +-
1 file changed, 2 insertion(+), 2 deletion(-)
I absolutely love bisect, but almost never get a chance to use it. Still, it’s a nice tool to have in your back pocket .
Far from the end#
Git has a truly enormous amount of interesting features, and while the bells and whistles listed above might be some of my favourites, there’s plenty more that went unmentioned.
Why not run git help -a and explore some commands yourself?
