GitHub CheatSheet

1. BASIC GITHUB COMMANDS

Clone a GitHub repository

git clone https://github.com/username/the_repo_name.git

Initialize a git repo

git init

Add all files to git staging area

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourUsername/yourProjectName.git

git add .

Confirm that it has been added to the git staging area

git status

Commit your changes witth a message initial commit

git commit -m "your commit message"

Push your changes to the upstream origin master the main of your github repo

git push -u origin master

Pull the latest commit to the staging area github

git pull

Pull the latest commit from GitHub main/master and replace changes on the HDD Directly.

git reset --hard origin/master

Revert the last 5 commits

git reset --hard HEAD~5

NOTE!!!: If you have already pushed to a remote, you will get a fast-forward error because your local history diverges from the remote history.

THEREFORE:To fix this error and push your changes to the remote, use:

git push -f

NOTE!!! However, use git push --force with extreme caution because it can result in lost work if you are not careful.

Create a GitHub Repository using Git CLI

create a repository interactively

gh repo create

create a public repo called my-project and clones the same version to local storage

gh repo create my-project --public --clone

create a private repo called my-project and clones the same version to local storage

gh repo create my-project --private --clone

create a remote repository from the current directory

gh repo create my-project --private --source=. --remote=upstream

NOTE: The commands above will only work in the terminal if you have installed Git CLI

2. WORKING WITH GITHUB BRANCHES

Creating a github branch

git branch <yourBranchName>

Creating a branch and switch to that branch immediately

git checkout -b <yourBranchName>

List all the github branches

git branch -a

Delete a branch

git branch --delete <branchName>

Rename a local branch

git branch -m <oldBranchName> <newBranchName>

Switch to a specific branch

git checkout <branchName>

Clone from a specific branch in a project

git clone -b demo <link to the repo>

Delete a branch by detaching since it's impossible to delete it when you are currently inside it

git checkout --detach

STEP BY STEP PROCEDURE TO COMMIT TO GITHUB BRANCH

git init // this initializes to a working git repo
git remote add origin https://github.com/<your_username>/<name_of_project.git // add to your working directory
git checkout -b <name_of_your_branch> // creates a branch of that name and switches directly to it.
git add . // adds all
git commit -m "firstcommit" // does the commit to your branch
git push origin Jainick2 // now commits changes to your branch

STEP BY STEP DELETING A BRANCH FROM LOCAL REPO AND ALSO ON GITHUB

STEP 1: Delete the Branch Locally: First, delete the branch from your local repository.

git branch -d <branch-name>  # Use -d for safe delete (only deletes if branch is fully merged)
git branch -D <branch-name>  # Use -D to force delete (deletes even if branch is not merged)

STEP 2: Delete the Branch Remotely: To delete the branch on GitHub, you need to push a delete request to the remote repository. This can be done using the following command:

git push origin --delete <branch-name>

STEP 3: SUMMARY OF THE ABOVE

# Delete branch locally
git branch -d <branch_name>

# Force delete locally (if required)
git branch -D <branch_name

# Delete branch remotely on GitHub
git push origin --delete <branch_name

3. WORKING WITH GH-PULL REQUEST

• First you need to install Github CLI
• Install and set up in your Windows O.S
• Restart your terminal and write down the following command.

Use gh pr to create the pull request

gh pr create --base master --head <yourBranchNameHere> --title <yourTitleHere> --body <yourBodyTextHere

Use gh pr list to list how many pull requests that are there in a repository

gh pr list

This command will list all of the open pull requests in the current repository. You can also filter the results by state, author, assignee, and other criteria. For example, to list all of the closed pull requests in the current repository, you would use the following command:

gh pr list --state closed

You can also use the gh pr view command to open the pull request in a web browser. To do this, simply add the --web flag to the command. For example:

gh pr view 123 --web

To merge a pull request in GitHub using the GitHub CLI, you can use the following command:

gh pr merge

4. WORKING WITH GH LFS (Large File System)

Initialise and install git lfs

git lfs install 

Track specific file types (e.g., *.png, *.jpg, *.mp4)

git lfs track "*.png" "*.jpg" "*.mp4"

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourUsername/nameOftheProject.git

git lfs push --all origin main

git add .

git commit -m "Add Git LFS tracking info"

git remote add origin https://github.com/yourUsername/nameOftheProject.git

Use amend to change the commit message

git commit --amend

Remove a file from the Git Staging area

git rm --cached "fileName"

Adds any file with a .html extension

git add *.html

Configure git staging and pushing to your GitHub account

git config --global user.name "your_github_username"
git config --global user.email "your_email"

Creates a file named .gitignore. NOTE: This command is a very special command and it is used to create a file and be able to exempt it not to be able to be pushed to the github central repository. Like /node-modules.

touch .gitignore

Clone a project in an organization in GitHub

git clone https://[email protected]/org_name/repo_name.git

Switching Remote URL's from SSH to HTTPS

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/username/repo.git

verify that remote URL has changed

git remote -v

Switching Remote URL's from HTTPS to SSH

git remote set-url origin [email protected]:username/repo.git

Clear Git Remote origin

git remote remove origin

Instead of removing then reading again: You can instead use this command.

git remote set-url origin https://github.com/username/repo.git

Check if the file in your folder is up to date with the Local Repository

git remote update

Tells you whether the branch you are tracking is ahead, behind or has diverged

git status -uno

If you want to erase your whole history and start over again.

rm -rf .git

If you want to remove both files and history

rm -rf *

git fetch downloads the latest from remote without trying to merge or rebase anything. Then the git reset resets the master branch to what you just fetched. The --hard option Changes all the files in your working tree to match the files in origin/master

git fetch -all
git reset --hard origin/master

Add the first remote repo

git remote add -f [first_repo] [link_to_first_repo]

git merge --allow-unrelated-histories [first_repo]/master

Create a sub directory and move all first_repo files to it.

mkdir [first_repo]
mv * [first_repo]
git add .
git commit -m "Move first_repo files to first_repo directory"

Add the second remote repository

git remote add -f [second_repo] [link_to_second_repo]

Fix any merge conflicts and complete the merge as follows

git merge --continue

SOLVED!: Please MOVE or REMOVE them before merge error SOLVED

git clean -dxf
git pull origin master

Remove the .git hidden folder from the git repo

rm -rf .git

Disable GitHub popups

git config --global credential.modalPrompt false

Add GitHub large-file-system

git lfs install

5. STEP BY STEP

STEPS

1. Clone the GitHub repo git clone https://github.com/NickBwalley/repo.git
2. Create a branch and switch to it git checkout -b newBranch
3. git add .
4. git commit -m "initial commit"
5. git push origin newBranch
6. git remote add upstream https://github.com/NickBwalley/repo.git
7. git rebase upstream/master # add changes to your local existing work.

6. CLI USEFUL FEATURES

creating a file from the terminal windows-CLI

touch "filename.html"

creating a file from the terminal linux-CLI

sudo nano "filename.html"

Install a package_name.deb command

sudo dpkg -i package_name.deb