Speed up with Git alias

Git is a must-have tool for all developers. There are tons of commands to perform actions, and that also comes with tons of options a.k.a. flags for each commands. It would be a great time of us ending up writing a crazy long command until we satisfy.

Now this blog I will share some useful git commands that you can press save and call when needed and I hope they’re helpful for you.

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What’s Git alias

You may have a time doing somethings with a repo but there were so many things to specify such as fetching a new change then cleanup unused branches before.

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How to update Git alias

Official document says the way to add or update Git alias is:

git config --global alias.<alias_name> '<full commands>'

The alias name can be any words you like.

For me, I prefer editing the git configuration file directly as it is placed at “~/.gitconfig”. The aliases will be arranged under section [alias] and I usually define alias name by just 3 letters to make it quick to type.

[user]
        name = abc
        email = abc@users.noreply.github.com
[alias]
        alias_name = full_commands

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How to use Git alias

Basically we declare Git alias since the action verbs e.g. checkout or commit . When we want to use the alias, we would just start with git and follow by the alias.

For example, we define an alias as ci = commit, then we can replace git commit -m "test" with git ci -m "test".

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Example Git alias

Now it’s time to me showing my often-use aliases.

pull and clean

This alias will fetch and pull all then clear (prune) deleted branches.

al1 = "!f() { git fetch --all && git pull --all && git remote prune origin; }; f"

# usage
git al1

add, commit, and push

Instead of typing 3 commands, why not combine them together in one line?

al2 = "!f() { git add -A && git commit -m \"$@\" && git push; }; f"

# usage
git al2 "commit message"

create a new branch and checkout

When we create a new branch, we will have to set upstream always then. So this alias can facilitate your time.

al3 = "!f() { git checkout -b $@ && git push --set-upstream origin $@; }; f"

# usage
git al3

show commit graph

Just git log can produce a git commit graph like this.

git has provided flags for this log to be much more prettier.

al4 = log --all --graph --abbrev-commit --decorate --date=format-local:'%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S' --format=format:'%C(bold blue)%h%C(reset) - %C(bold cyan)%ad%C(reset) %C(bold green)(%ar)%C(reset)%C(auto)%d%C(reset) %C(white)%s%C(reset) %C(dim white)- %an%C(reset)'

# usage
git al4

It also shows the lines of branching and merging if there are.

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References

• 2.7 Git Basics - Git Aliases
• git add, commit and push commands in one?
• Pretty Git branch graphs