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Day to Day Usage of GIT

09 May 2025 - [ git  ]

Git Command Reference Guide

Basic Operations

Checking Status

# See current branch status
git status

# Short status with branch tracking info
git status -sb

Branch Management

# List all branches (local and remote)
git branch -a

# Search for specific branches
git branch -a | grep SEARCH-TERM

# Create and checkout a new branch
git checkout -b branch-name

# Starting a new feature branch
git checkout develop
git pull
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

Viewing History

# View commit history
git log

# View commit history in a compact form
git log --oneline

# See commits that exist in develop but not your feature branch
git log feature-branch..develop --oneline

Branch Comparison and Tracking

# See how many commits your branch is ahead/behind another branch
# Format: <behind> <ahead>
git rev-list --left-right --count branch1...branch2

# Count commits in branch2 that aren't in branch1
git rev-list --count branch1..branch2

# Check how far behind develop your branch is
git rev-list --count feature-branch..develop

Keeping Branches Updated

# Fetch all branches from remote
git fetch --all

# Prune stale remote-tracking branches
git remote prune origin

# Update your branch with changes from develop
git checkout your-branch
git merge develop

# Keeping your feature branch up to date
git checkout develop
git pull
git checkout feature/your-feature-name
git merge develop

Managing Changes

Discarding Changes

# Reset to last commit, discarding all uncommitted changes
git reset --hard HEAD
# ⚠️ WARNING: This permanently discards all uncommitted changes

# Safer alternative to reset
git stash           # Save changes temporarily
git reset --hard HEAD
git stash pop       # Recover changes later if needed

Stashing

# Stash all changes
git stash

# Stash specific files
git stash push <file1> <file2>
# Example: git stash push bin/setup_docker_locally.sh pipeline/helm/templates/configmap-env-file.yaml

# List all stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash
git stash pop

# Apply a specific stash
git stash apply stash@{n}
# Example: git stash apply stash@{0}

Advanced Operations

Reverting Changes

# Reset to a specific commit
git reset --hard <commit-hash>
# Example: git reset --hard 9d9e2e09d49ac725435a1782a0725f8b0ad0736b

# Force push changes after resetting
git push --force origin <branch-name>
# Example: git push --force origin feature/EMMA-22782_dev_test_branch
# ⚠️ WARNING: Use --force with caution as it overwrites remote history

# Revert a merged PR
git checkout main
git pull
git revert -m 1 <merge-commit-hash>
# Note: This creates a new commit that undoes the changes but preserves history

Tags Management

# Delete a tag locally
git tag -d <tag-name>

# Delete a tag from remote
git push origin --delete <tag-name>

Managing .gitignore

# Add pattern to .gitignore
echo "*-e" >> .gitignore

# Ignore a specific file
# Add to .gitignore: /.env.prod

# Force Git to track an ignored file
git add -f <filename>

# Stop tracking a file but keep it locally
git rm --cached <filename>
# Example: git rm --cached .env.prod

Troubleshooting

Fixing “cannot lock ref” Errors

When you see errors like:

error: cannot lock ref 'refs/remotes/origin/hotfix/BRANCH-NAME': is at COMMIT_HASH but expected DIFFERENT_HASH

Try these solutions in order:

  1. Prune stale remote-tracking branches: 
    git remote prune origin
  2. Delete problematic remote-tracking branches locally: 
    git branch -rd origin/branch-name
  3. Re-fetch the branches: 
    git fetch origin branch-name:refs/remotes/origin/branch-name
  4. Nuclear option - If all else fails and you have no local changes to preserve: 
    cd ..
rm -rf repository-name
git clone repository-url

Config Information

# Show Git config settings
git config --list

# Show global Git config
git config --global --list

Best Practices