Useful git command for developers

Sort recently modified branch by committer date:

    $ git for-each-ref --sort=committerdate refs/heads/

    /* Output
    d7b04c07d3143e04b83dde116830656443233cb0 commit	refs/heads/MCK-133-redesign-homepage
    9e6ab565fce909bd40a89f874b1815365cbbbb54 commit	refs/heads/MCK-new-plugin */
    

The above command sort the recently changed branch. The branch: MCK-new-plugin is the last changed branch in the local repository.

Sort recently modified branch by committer date:

    $ git for-each-ref --sort=-committerdate --format='%(committerdate:short) %(refname)' refs/heads refs/remotes
    /* Output 
    2021-03-02 refs/remotes/origin/MDP-premium-top-table-list-secret-adjustment
    2021-03-02 refs/heads/MDP-premium-top-table-list-secret-adjustment */
    

Sort recently modified branch by committer date:

    $ git for-each-ref --sort='-authordate:iso8601' --format=' %(authordate:relative)%09%(refname:short)' refs/heads
    

Remove remote branch:

Lets say we have a branch that is merged with master and the branch is no longer needed. We can easily remove the branch from remote repository using the following command:

    $ git push <remote_name> --delete <branch_name>
    
    /* Output
    To https://domain.git
     - [deleted]             <branch name> */
    

Clone a private repo:

In case we need to clone a private repo using git clone, it can be done by providing the user credential with the command like below:

    $ git clone https://username:password@github.com/username/repo.git
    

Rename branch:

If we want to rename the branch name or adjust the branch name in git use can use the following ways:

    // If we want to rename a branch but we are currently in a different branch
    $ git branch -m <oldname> <newname>
    

    // If we want to rename the current branch
    $ git branch -m <newname>
    

Restore a deleted folder:

A directory is added to the git index and it is removed somehow, we can very easily restore it by using following command:

    $ git reset -- path/to/folder
    $ git checkout -- path/to/folder
    

Amending/Changing the most recent commit message:

If we write a commit message that has a typo or has other issues we can change that by using following command:

    $ git commit --amend -m "New commit message"
    

Change history of a file:

View the change history of a file using Git

    $ git log -p filename
    

Git add rules:

    # Stages all changes
    $ git add -A 
    
    # Stages new files and modifications, without deletions.
    $ git add . 
    
    # Stages modifications and deletions, without new files
    git add -u