Top 10 Most Commonly Used Git Commands¶
Here are the top 10 Git commands that you'll likely use right away. You already know most of these.
git add
Adds changes in the working directory to the staging area. It tells Git that you want to include updates to a particular file(s) in the next commit. However, git add doesn't affect the repository in any significant way—changes are not actually recorded until you run git commit.
Example: git add . (to add all changes) or git add filename.txt (to add a specific file)
git branch
Lists, creates, or deletes branches. It doesn't let you switch between branches or put a forked history back together. For that, you'll need git checkout or git merge.
Example: git branch (to list branches) or git branch new-branch (to create a new branch)
git checkout
Switches branches or restores working tree files. It is a way to select which line of development you’re working on.
Example: git checkout new-branch
git clone
Creates a copy of a target repository. This command is used to download the repository from an external source and initializes a new repository in the local environment, copying all the files, branches, and commits.
Example: git clone https://github.com/username/repository.git
git commit
Captures a snapshot of the project's currently staged changes. Commits can be considered as 'safe' versions of a project—Git will never change them unless you explicitly ask it to.
Example: git commit -m "Add feature X"
git init
Initializes a new Git repository and begins tracking an existing directory. It adds a hidden subfolder within the existing directory that houses the internal data structure required for version control.
Example: git init
git merge
Combines two branches together. git merge will take the changes from one branch (in the same repository or from a fork) and apply them into another. This often happens as a 'pull request' in GitHub, which can be done via the command line as well.
Example: git merge new-branch
git pull
Fetches the changes from the remote repository and merges them into the local repository. This command is a combination of git fetch and git merge, where git pull first updates the local remote-tracking branches, and then merges the changes from the remote main branch to your local branch.
Example: git pull origin main
git push
Updates the remote repository with any commits made on the local branch. If you're working on a shared repository, git push is how you transfer commits from your local repository to the remote repo.
Example: git push origin main
git status Displays the state of the working directory and the staging area. It lets you see which changes have been staged, which haven't, and which files aren't being tracked by Git.
Example: git status