Git Aliases Cheatsheet

Overview

Git aliases live in ~/.gitconfig under [alias]. Shell aliases belong in ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc. The two complement each other: git aliases shorten subcommands, shell aliases shorten the git prefix itself. This card lists the ones that pay off daily.

Core git aliases

Add these under [alias] in ~/.gitconfig.

Alias	Expands to	Why it helps
st	status -sb	Short, branch-aware status; one line per changed file.
co	checkout	Muscle-memory shorthand; still useful for co -.
sw	switch	Preferred over co for switching branches.
br	branch -vv	Branch list with tracking info.
cm	commit -m	Skip the editor when the message is short.
ca	commit --amend --no-edit	Fold staged changes into the last commit without reopening the editor.
lg	log --oneline --graph --all --decorate	Visual topology of all branches in one command.
lp	log -p --follow	Full patch log for a file through renames.
d	diff	Unstaged diff; faster to type.
ds	diff --staged	Staged diff before committing.
pop	stash pop	Shorthand; pairs with git stash.
undo	reset --soft HEAD~1	Soft-undo the last commit; changes stay staged.
nuke	reset --hard HEAD	Discard all uncommitted changes. Dangerous; name it clearly.
fixup	commit --fixup	Mark a commit for autosquash; use with rebase --autosquash.

# ~/.gitconfig
[alias]
  st    = status -sb
  co    = checkout
  sw    = switch
  br    = branch -vv
  cm    = commit -m
  ca    = commit --amend --no-edit
  lg    = log --oneline --graph --all --decorate
  lp    = log -p --follow
  d     = diff
  ds    = diff --staged
  pop   = stash pop
  undo  = reset --soft HEAD~1
  nuke  = reset --hard HEAD
  fixup = commit --fixup

Log format aliases

Richer log views for different audiences.

Alias	Command	Output style
ll	log --oneline -20	Last 20 commits, terse.
who	shortlog -sn --no-merges	Contributor commit count.
last	log -1 HEAD	Full detail on the latest commit.
hist	`log —pretty=format:“%h %ad	%s%d [%an]” —date=short —graph`

[alias]
  ll   = log --oneline -20
  who  = shortlog -sn --no-merges
  last = log -1 HEAD
  hist = log --pretty=format:"%h %ad | %s%d [%an]" --date=short --graph

Branch and cleanup aliases

Alias	Expands to	Use case
gone	!git branch -vv | grep ': gone]' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs git branch -d	Delete local branches whose remote is gone.
fresh	fetch --all --prune	Fetch all remotes and prune stale tracking refs.
main	switch main	Jump to main regardless of current branch.
pub	push -u origin HEAD	Push current branch and set upstream in one step.

[alias]
  gone  = !git branch -vv | grep ': gone]' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs git branch -d
  fresh = fetch --all --prune
  main  = switch main
  pub   = push -u origin HEAD

Shell aliases for git

Put these in ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc. They add the git prefix so you can type even less.

Shell alias	Equivalent git command
g	git
gs	git status -sb
ga	git add
gd	git diff
gds	git diff --staged
gl	git lg
gco	git switch
gcm	git commit -m
gp	git push
gpf	git push --force-with-lease
gpl	git pull --rebase

# ~/.zshrc
alias g='git'
alias gs='git status -sb'
alias ga='git add'
alias gd='git diff'
alias gds='git diff --staged'
alias gl='git lg'
alias gco='git switch'
alias gcm='git commit -m'
alias gp='git push'
alias gpf='git push --force-with-lease'
alias gpl='git pull --rebase'

Setting aliases via CLI

Add an alias without opening the config file manually.

Command	Effect
git config --global alias.st "status -sb"	Add git st globally.
git config --local alias.st "status -sb"	Add git st for the current repo only.
git config --global --list | grep alias	List all current aliases.
git config --global --unset alias.st	Remove an alias.

Common gotchas

• Git aliases that start with ! run shell commands. They run from the repo root, not from the current directory. Use $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel) when you need the working path.
• Shell aliases shadowing git aliases cause confusion. If g is aliased to git and gs is defined as a shell alias, g st uses the git alias while gs uses the shell alias. Keep the two namespaces distinct.
• commit --amend --no-edit (the ca alias) rewrites the last commit. Never use it after pushing to a shared branch.
• The gone alias deletes with -d (safe delete). Branches with unmerged commits survive. Switch to -D only when you know what you are discarding.
• .gitconfig aliases are user-wide. For machine-specific aliases (different identity per machine), use [include] to source a machine-local config file.

Related

• git
• shell
• github-cli
• git-commands
• git-rebase
• bash-one-liners
• Cheatsheets