Basic GIT Commands

Question 1

working directory

Answer 1

where you have a local copy of the git repository checked out

Question 2

staging area

Answer 2

where files are added before being committed

Question 3

git init

Answer 3

initializes a directory as a Git repository

Question 4

git clone [url]

Answer 4

copy a git repository so you can add to it

Question 5

git add [file]

Answer 5

adds a new file or new modifications of an existing file to the staging area

Question 6

git status -s

Answer 6

view the (short) status of your files in the working directory and staging area

Question 7

git diff

Answer 7

shows diff of unstaged changes

Question 8

git diff

Answer 8

cached

Question 9

git diff HEAD

Answer 9

show diff of all changes (staged or unstaged)

Question 10

git diff

Answer 10

stat

Question 11

git commit -m ‘message’

Answer 11

records a snapshot of the staging area (all those files and modifications that have been added to it)

Question 12

git commit -a

Answer 12

automatically stage all tracked, modified files before the commit

Question 13

git reset HEAD

Answer 13

[file]

Question 14

git branch

Answer 14

list your available branches

Question 15

git branch [branchname]

Answer 15

create a new branch

Question 16

git checkout [branchname]

Answer 16

switch to a new branch context

Question 17

git checkout -b [branchname]

Answer 17

create and immediately switch to a branch

Question 18

git branch -d [branchname]

Answer 18

delete a branch

Question 19

git merge [branchname]

Answer 19

merge a branch context into your current one

Question 20

git log

Answer 20

show commit history of a branch

Question 21

git tag -a [tag] [commit SHA]

Answer 21

tag a point (the current commit or the given commit) in history

Question 22

git remote

Answer 22

list your remote aliases

Question 23

git remote add [alias] [url]

Answer 23

add a new remote repository of your project

Question 24

git remote rm [alias]

Answer 24

removing an existing remote alias

Question 25

git fetch [alias]

Answer 25

synchronize your local repository with another repository

Question 26

git pull

Answer 26

git fetch; git merge

Question 27

git push [alias] [branch]

Answer 27

push your new branches and data to a remote repository

Question 28

git merge [alias]/[branch]

Answer 28

merge into your current branch anything new you see on the server

Question 29

git branch -v

Answer 29

Be a little more verbose and show remote url after name

Question 30

–dry-run

Answer 30

show what would be committed

Question 31

git commit –amend

Answer 31

amend previous commit

Question 32

git config –global

Answer 32

user.email “Eric.Zhuang@monitisegroup.com”

Question 33

git checkout .

Answer 33

This checks out the current index for the current directory, throwing away all changes in files from the current directory downwards.

Question 34

–soft

Answer 34

Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all, but requires them to be in a good order. This leaves all your changed files “Changes to be committed”, as git-status would put it.

Question 35

–hard

Answer 35

Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree since are lost.

Question 36

–mixed

Answer 36

Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files are preserved ut not marked for commit) and reports what has not been updated. This is the default ction.

Question 37

git reset HEAD@{1}

Answer 37

undo git reset HEAD~

Question 38

–amend

Answer 38

$ git reset –soft HEAD^
$ … do something else to come up with the right tree …
$ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD

Question 39

git reset –soft HEAD^

Answer 39

This is most often done when you remembered what you just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled
your commit message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before “reset”.

Question 40

git reset –hard HEAD~3

Answer 40

Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits

Question 41

The Git Index

Answer 41

The index is a binary file (generally kept in .git/index) containing a sorted list of path names, each with permissions and the SHA1 of a blob object

Question 42

git ls-files

Answer 42

git ls-files can show you the contents of the index