Useful git commands: part 1

Here are some of the git commands that I find most useful, covering configuration, staging, and history:

Configuration

# change settings for all users
#   affects file in /etc/gitconfig
git config --system [??].[attribute] [value]

# change settings for one user
#   affects file in $HOME/.gitconfig
git config --global [??].[attribute] [value]

# change settings for one project
#   affects file in [projectroot]/.git/config
git config [??].[attribute] [value]

# change editor
git config core.editor emacs

# check all settings
git config --list

# check specific setting
git config [??].[attribute]

Staging area

# remove file from staging area
git rm --cached [file]

# see diff of files in staging area
git diff --staged

# see tracked files
git ls-files

# see information about tree-ish objects
#   what is a tree-ish object?  the man page doesn't explain it
git ls-tree [sha-1] [path]

History

# see a "pretty" commit history
#   setting: (oneline|short|full|fuller|format:"format string").  note that the --pretty option can interfere with other log options
git log --pretty=[setting]

# see only a limited number of commits
#   accepts any (?) positive integer
git log -[n]

# show diffs with each commit
git log -p
 
# see history of a specific file
#   is this any different from just 'git log [file]'?
git log --follow [file]

# see a branch graph
git log --graph

# display file statistics with each commit:  number of additions, deletions, etc. 
#   see also --shortstat ??
git log --stat

# more log options
git log (--name-only|--name-status|--abbrev-commit|--relative-date|--since|--until|--grep)

# make *all* criteria match
#   instead of *any* predicate causing a match, *all* predicates must be true to match
git log --all-match [... conditions ...]

# show only/don't show merge commits
git log --merges
git log --no-merges

Miscellaneous

# amend previous commit.  uses staging area for commit
#   what happens with sha-1 business?  does this command take more arguments (i.e. for commit message)?
git commit --amend
 
# make a command alias
#   ... not sure if those are supposed to be quotation marks or backticks or what ...
git config --global alias.[thealias] ['the original command']