Some helpful resources:

Git Cheatsheet

A Visual Git Reference;

git - the simple guide;

Git has 3 places to store files: working dir, stage and history. The last commit in history is called "HEAD", all the older commits have their IDs. In the following texts, "a47c3" and "b325c" are both sample revision IDs, which can be get with git log --oneline.

Move Files

• Working dir -> Stage: git add -A for all files, git add -u for update, git add filename;

• Stage -> HEAD: git commit filename, git commit for all;

• HEAD -> Stage: git reset -- files, git reset or git reset -- . for all;

• Stage -> Working dir: git checkout -- files, git checkout -- . for all;

• HEAD -> ( Stage & Working dir ): git checkout HEAD -- files, git checkout HEAD do nothing;

• Working dir -> ( Stage & HEAD ): git commit filename, git commit -a for all;

Compare Files

• Working dir <-> Stage: git diff filename, git diff for all;

• Stage <-> HEAD: git diff --cached filename, git diff --cached for all;;

• HEAD <-> Working dir: git diff HEAD filename, git diff HEAD for all;

• Revision a47c3 <-> Working dir: git diff a47c3 filename, git diff a47c3 for all;

• Revision a47c3 <-> b325c: git diff a47c3 b325c filename, git diff a47c3 b325c for all;

• Revision X and its previous revision: git show a47c3, if X is HEAD: git show;

If comparing a specific file, always add '-- ' after the git command. For example, git show -- filename, git diff --cached -- filename.

Show file content

• Show file content of a specific commit: git show a47c3:filename;

Logs and Tags

• Print logs with tags and color highlights: git log --decorate;

• Print logs with files changed: git log --name-status;

• Print logs in one line for each: git log --oneline;

• Print logs with all information: git log --graph --decorate --name-status --all;

• Create a tag based on a commit: git tag 1.0 a47c3;

• Create a tag on HEAD: git tag 'Dell-E7450';

• List all tags: git tag;

• Show tag contents: git show Dell-E7450;

Useful Commands

git log -p --all -S 'search string': search a string in git history, see note "Search String Pattern in Git History" for details;

git add <files>: add files to stage area, use git rm --cached <file> to remove it from stage area (physical file remains);

git add -A: If you use "mv" instead of "git mv" to rename a file, you can use this command to apply this rename operation to stage area;

git checkout <commit>: make your working directory back to state ;

$ git checkout <branch-name>  // switch between branches

git checkout -- <file-name>: use in stage area replace its counterpart in working directory;

git checkout -- .: abandon all modifications in working directory. Don't forget the last dot. It means "all".

git clean -n: "dry run" mode, preview the removed files; git clean -f: remove all untracked files; git clean -f -d: remove all untracked files and directories;

git commit: commit all files in stage area;

git config: see section "git config" below. list all configs: git config --list;

git diff: compare file contents;

git init: initialize local repository;

git log --stat: list log with file changes;

git mv <old-file-name> <new-file-name>

git remote show origin: git equivalent of "svn info";

git reset --hard <commit>: go back to completely, both working directory and repository, the history is lost;

git reset: undo all "git add" commands, same with "git reset HEAD";

git reset -- <file-name>: only remove from stage area;

git rm:

git show <object>: show information of