Aliases (bonus)

Goals

Learn how to set up aliases and shortcuts for Git commands.

01 Common aliases

For Windows users:

Run

git config --global alias.co checkout
git config --global alias.ci commit
git config --global alias.st status
git config --global alias.br branch
git config --global alias.hist "log --pretty=format:'%h %ad | %s%d [%an]' --graph --date=short"
git config --global alias.type 'cat-file -t'
git config --global alias.dump 'cat-file -p'

Also, for users of Unix/Mac:

git status, git add, git commit, and git checkout are common commands, so it is a good idea to have abbreviations for them.

Add the following to the .gitconfig file in your $HOME directory.

File: .gitconfig

[alias]
  co = checkout
  ci = commit
  st = status
  br = branch
  hist = log --pretty=format:\"%h %ad | %s%d [%an]\" --graph --date=short
  type = cat-file -t
  dump = cat-file -p

We've already talked about commit and status commands. In the previous lesson we covered the log command and will get to know the checkout command very soon. The most important thing to learn from this lesson is that you can type git st wherever you had to type git status. Best of all, the git log command will help you avoid the really long log command.

Go ahead and try using the new commands.

02 Define the `hist` alias in the `.gitconfig` file

For the most part, I will continue to type out the full command in these instructions. The only exception is that I will use the hist alias defined above, when I need to see the Git log. Make sure you have a hist alias setup in your .gitconfig file before continuing if you wish to repeat my actions.

03 `Type` and `Dump`

We've added a few aliases for commands we haven't yet discussed. We will talk about the git branch command very soon, and the git cat-file command is useful for exploring Git.

04 Command aliases (optional)

If your shell supports aliases, or shortcuts, you can add aliases on this level, too. I use:

File: .profile

alias gs='git status '
alias ga='git add '
alias gb='git branch '
alias gc='git commit'
alias gd='git diff'
alias gco='git checkout '
alias gk='gitk --all&'
alias gx='gitx --all'

alias got='git '
alias get='git '

The gco abbreviation for git checkout is very useful, allowing me to type:

gco nome_de_sua_branch

...to check out a particular branch.

Also, I often mistype git as get or got so I created aliases for them too.