This is a short post about the git aliases I have defined in my dotfiles repository.

Defining aliases

For most of my aliases I use the git config --global alias.{name} option, but for some of the more frequently used ones I also have a shell alias because they are shorter. Whenever you add an alias through the git configuration, that alias will be stored in “$HOME/.gitconfig”

Aliases

Adding files to git

For adding files to git I only use a shell alias. This way I can add a file using ga <filename>.

alias ga="git add"

Viewing the repository status

Since I use git status a lot I’ve created the alias gs. This shows me all the modified, deleted or added files in the repository. The -s flag makes the output shorter.

alias gs="git status -s"

Viewing the branches

Sometimes I want to see which branches I have locally and remotely, which is why I’ve created the alias git branches. The -v flag makes the output more verbose so you’ll see the latest commit too. The -a flag inclused branches from the remote.

git config --global alias.branches 'branch -va'

Committing

Regular commits

For a regular commit I use either gc or git c:

git config --global alias.c 'commit'
alias gc="git c"

This will open your editor so that you can provide a nice commit message, but since this can be distracting I normally use the -m flag to provide a commit message in-line.

git config --global alias.cm 'commit -m'
alias gcm="git cm"

Example usage: gcm "feat: add user metrics to dashboard"

Amending

When you want to add currently staged files to an existing commit, you can use the alias git amend.

git config --global alias.amend 'commit --amend'

Temporarily committing everything

If you want to temporarily commit everything so that you can come back later, you can use save points with the alias git save.

git config --global alias.save '!git add -A && git commit -m \"WIP\"'

This will add everything with changes and commit it with the commit message “WIP”. When you’re ready to continue work, you can undo this commit using the alias git undo.

git config --global alias.undo 'reset HEAD~1 --mixed'

This reverts the last commit, which is your save point. The --mixed flag also unstages your files (this is the default behaviour).

Switching branches

Switching to an existing branch with the alias git co.

git config --global alias.co 'checkout'
alias gco="git co"

Switching to a new branch by adding the -b flag for the alias git cob.

git config --global alias.cob 'checkout -b'
alias gco="git cob"

Updating the local branch

This alias will update the local branch and rebase local commits on top of any incoming commits. The --prune flag removes any remote-tracking references that no longer exist on the remote. This alias is called git update.

git config --global alias.update 'pull --rebase --prune'
alias gup="git update"

Pretty things

Logs with graph

This will print the commits with a pretty graph using git logp.

git config --global alias.logp "log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset %an: %s - %Creset %C(yellow)%d%Creset %Cgreen(%cr)%Creset' --abbrev-commit --date=relative"

Example output:

* 3d7103b Marcel Blijleven: style: move tags below title -   (5 weeks ago)
*   97de6f6 Marcel Blijleven: Merge pull request #18 from marcelblijleven/feature/page-component-object-model -   (5 weeks ago)
|\
| * 56d805d Marcel Blijleven: blog: add post about page components -   (5 weeks ago)
| * 5fa346a Marcel Blijleven: chore: update mdx components -   (5 weeks ago)
|/
* cb02c70 Marcel Blijleven: sync: auto sync coffee -   (6 weeks ago)
* 8ce0f41 Marcel Blijleven: sync: auto sync coffee -   (6 weeks ago)
*   769f994 Marcel Blijleven: Merge pull request #17 from marcelblijleven/feature/discriminating-unions -   (6 weeks ago)
|\
| * 1df5938 Marcel Blijleven: chore: update tag data -   (6 weeks ago)
| * ebfa3c4 Marcel Blijleven: blog: add blog post about discriminating unions -   (6 weeks ago)
| * a141c12 Marcel Blijleven: style: increase space below headings -   (6 weeks ago)
* | 827a777 Marcel Blijleven: sync: auto sync coffee -   (7 weeks ago)
* | 3b026bf Marcel Blijleven: sync: auto sync coffee -   (7 weeks ago)
|/
* 2d6d063 Marcel Blijleven: chore: add badge component -   (8 weeks ago)

Better diff

This will print the diff with color, without + and - using git bdiff.

git config --global alias.bdiff '!git diff --color | sed \"s/^\\([^-+ ]*\\)[-+ ]/\\\\1/\" | less -r'