Git: Aliases

Original chapter reference: Chapter 11: Aliases. The command options and documentation recipes below are fully transcribed from Git Notes for Professionals.

Section 11.1: Simple aliases

There are two ways of creating aliases in Git:

with the ~/.gitconfig file:

[alias]
    ci = commit
    st = status
    co = checkout

with the command line:

 git config --global alias.ci "commit"
 git config --global alias.st "status"
 git config --global alias.co "checkout"

After the alias is created - type:

git ci instead of git commit, git st instead of git status, git co instead of git checkout.

As with regular git commands, aliases can be used beside arguments. For example:

 git ci -m "Commit message..."
 git co -b feature-42

Section 11.2: List / search existing aliases

You can list existing git aliases using --get-regexp:

$ git config --get-regexp '^alias\.'

Searching aliases

To search aliases, add the following to your .gitconfig under [alias]:

aliases = !git config --list | grep ^alias\\. | cut -c 7- | grep -Ei --color \"$1\" "#"

Then you can:

git aliases - show ALL aliases git aliases commit - only aliases containing "commit"

Section 11.3: Advanced Aliases

Git lets you use non-git commands and full sh shell syntax in your aliases if you prefix them with !.

In your ~/.gitconfig file:

[alias]
    temp = !git add -A && git commit -m "Temp"

The fact that full shell syntax is available in these prefixed aliases also means you can use shell functions to construct more complex aliases, such as ones which utilize command line arguments:

[alias]
    ignore = "!f() { echo $1 >> .gitignore; }; f"

The above alias defines the f function, then runs it with any arguments you pass to the alias. So running git ignore .tmp/ would add .tmp/ to your .gitignore file.

In fact, this pattern is so useful that Git defines $1, $2, etc. variables for you, so you don't even have to define a special function for it. (But keep in mind that Git will also append the arguments anyway, even if you access it via these variables, so you may want to add a dummy command at the end.)

Note that aliases prefixed with ! in this way are run from the root directory of your git checkout, even if your current directory is deeper in the tree. This can be a useful way to run a command from the root without having to cd there explicitly.

[alias]
    ignore = "! echo $1 >> .gitignore"

Section 11.4: Temporarily ignore tracked files

To temporarily mark a file as ignored (pass file as parameter to alias) - type:

unwatch = update-index --assume-unchanged

To start tracking file again - type:

watch = update-index --no-assume-unchanged

To list all files that has been temporarily ignored - type:

unwatched = "!git ls-files -v | grep '^[[:lower:]]'"

To clear the unwatched list - type:

watchall = "!git unwatched | xargs -L 1 -I % sh -c 'git watch `echo % | cut -c 2-`'"

Example of using the aliases:

git unwatch my_file.txt
git watch my_file.txt
git unwatched
git watchall

Section 11.5: Show pretty log with branch graph

[alias]
  logp=log --pretty=format:'%h %ad | %s%d [%an]' --graph --date=short

  lg =  log --graph --date-order --first-parent \
     --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%Creset %C(auto)%d%Creset %s %C(green)(%ad) %C(bold
cyan)<%an>%Creset'
  lgb = log --graph --date-order --branches --first-parent \
     --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%Creset %C(auto)%d%Creset %s %C(green)(%ad) %C(bold
cyan)<%an>%Creset'
 lga = log --graph --date-order --all \
   --pretty=format:'%C(auto)%h%Creset %C(auto)%d%Creset %s %C(green)(%ad) %C(bold
cyan)<%an>%Creset'

Here an explanation of the options and placeholder used in the --pretty format (exhaustive list are available with

git help log)

--graph - draw the commit tree

--date-order - use commit timestamp order when possible

--first-parent - follow only the first parent on merge node.

--branches - show all local branches (by default, only current branch is shown)

--all - show all local and remotes branches

%h - hash value for commit (abbreviated)

%ad - Date stamp (author)

%an - Author username

%an - Commit username

%C(auto) - to use colors defined in [color] section

%Creset - to reset color

%d - --decorate (branch & tag names)

%s - commit message

%ad - author date (will follow --date directive) (and not commiter date)

%an - author name (can be %cn for commiter name)

Section 11.6: See which files are being ignored by your .gitignore configuration

[ alias ]

    ignored = ! git ls-files --others --ignored --exclude-standard --directory \
            && git ls-files --others -i --exclude-standard

Shows one line per file, so you can grep (only directories):

$ git ignored | grep '/$'
.yardoc/
doc/

Or count:

~$ git ignored | wc -l
199811                 # oops, my home directory is getting crowded

Section 11.7: Updating code while keeping a linear history

Sometimes you need to keep a linear (non-branching) history of your code commits. If you are working on a branch for a while, this can be tricky if you have to do a regular git pull since that will record a merge with upstream.

[alias]
  up = pull --rebase

This will update with your upstream source, then reapply any work you have not pushed on top of whatever you pulled down.

To use:

git up

Section 11.8: Unstage staged files

Normally, to remove files that are staged to be committed using the git reset commit, reset has a lot of functions depending on the arguments provided to it. To completely unstage all files staged, we can make use of git aliases to create a new alias that uses reset but now we do not need to remember to provide the correct arguments to reset.

git config --global alias.unstage "reset --"

Now, any time you want to unstage stages files, type git unstage and you are good to go.