Advanced Git Techniques for Developers

# Interactive rebase to clean up commit history
git rebase -i HEAD~3

# Squash multiple commits into one
# In the editor, change 'pick' to 'squash' for commits to combine

# Rebase feature branch onto latest main
git checkout feature-branch
git rebase main

# Force push after rebase (use with caution)
git push, force-with-lease origin feature-branch

# Selective staging with patch mode
git add -p filename.js
# Use 'y' to stage hunk, 'n' to skip, 's' to split

# Interactive rebase for last 3 commits
git rebase -i HEAD~3
# Options: pick, reword, edit, squash, fixup, drop

# Cherry-pick specific commit from another branch
git cherry-pick abc1234

# Stash with message and include untracked files
git stash push -u -m "WIP: implementing user auth"

# Binary search for bug introduction
git bisect start
git bisect bad          # Current commit is bad
git bisect good v1.0    # v1.0 was working
# Git will check out commits for you to test

# Configure VS Code as merge tool
git config, global merge.tool vscode
git config, global mergetool.vscode.cmd 'code, wait $MERGED'

# Start merge tool for conflicts
git mergetool

# Show conflicts in a more readable format
git config, global merge.conflictstyle diff3

# Abort merge if it's too complex
git merge, abort

# Continue rebase after resolving conflicts
git rebase, continue

# Skip problematic commit during rebase
git rebase, skip

# Pre-commit hook example (save as .git/hooks/pre-commit)
#!/bin/sh
# Run linter before allowing commit
npm run lint
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Linting failed. Please fix errors before committing."
  exit 1
fi

# Make hook executable
chmod +x .git/hooks/pre-commit

# Pre-push hook to run tests
#!/bin/sh
# Run tests before allowing push
npm test
if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
  echo "Tests failed. Please fix before pushing."
  exit 1
fi

# Find when a bug was introduced with bisect
git bisect start
git bisect bad                    # Current commit has bug
git bisect good v2.1.0           # This version was working
# Git checks out middle commit - test and mark good/bad
git bisect good  # or git bisect bad
# Repeat until Git identifies the problematic commit
git bisect reset  # Return to original state

# See who changed a specific line
git blame filename.js

# Show changes for specific lines
git blame -L 10,20 filename.js

# Search commit messages
git log, grep="user auth"

# Find commits that changed specific text
git log -S "function authenticate", oneline

# Show commits that touched a specific file
git log, follow, filename.js

# Shallow clone for faster initial download
git clone, depth 1 https://github.com/large/repo.git

# Sparse checkout to work with subset of files
git config core.sparseCheckout true
echo "src/frontend/*" > .git/info/sparse-checkout
git read-tree -m -u HEAD

# Clean up repository
git gc, aggressive, prune=now

# Find large files in repository
git rev-list, objects, all \
| git cat-file, batch-check='%(objecttype) %(objectname) %(objectsize) %(rest)' \
| awk '/^blob/ {print substr($0,6)}' \
| sort, numeric-sort, key=2 \
| tail -10

# Remove file from entire history (use carefully)
git filter-branch, force, index-filter \
  'git rm, cached, ignore-unmatch path/to/large-file.zip' \
, prune-empty, tag-name-filter cat,, all

# Essential Git aliases
git config, global alias.st status
git config, global alias.co checkout
git config, global alias.br branch
git config, global alias.cm 'commit -m'
git config, global alias.lg "log, color, graph, pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset', abbrev-commit"
git config, global alias.unstage 'reset HEAD, '
git config, global alias.last 'log -1 HEAD'

# Improve default behavior
git config, global push.default simple
git config, global pull.rebase true
git config, global rebase.autoStash true
git config, global core.editor "code, wait"

# Better diff and merge tools
git config, global diff.tool vscode
git config, global difftool.vscode.cmd 'code, wait, diff $LOCAL $REMOTE'
git config, global merge.tool vscode
git config, global mergetool.vscode.cmd 'code, wait $MERGED'

# Automatically setup remote tracking
git config, global branch.autosetupmerge always
git config, global branch.autosetuprebase always