Git/aliases

Git is a powerful tool with a lot of useful options. Did you know you can make an alias for a command and a set of options? You won't have to write long shell one-liners anymore. Below is a collection of some useful aliases.

How to set up an alias

In your ~/.gitconfig add an [alias] section. Then each line is the <tab>key = value format.

Below is a snippet of the [alias] section of a .gitconfig file

[alias]
    short-name = actual (long?) command

Everything

If you want to get everything at once, here is a collection of all the aliases on this page:

[alias]
	amend     = commit --amend -a
	br        = branch
	branch-cleanup = "!f() { git branch --merged ${1-master} | grep -v " ${1-master}$" | xargs -n 1 git branch -d; }; f"
	co        = checkout
	ds        = diff --staged
	di        = diff
	fetchall  = fetch -v --all
	lg = log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(auto)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(cyan)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit --date=relative
	l = ! git lg -n25
	log-me    = !UN=$(git config user.name)&& git log --author="\"$UN\"" --pretty=format:'%h %cd %s' --date=short
	log-nice  = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit
	panic     = !tar cvf ../git_panic.tar *
	st        = status
	wdiff     = diff --word-diff=plain

amend

[alias]
	amend = commit --amend -a

Example

git amend

With Gerrit you may have to correct a patchset. This usually means editing files and then having to correct the previous commit message. The workflow would be something like:

$ git review -d 1234 // gerrit changeset id
<edit files>
$ git add <files>
$ git commit --amend
<update commit-msg>

If you only changed files (not added new ones), the last two commands can be grouped by using git commit --amend -a.

br

[alias]
	br = branch

Example

• git br foo --track origin/foo
• git br -D some/old/branch

branch-cleanup

[alias]
        branch-cleanup = "!f() { git branch --merged ${1-master} | grep -v " ${1-master}$" | xargs -n 1 git branch -d; }; f"

This deletes all branches-references that are fully merged into master (or some other branch, if you specify).

co

[alias]
	co = checkout

Example

git co master

ds

[alias]
	ds = diff --staged

Example

git ds

A plain git diff shows the diff between the (unstaged) working copy and the staged working copy. In most cases this is the same as the diff between the working copy and the last committed revision of the current branch (HEAD).

However, if you have already done git add and then made some more changes, then the changes at time of last git add no longer show up in git diff. Use git diff --staged to create a diff between the already staged (but uncommitted) changes and the current HEAD.

di

[alias]
	di = diff

Example

git di

fetchall

[alias]
	fetchall = fetch -v --all

Example

git fetchall

In this case, both origin and gerrit are the same, good enough for the above screenshot.

You can also use git remote update

lg

[alias]
	lg = log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(auto)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(cyan)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit --date=relative
	l = ! git lg -n25

Example

git lg (default, with pager) or git l (last 25 only)

log-me

The author name is case-sensitive.

[alias]
	log-me  = !UN=$(git config user.name)&& git log --author="\"$UN\"" --pretty=format:'%h %cd %s' --date=short

Example

git log-me -n20

log-nice

[alias]
	log-nice = log --graph --decorate --pretty=oneline --abbrev-commit

Example

git log-nice -n20

panic

[alias]
	panic = !tar cvf ../git_panic.tar *

Sometimes, you might have done something wrong in git. You think you've lost your commits, or something like that. Chances are, the information is still there — so the best course of action is to make an immediate backup, before you risk actually losing data.

st

[alias]
	st = status

Example

git st

wdiff

[alias]
	wdiff    = diff --word-diff=plain

Example

git wdiff