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GIT Commands

Installing git​

Check if GIT is available

git --version

For ubuntu install git using command

sudo apt install git

Authentication Token​

Git doesnot allow using password on command line, insted we need a tocken. Generate one by going to Settings > Developer Settings > Fine Grained Token

Choose Administrator & Compose with read & write permission when generating token.

Store Token​

To store the token for repated use there are two options

  1. Temporary Caching: To temporarily cache your token (e.g., for a set duration like 15 minutes by default), you would use the cache helper:
git config --global credential.helper cache

You can specify a custom timeout in seconds:

git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=86400' # Caches for 24 hours
  1. Permanent Storage: For permanent storage, the store helper can be used. This writes your credentials, including the token, to a plaintext file named .git-credentials in your home directory ($HOME/.git-credentials).
git config --global credential.helper store

Token will be stored once you do a sucesfull transaction with GIT (e.g. clone, push etc.)

Clone Remote Repo​

To clone a remote repo, move to the desired folder to clone into, then

git clone https://github.com/prashant3285/<repo_name>.git

Check Changes​

After working on the files to view the changes inside the files

git diff

or to just view the files which were changed

git diff --name-only

If above commands are not showing the changes then check the status of your repo using

git status

Stage Changes​

To stage the changes for commiting use (all change will be stages)

git add .

for specific file changes you can use

git add filename.txt

Check Stages Changes​

Once changes are stage you can check the staged changes as

git diff --cached

or to just view the staged files which were changed

git diff -cached --name-only

Commiting Change to Remote​

To commit changes to the remote repo

git commit -m "Your commit message here"

Pushing the Commit​

To push the changes / commits to remote repositiory

git push origin main

where origin is your direcotry and man is the branch in which you want to push

If you just committed and want to see what files were part of that commit

git show --name-only HEAD

Undo Commit​

If you already committed but want to roll back while keeping your changes in the working directory

git reset --soft HEAD~1

This removes the last commit but keeps all changes staged.

If you want them unstaged (just in your working directory)

git reset --mixed HEAD~1

Undo Changes to Local Repo​

This removes modifications that haven’t been staged

git restore .

If you’ve already staged files with git add but haven’t committed yet

git reset

To completely wipe all local changes and reset to the last commit

git reset --hard HEAD

If you also want to delete files that aren’t tracked by Git

git clean -fd
  • -f = force deletion
  • -d = include directories

Publish New Local Repo​

Navigate to your project folder and then

git init

Then add files and commit - see commands above

For quick creation

git init && git add . && git commit -m "Initial commit"

If you want to push this local repo to GitHub remote repos which is already created

git remote add origin https://github.com/username/repo-name.git
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main