/github-cheat-sheet

A list of cool features of Git and GitHub.

MIT LicenseMIT

GitHub Cheat Sheet

A collection of cool hidden and not so hidden features of Git and GitHub. This cheat sheet was inspired by Zach Holman's Git and GitHub Secrets talk at Aloha Ruby Conference 2012 (slides) and his More Git and GitHub Secrets talk at WDCNZ 2013 (slides).

Table of Contents

GitHub

Ignore Whitespace

Adding ?w=1 to any diff URL will remove any changes only in whitespace, enabling you to see only that code that has changed.

Read more about GitHub secrets.

Commit History by Author

To view all commits on a repo by author add ?author=username to the URL.

https://github.com/rails/rails/commits/master?author=dhh

Read more about the differences between commits views.

Cloning a Repository

When cloning a repository the .git can be left off the end.

$ git clone https://github.com/tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet

Read more about the Git clone command.

Comparing Branches

To use GitHub to compare branches, change the URL to look like this:

https://github.com/user/repo/compare/{range}

Where {range} = master...4-1-stable

For example:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master...4-1-stable

{range} can be changed to things like:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master@{1.day.ago}...master
https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master@{2014-10-04}...master

...which allows you to see the difference on the master branch up a set time ago or a specified date.

Read more about comparing commits across time.

Compare Branches across Forked Repositories

To use GitHub to compare branches across forked repositories, change the URL to look like this:

https://github.com/user/repo/compare/{foreign-user}:{branch}...{own-branch}

For example:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/byroot:idempotent-counter-caches...master

Gists

Gists are an easy way to work with small bits of code without creating a fully fledged repository. Add .pibb to the end of any Gist URL (like this) in order to get the HTML only version suitable for embedding in any other site.

Gists can be treated as a full repository so they can be cloned like any other:

$ git clone https://gist.github.com/tiimgreen/10545817

Gists

Read more about creating gists.

Git.io

Git.io is a simple URL shortener for GitHub. You can also use it via pure HTTP using Curl:

$ curl -i http://git.io -F "url=https://github.com/..."
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: http://git.io/abc123

$ curl -i http://git.io/abc123
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: https://github.com/...

Read more about Git.io.

Keyboard Shortcuts

When on a repository page, keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate easily.

  • Pressing t will bring up a file explorer.
  • Pressing w will bring up the branch selector.
  • Pressing s will select the Command Bar.
  • Pressing l will edit labels on existing Issues.
  • Pressing y when looking at a file (e.g. https://github.com/tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet/blob/master/README.md) will change your URL to one which, in effect, freezes the page you are looking at. If this code changes, you will still be able to see what you saw at that current time.

To see all of the shortcuts for the current page press ?.

Read more about using the Command Bar.

Line Highlighting in Repositories

Either adding #L52 to the end of a code file URL or simply clicking the line number will highlight that line number.

It also works with ranges, e.g. #L53-L60, to select ranges, hold shift and click two lines:

https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/activemodel/lib/active_model.rb#L53-L60

Line Highlighting

Closing Issues via Commit Messages

If a particular commit fixes an issue, any of the keywords fix/fixes/fixed or close/closes/closed, followed by the issue number, will close the issue once it is committed to the master branch.

$ git commit -m "Fix cock up, fixes #12"

This closes the issue and references the closing commit.

Closing Repo

Read more about closing Issues via commit messages.

Cross-Link Issues

If you want to link to another issue in the same repository, simple type hash # then the issue number, it will be auto-linked.

To link to an issue in another repository, user_name/repo_name#ISSUE_NUMBER e.g. tiimgreen/toc#12.

Cross-Link Issues

Syntax Highlighting in Markdown Files

For example, to syntax highlight Ruby code in your Markdown files write:

```ruby
require 'tabbit'
table = Tabbit.new('Name', 'Email')
table.add_row('Tim Green', 'tiimgreen@gmail.com')
puts table.to_s
```

This will produce:

require 'tabbit'
table = Tabbit.new('Name', 'Email')
table.add_row('Tim Green', 'tiimgreen@gmail.com')
puts table.to_s

GitHub uses Linguist to perform language detection and syntax highlighting. You can find out which keywords are valid by perusing the languages YAML file.

Read more about GitHub Flavored Markdown.

Emojis

Emojis can added to on Pull Requests, Issues, commit messages, Markdown files, etc. using :name_of_emoji::

:smile:

Would produce:

😄

The full list of supported Emojis on GitHub can be found here or here.

The top 5 used Ejmojis on GitHub are:

  1. :shipit: - :shipit:
  2. ✨ - :sparkles:
  3. 👎 - :-1:
  4. 👍 - :+1:
  5. 👏 - :clap:

Images/GIFs

Images and GIFs can be added to comments, READMEs etc.:

![Alt Text](http://www.sheawong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/keephatin.gif)

Peter don't care

All images are cached on GitHub, so if your host goes down, the image will remain available.

Embedding Images in GitHub Wiki

There are multiple ways of embedding images in Wiki pages. There's the standard Markdown syntax (shown above). But there's also a syntax that allows things like specifying the height or width of the image:

[[ http://www.sheawong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/keephatin.gif | height = 100px ]]

Which produces:

Just a screenshot

Quick Quoting

When on a comment thread and you want to quote something someone previously said, highlight the text and press r, this will copy it into your text box in the block-quote format.

Quick Quote

Read more about quick quoting.

Quick Licensing

When creating a repository GitHub gives you the options of adding in a pre-made license:

Licese

You can also add them to existing repositories by creating a new file through the web interface. When the name LICENSE is typed in you will get an option to use a template:

License

Also works for .gitignore.

Read more about open source licensing.

Task Lists

In Issues and Pull requests check boxes can be added with the following syntax (notice the space):

- [ ] Be awesome
- [ ] Do stuff
- [ ] Sleep

Task List

When they are clicked, they will be updated in the pure Markdown:

- [x] Be awesome
- [x] Do stuff
- [ ] Sleep

Read more about task lists.

Relative Links

Relative links are recommended in your Markdown files when linking to internal content.

[Link to a header](#awesome-section)
[Link to a file](docs/readme)

Absolute links have to be updated whenever the URL changes (e.g. repository renamed, username changed, project forked). Using relative links makes your documentation easily stand on its own.

Read more about relative links.

Metadata and Plugin Support for GitHub Pages

Within Jekyll pages and posts, repository information is available within the site.github namespace, and can be displayed, for example, using {{ site.github.project_title }}.

The Jemoji and jekyll-mentions plugins enable emoji and @mentions in your Jekyll posts and pages to work just like you'd expect when interacting with a repository on GitHub.com.

[Read more about repository metadata and plugin support for GitHub Pages.](Repository metadata and plugin support for GitHub Pages)

Diffs

Rendered Prose Diffs

Commits and pull requests including rendered documents supported by GitHub (e.g. Markdown) feature source and rendered views.

Source / Rendered view

Click the "rendered" button to see the changes as they'll appear in the rendered document. Rendered prose view is handy when you're adding, removing, and editing text:

Rendered Prose Diffs

Read more about rendered prose diffs.

Diffable Maps

Any time you view a commit or pull request on GitHub that includes geodata, GitHub will render a visual representation of what was changed.

Diffable Maps

Read more about diffable maps.

Expanding Context in Diffs

Using the unfold button in the gutter of a diff, you can reveal additional lines of context with a click. You can keep clicking unfold until you've revealed the whole file, and the feature is available anywhere GitHub renders diffs.

Expanding Context in Diffs

Read more about expanding context in diffs.

Hub

Hub is a command line Git wrapper that gives you extra features and commands that make working with GitHub easier.

This allows you to do things like:

$ hub clone tiimgreen/toc

...instead of:

$ git clone https://github.com/tiimgreen/toc.git

Check out some more cool commands Hub has to offer.

Decreasing Contributor Friction

If you want people to use and contribute to your project, you need to start by answering their most basic questions. What does the project do? How do I use it? How am I allowed to use it? How do I contribute? How do I get up and running in development? How do I make sure my new features didn't break old functionality?

Friction is a command line script that will check your project for common answers to these questions. This is some example output:

Friction output

Contributing Guidelines

Adding a CONTRIBUTING file to the root of your repository will add a link to your file when a contributor creates an Issue or opens a Pull Request.

Contributing Guidelines

Read more about contributing guidelines.

Git

Previous Branch

To move to the previous branch in Git:

$ git checkout -
# Switched to branch 'master'

$ git checkout -
# Switched to branch 'next'

$ git checkout -
# Switched to branch 'master'

Read more about Git branching.

Checking out Pull Requests

If you want to check out pull request locally, you can fetch it using that command:

$ git fetch origin '+refs/pull/*/head:refs/pull/*'

then, checkout Pull Request (i.e. 42) using

$ git checkout refs/pull/42

Alternatively, you can fetch them as remote branches:

$ git fetch origin '+refs/pull/*/head:refs/remotes/origin/pr/*'

and checkout as:

$ git checkout origin/pr/42

and even fetch them automatically, if you add corresponding lines in your .git/config:

[remote "origin"]
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
    url = git@github.com:tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet.git

[remote "origin"]
    fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*
    url = git@github.com:tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet.git
    fetch = +refs/pull/*/head:refs/remotes/origin/pr/*

Read more about checking out pull requests locally.

Empty Commits :trollface:

Commits can be pushed with no code changes by adding --allow-empty:

$ git commit -m "Big-ass commit" --allow-empty

Some use-cases for this (that make sense), include:

  • Annotating the start of a new bulk of work or a new feature.
  • Documenting when you make changes to the project that aren't code related.
  • Communicating with people using your repository.

Styled Git Status

Running:

$ git status

Produces:

git status

By adding -sb:

$ git status -sb

This is produced:

git status -sb

Read more about the Git status command.

Styled Git Log

Running:

$ git log --all --graph --decorate --oneline --abbrev-commit

Produces:

git log --all --graph --decorate --oneline --abbrev-commit

This can be aliased using the instructions found here.

Read more about the Git log command.

Git Query

A Git query allows you to search all your previous commit messages and find the most recent one matching the query.

$ git show :/query

Where query is the term you want to search, this then finds the last one and gives details on the lines that were changed.

$ git show :/typo

git show :/query

Press q to quit.

Merged Branches

Running:

$ git branch --merged

Will give you a list of all branches that have been merged into your current branch.

Conversely:

$ git branch --no-merged

Will give you a list of branches that have not been merged into your current branch.

Read more about the Git branch command.

Web Server for Browsing Local Repositories

Use the Git instaweb command to instantly browse your working repository in gitweb. This command is a simple script to set up gitweb and a web server for browsing the local repository.

$ git instaweb

Opens:

Git instaweb

Read more about the Git instaweb command.

Git Configurations

Your .gitconfig file contains all your Git configurations.

Aliases

Aliases are helpers that let you define your own git calls. For example you could set git a to run git add --all.

To add an alias, either navigate to ~/.gitconfig and fill it out in the following format:

[alias]
  co = checkout
  cm = commit
  p = push
  # Show verbose output about tags, branches or remotes
  tags = tag -l
  branches = branch -a
  remotes = remote -v

...or type in the command-line:

$ git config alias.new_alias git_function

For example:

$ git config alias.cm commit

For an alias with multiple functions use quotes:

$ git config alias.ac 'add -A . && commit'

Some useful aliases include:

Alias Command What to Type
git cm git commit git config --global alias.cm commit
git co git checkout git config --global alias.co checkout
git ac git add . -A git commit git config --global alias.ac '!git add -A && git commit'
git st git status -sb git config --global alias.st 'status -sb'
git tags git tag -l git config --global alias.tags 'tag -l'
git branches git branch -a git config --global alias.branches 'branch -a'
git remotes git remote -v git config --global alias.remotes 'remote -v'

Auto-Correct

If you type git comit you will get this:

$ git comit -m "Message"
# git: 'comit' is not a git command. See 'git --help'.

# Did you mean this?
#   commit

To call commit when comit is typed, just enable auto-correct:

$ git config --global help.autocorrect 1

So now you will get this:

$ git comit -m "Message"
# WARNING: You called a Git command named 'comit', which does not exist.
# Continuing under the assumption that you meant 'commit'
# in 0.1 seconds automatically...

Color

To add more color to your Git output:

$ git config --global color.ui 1

Read more about the Git config command.