Frequently used Git commands

The GitLab support team has collected these commands to help you. You may not need them frequently.

Remotes

Add another URL to a remote, so both remotes get updated on each push 

git remote set-url --add <remote_name> <remote_url>

Staging and reverting changes

Remove last commit and leave the changes in unstaged 

git reset --soft HEAD^

Unstage a certain number of commits from HEAD

To unstage 3 commits, for example, run:

git reset HEAD^3

Unstage changes to a certain file from HEAD 

git reset <filename>

Revert a file to HEAD state and remove changes

To revert changes to a file, you can use either:

  • git checkout <filename>
  • git reset --hard <filename>

Undo a previous commit by creating a new replacement commit 

git revert <commit-sha>

Create a new message for last commit 

git commit --amend

Create a new message for older commits

caution
Changing commit history can disrupt others’ work if they have cloned, forked, or have active branches. Only amend pushed commits if you’re sure it’s safe. To learn more, see Git rebase and force push.
git rebase -i HEAD~n

Replace n with the number of commits you want to go back.

This opens your text editor with a list of commits. In the editor, replace pick with reword for each commit you want to change the message:

reword 1fc6c95 original commit message
pick 6b2481b another commit message
pick 5c1291b another commit message

After saving and closing the file, you can update each message in a new editor window.

After updating your commits, you must push them to the repository. As this rewrites history, a force push is required. To prevent unintentional overwrites, use --force-with-lease:

git push --force-with-lease

Add a file to the last commit 

git add <filename>
git commit --amend

Append --no-edit to the commit command if you do not want to edit the commit message.

Stashing

Stash changes 

git stash save

The default behavior of stash is to save, so you can also use just:

git stash

Unstash your changes 

git stash apply

Discard your stashed changes 

git stash drop

Apply and drop your stashed changes 

git stash pop

Refs and Log

Use reflog to show the log of reference changes to HEAD 

git reflog

Check the Git history of a file

The basic command to check the Git history of a file:

git log <file>

If you get this error message:

fatal: ambiguous argument <file_name>: unknown revision or path not in the working tree.
Use '--' to separate paths from revisions, like this:

Use this to check the Git history of the file:

git log -- <file>

Check the content of each change to a file 

gitk <file>

Check the content of each change to a file, follows it past file renames 

gitk --follow <file>

Debugging

Use a custom SSH key for a Git command 

GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -i ~/.ssh/gitlabadmin" git <command>

Debug cloning

With SSH:

GIT_SSH_COMMAND="ssh -vvv" git clone <git@url>

With HTTPS:

GIT_TRACE_PACKET=1 GIT_TRACE=2 GIT_CURL_VERBOSE=1 git clone <url>

Debugging with Git embedded traces

Git includes a complete set of traces for debugging Git commands, for example:

  • GIT_TRACE_PERFORMANCE=1: enables tracing of performance data, showing how long each particular git invocation takes.
  • GIT_TRACE_SETUP=1: enables tracing of what git is discovering about the repository and environment it’s interacting with.
  • GIT_TRACE_PACKET=1: enables packet-level tracing for network operations.

Rebasing

Rebase your branch onto the default

The -i flag stands for ‘interactive’. Replace <default-branch> with the name of your default branch:

git rebase -i <default-branch>

Continue the rebase if paused 

git rebase --continue

Use git rerere

To reuse recorded solutions to the same problems when repeated:

git rerere

To enable rerere functionality:

git config --global rerere.enabled true