Git Cheat Sheet Series (1/5): Daily Basics

Ilias Kyrannas

— 1 min read
Git Cheat Sheet Series (1/5): Daily Basics
Minimal flat illustration of a laptop terminal listing basic Git commands with small ‘main’ and ‘dev’ branch labels, representing daily Git fundamentals.

Short scenarios. Copy/paste commands. Minimal notes.

Clone the repo and verify you’re on main

Goal: Get the code locally and confirm you’re on the default branch.

git clone <REPO_URL>
cd <REPO_FOLDER>
git status
git branch --show-current

Notes

  • If you are not on main: git checkout main
  • First sync (safe): git pull --ff-only

Pull latest changes safely (fast-forward only)

Goal: Update your local branch without creating a merge commit by accident.

git checkout main
git pull --ff-only

git checkout dev
git pull --ff-only

Notes

  • If --ff-only fails, your branch diverged; stop and decide whether to rebase or merge (covered later).

Make a commit (add → commit)

Goal: Record changes cleanly.

git status
git add <filepath/filename> (-A to add all)
git commit -m "Short, specific message"

Undo unstaged changes (discard local edits)

Goal: Revert files back to the last commit (only for changes not committed).

git restore <file>

# discard everything unstaged:
git restore .

Notes

  • This does not recover deleted work unless it was committed.

Fix the last commit message (not pushed)

Goal: Rename the last commit message before sharing it.

git commit --amend -m "Better message"

Notes

  • If you already pushed that commit, do not amend unless you know your team’s rules (force-push involved later).

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