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Advanced Git Commands

Advanced Git Commands

Mark Lucernas
2020-07-29

Advanced Git Commands

Reset

Discarding recent changes in working tree or in current branch

  • git reset HEAD

Discarding changes from commit history

  • git reset --hard HEAD – discard all resent changes
  • git reset --hard HEAD^ – discard all changes up to last commit of local branch
  • git reset --hard HEAD~2 – discard all changes up to last 2 commit of local branch. the 2 can be changed to how far to remove changes and commits.

NOTE: --hard reset cannot be reversed and all the changes will be permanently deleted.

Uncommitting changes from commit history

  • git reset --soft HEAD^ – uncommit last commit of local repo

Uncommit and unstage changes from commit history

  • git reset --mixed HEAD^ – uncommit and unstage last commit of local repo

Ref:

Branch

Fetching all Git branches

for remote in `git branch -r`; do git branch --track ${remote#origin/} $remote; done
git fetch --all
git pull --all

Remove tracking branches no longer on remote (Method 1)

git checkout master
git remote prune origin
# List all branches merged into the current branch into vim buffer.
# Once loaded in vim, delete branches you want to exclude from branch deletion.
git branch --merged >/tmp/merged-branches && \
  vim /tmp/merged-branches && xargs git branch -d </tmp/merged-branches

NOTE: Both this method only removes merged branch and does not remove unmerged branch that exists in local but not from remote.

Remove tracking branches no longer on remote (Method 2)

git fetch -p && for branch in $(git branch -vv | grep ': gone]' | awk '{print $1}'); do git branch -D $branch; done
# Much safer way
git fetch -p && for branch in $(git for-each-ref --format '%(refname) %(upstream:track)' refs/heads | awk '$2 == "[gone]" {sub("refs/heads/", "", $1); print $1}'); do git branch -D $branch; done

NOTE: This removes both merge and unmerged branch. To only remove merged branch, replace git branch -D with git branch -d

Ref:

Fetch

Log all new fetched remote changes

# First make sure to
git fetch origin
# Then
git log origin/master ^master # Replace master with <branch-name> for other branch

Ref:

Remote/Upstream

Reconfigure URL of git in local repository

  • git remote set-url origin https://github.com/<repo-owner>/<repository>.git

There is no tracking information for the current branch

Solution 1:

  • git pull origin master

Solution 2: Set it up so that local master branch tracks github master branch as an upstream:

git branch --set-upstream-to=origin/master <current-branch>
git pull

Ref:

Merge

Manual interactive merging (with git add --interactive)

git merge --no-commit --no-ff <branch-to merge> # Merges with branch without committing
git reset HEAD                                  # Unstage all merge changes
git add --interactive                           # Add pieces interactively

Manual interactive merging (with git mergetool)

git merge --no-commit --no-ff <branch-to-merge> # Merges with branch without committing
git mergetool                                   # Resolve conflict manually with graphics

Other very manual way of merging

# Merges with branch without committing
git merge --no-commit --no-ff <branch-to-merge>

# Then you'll ask git for the file as it appeared in the two branches:
git show HEAD:filename >filename.HEAD
git show branch-to-merge:filename >filename.branch

# and their merge base,
git show `git merge-base HEAD <branch-to-merge>`:filename  >filename.base

# You'll merge them using whatever tool you want (e.g.)
meld filename.{HEAD,branch,base} # meld can be replaced by other diff tools

Ref:

Difftool

Use difftool to manually merge two branches with default terminal editor (preferably Vim or Neovim)

  • git difftool <branch-name>

While in Vim or Neovim with difftool, use dp for diffput or applying changes from current buffer to the next and do for diffget or getting the changes from the other buffer to the current buffer. ]c and [c to jump to next or previous diff conflict.

Ref:

Git-worktree

Manage multiple working trees attached to the same repository.

# Clone repository with `--bare` flag
git clone --bare <repository-url> [target]

# Add existing branch into worktree
git worktree add <branch>
# Remove a branch from worktree
git worktree remove <branch>
# Force remove a branch from worktree
git worktree remove --force <branch>

Ref:

Extras

Refering to previous commit in commit messages

Examples:

  • SHA: be6a8cc1c1ecfe9489fb51e4869af15a13fc2cd2
  • User@SHA ref: mojombo@be6a8cc1c1ecfe9489fb51e4869af15a13fc2cd2
  • User/Project@SHA: mojombo/god@be6a8cc1c1ecfe9489fb51e4869af15a13fc2cd2
  • #Num: #1
  • User/#Num: mojombo#1
  • User/Project#Num: mojombo/god#1

Ref:


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