Git aliases I use every day

These are the git aliases I reach for constantly. Drop them in your ~/.gitconfig under [alias] and they are available as git <name>.

[alias]
  st = status -sb
  co = checkout
  br = branch
  ci = commit
  lg = log --oneline --graph --decorate -20
  last = log -1 HEAD --stat
  unstage = reset HEAD --
  amend = commit --amend --no-edit

The ones I use most

• git st gives a short, branch-aware status instead of the verbose default.
• git lg is a compact, graphed log of the last 20 commits, which is usually all I want to see.
• git unstage <file> takes something back out of the index without touching your changes.
• git amend folds staged changes into the last commit and keeps the message, which is perfect for a quick fixup before pushing.

A note on amend

Only amend commits you have not pushed yet. Rewriting a commit that is already shared means everyone else has to deal with the history change, which is rarely worth it.