Do I need to change anything before pasting a command?

Usually yes — the placeholders. Commands are shown with tokens like your-branch or file-name standing in for the values that differ per situation. Replace them with your own branch, file or commit range; the surrounding flags are already correct.

Is this a Git tutorial?

No, and that is on purpose. Each entry is one command for one recognised situation, assuming you already know what the operation does. If you are unsure what a command will change, run it with --dry-run where available or check the linked concept in the official documentation first.

I ran a command from the list and want to undo it — is that covered?

The undo scenarios (un-staging, amending, resetting a commit, restoring a file) are their own category precisely because they get forgotten. For anything else, git reflog records where HEAD has been, which is the general escape hatch when a listed command did something unexpected.

Git cheatsheet — Guide

Git is a decentralized version management software. With this cheatsheet, you will have quick access to the most common git commands.

What it is and when to use it

Git's model is simple; its flag surface is not. Everyone re-learns the same half-dozen situations: undoing a commit, squashing before a pull request, un-staging a file, pointing a branch at the right remote. This cheat sheet organises those recurring situations by category and gives one copy-paste command per scenario, with placeholders for the parts that vary (branch names, file names, commit ranges). It is deliberately a reference, not a tutorial: each entry assumes you know what the operation means and just need the exact syntax, so you can get back to work in seconds. For anything beyond the everyday cases — interactive rebase surgery, reflog archaeology, submodule workflows — the entries link the concept name you should search for next.

A cheat sheet of common Git commands for when you have forgotten the exact flags.

How to use it

Find the scenario by category
Copy the command
Replace the placeholders with your own branch or file names

Things that trip people up

Square-bracketed tokens such as [name], [url] and [commit message] are placeholders — replace them before running; they are not literal arguments
Several entries rewrite history or move HEAD (amend, reset). Doing that to commits you have already pushed rewrites shared history — keep them for local work, or push with --force-with-lease when you must

Questions people ask

Do I need to change anything before pasting a command?: Usually yes — the placeholders. Commands are shown with tokens like your-branch or file-name standing in for the values that differ per situation. Replace them with your own branch, file or commit range; the surrounding flags are already correct.
Is this a Git tutorial?: No, and that is on purpose. Each entry is one command for one recognised situation, assuming you already know what the operation does. If you are unsure what a command will change, run it with --dry-run where available or check the linked concept in the official documentation first.
I ran a command from the list and want to undo it — is that covered?: The undo scenarios (un-staging, amending, resetting a commit, restoring a file) are their own category precisely because they get forgotten. For anything else, git reflog records where HEAD has been, which is the general escape hatch when a listed command did something unexpected.

Next steps

Open the Git cheatsheet tool

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