GitHub cheatsheet
This article provides a quick reference to the essential commands you'll need when using Git and GitHub to contribute to MDN. If you are new to these tools and need a helping hand, our GitHub for complete beginners tutorial teaches the basics.
Cloning
git clone the-repo-url
Setting up a remote
git remote add remote-name repo-you-want-to-point-to
View remotes list
git remote -v
Preparing to make a change to the repo
Switch to the main branch
git switch main
Update your main branch
git fetch remote-name
git rebase remote-name/main
git push
Get your branch locally and switch to it
git pull
git switch new-branch
Get latest status
git status
Adding, committing, and pushing changes
git add path-to-changed-file
git commit -m 'my commit message'
git push
Troubleshooting
Reverting a change you made to a file that you haven't yet added to the commit list
git restore file-path
Removing a file from the commit list
git restore --staged file-path
Reversing the last commit
git reset HEAD~1
Reversing a commit that has been pushed to the remote fork
git revert HEAD
git push
Note: Another way to handle getting rid of files that have ended up in pull requests that you don't want to be there is to use the GitHub UI. Go to your pull request's page on github.com, go to the "Files changed" tab, and find the file you want to remove from the pull request. At the top right of the file's box in the page there will be a "three dot" (...) menu. Press this button and choose "Delete file". In the confirmation page, enter a title for the new commit, make sure the "Commit directly..." checkbox is selected, and press the "Commit changes" button.
Want to see more?
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