Github commands

This tutorial is about setting up a Github account to commit (via SSH) to an existing/new repository and common commands to handle that repository.

1. Setting up git

globally (recommended for one github account / OS user)

git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

locally (recommended for multiple github accounts / OS user)

git config --local user.email "[email protected]"
git config --local user.name "Your Name"

system (across the entire machine)

git config --system user.email "[email protected]"
git config --system user.name "Your Name"

2. Print the config

git config --list

3. Setting up Github SSH keys

Generate the keys

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

The path I setup was /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa_github. It generated 2 files: /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa_github and /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa_github.pub

Setting up the keys - method 1

a. Adding the key to ssh command in a local git repo

git config --local core.sshCommand "ssh -i /var/www/html/website/github.key"

Setting up the keys - method 2

a. Start the ssh-agent

eval $(ssh-agent -s)

b. Add the private key to ssh-agent

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_rsa_github

Note: add the content of your public key /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa_github.pub (without email) to Github SSH keys page

4. Clone a Github repository locally to a specific folder

git clone https://github.com/binarweb/repository-name.git destination-folder-name

with a specific identity

git clone --config core.sshCommand="ssh -i c:/Users/MyUser/.ssh/github_binarweb" [email protected]:binarweb/repository-name.git .

5. Clone a Github repository - latest commit only

git clone --depth=1 https://github.com/binarweb/repository-name.git

6. Start a new git repository and push it to Github

git init
git config --local user.email "[email protected]"
git config --local user.name "Your Name"
git config --local core.sshCommand "ssh -i /var/www/html/website/github.key"
git remote add origin [email protected]:binarweb/repository-name.git
git branch -M master
git add .
git commit -m 'initial commit'
git push -u origin master

7. Additional commits

If you work with SSH keys, you need to setup (once) the origin:

git remote set-url origin [email protected]:binarweb/repository-name.git

Then

git add .
stages the file

git commit -m 'additional commit'
commits the changes

git commit -m 'commit title' -m 'commit description'
commits with title and description (it doesn't support multiple description lines - see command below)

git commit
will open an editor where you can add title and description (see this)

git push -u origin master
push the commits to master branch

8. Amend the changes to previous commit

This command will merge the current change into the last commit (no other commit will be made) with an optional message change

git commit -a --amend

While this will merge the 2 commits, the commit hash changes.

9. Squash commits

Make sure the squash strategy is merge, by running:

git config pull.rebase false

Squash until a specific commit with:

git reset --soft ceb5ab28ca && git commit

After this, push the changes with:

git push --force

https://stackoverflow.com/a/77386103/9618184

10. Unstage files

After we have staged the files with git add ., we can unstage the files with

git rm --cached README

for a single file, or

git reset HEAD .
git reset HEAD README

for multiple/single files

11. Revert a file after it has been changed/deleted

git checkout README

this will revert the file from current revision, or

git checkout master~2 README

to revert the file from two revisions back from master branch

12. Update local repository with the changes from Github

git pull origin master

or with overwrite

git reset --hard HEAD
git pull origin master

13. See local files changes before the commit is made

git diff

14. View the last commit

simple (author, date, commit title, commit hash):

git log -1

with some details (simple + diff of files):

git show

15. Switch branches

git checkout dev

where dev is the branch you want to switch to

16. Reset the last n commits

git reset --hard HEAD~2
git push -f

HEAD~2 means the last 2 commits
Note: make sure you don't have remote commits before running git push -f command or else the remote changes will be permanently lost

17. List all commits

git log --reflog

18. List untracked changes and pending commits

git status

19. Commit only some files

Get a list of files you want to commit

git status

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

modified:   file1
modified:   file2
modified:   file3
modified:   file4

Add the files to staging

git add file1 file2

Check to see what you are committing

git status

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

    modified:   file1
    modified:   file2

Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

    modified:   file3
    modified:   file4

Commit the files with a commit message

git commit -m "Fixed files 1 and 2"

If you accidentally commit the wrong files

git reset --soft HEAD~1

will delete the last commit, but you will not lose any file changes

If you want to unstage the files and start over

git reset

Unstaged changes after reset:
M file1
M file2
M file3
M file4

binarweb/Github commands.md