21 Git commands

A collection of some of the Git commands that have been largely going on under the hood. We’ve emphasized early workflows that are possible in RStudio. But all of this and much more can be done from the command line. This list is here mostly so we can consult it during live workshops if needed.

Unless you use the GitHub API, most of the GitHub bits really have to be done from the browser.

New local git repo from a repo on GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/jennybc/happy-git-with-r.git

Check the remote was cloned successfully:

git remote --verbose

Stage local changes, commit:

git add foo.txt
git commit --message "A commit message"

Check on the state of the Git world:

git status
git log
git log --oneline

Compare versions:

git diff

Add a remote to existing local repo:

git remote add origin https://github.com/jennybc/happy-git-with-r
git remote --verbose
git remote show origin

Push local main to GitHub main and have local main track main on GitHub:

git push --set-upstream origin main
# shorter form
git push -u origin main
# you only need to set upstream tracking once!

Regular push:

git push 
# the above usually implies (and certainly does in our tutorial)
git push origin main
# git push [remote-name] [branch-name]

Pull commits from GitHub:

git pull

Pull commits and don’t let it put you in a merge conflict pickle:

git pull --ff-only

Fetch commits

git fetch

Switch to a branch

git checkout [branch-name]

Checking remote and branch tracking

git remote -v
git remote show origin
git branch -vv