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Cheat Sheet

repo: tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet
category: Development Environment

GitHub Cheat Sheet Awesome

A collection of cool hidden and not so hidden features of Git and GitHub. This cheat sheet was inspired by Zach Holman's Git and GitHub Secrets talk at Aloha Ruby Conference 2012 (slides) and his More Git and GitHub Secrets talk at WDCNZ 2013 (slides).

Shortlink: http://git.io/sheet

Read this in other languages: English, 한국어, 日本語, 简体中文, 正體中文.

GitHub Cheat Sheet is sponsored by Snapshot: create interactive professional-quality product photos using AI

Table of Contents

GitHub

Ignore Whitespace

Adding ?w=1 to any diff URL will remove any changes only in whitespace, enabling you to see only the code that has changed.

Diff without whitespace

Read more about GitHub secrets.

Adjust Tab Space

Adding ?ts=4 to a diff or file URL will display tab characters as 4 spaces wide instead of the default 8. The number after ts can be adjusted to suit your preference. This does not work on Gists, or raw file views, but a Chrome extension can automate this.

Here is a Go source file before adding ?ts=4:

Before, tab space example

...and this is after adding ?ts=4:

After, tab space example

Commit History by Author

To view all commits on a repo by author add ?author={user} to the URL.

https://github.com/rails/rails/commits/master?author=dhh
DHH commit history

Read more about the differences between commits views.

Cloning a Repository

When cloning a repository the .git can be left off the end.

$ git clone https://github.com/tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet

Read more about the Git clone command.

Branch

Compare all Branches to Another Branch

If you go to the repo's Branches page, next to the Commits button:

https://github.com/{user}/{repo}/branches

... you would see a list of all branches which are not merged into the main branch.

From here you can access the compare page or delete a branch with a click of a button.

Compare branches not merged into master in rails/rails repo - https://github.com/rails/rails/branches

Comparing Branches

To use GitHub to compare branches, change the URL to look like this:

https://github.com/{user}/{repo}/compare/{range}

where {range} = master...4-1-stable

For example:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master...4-1-stable
Rails branch compare example

{range} can be changed to things like:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master@{1.day.ago}...master
https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master@{2014-10-04}...master

Here, dates are in the format YYYY-MM-DD

Another compare example

Branches can also be compared in diff and patch views:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master...4-1-stable.diff
https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/master...4-1-stable.patch

Read more about comparing commits across time.

Compare Branches across Forked Repositories

To use GitHub to compare branches across forked repositories, change the URL to look like this:

https://github.com/{user}/{repo}/compare/{foreign-user}:{branch}...{own-branch}

For example:

https://github.com/rails/rails/compare/byroot:master...master
Forked branch compare

Gists

Gists are an easy way to work with small bits of code without creating a fully fledged repository.

Gist

Add .pibb to the end of any Gist URL (like this) in order to get the HTML-only version suitable for embedding in any other site.

Gists can be treated as a repository so they can be cloned like any other:

$ git clone https://gist.github.com/tiimgreen/10545817
Gists

This means you also can modify and push updates to Gists:

$ git commit
$ git push
Username for 'https://gist.github.com':
Password for 'https://[email protected]':

However, Gists do not support directories. All files need to be added to the repository root. Read more about creating Gists.

Git.io

Git.io is a simple URL shortener for GitHub.

Git.io

You can also use it via pure HTTP using Curl:

$ curl -i http://git.io -F "url=https://github.com/..."
HTTP/1.1 201 Created
Location: http://git.io/abc123

$ curl -i http://git.io/abc123
HTTP/1.1 302 Found
Location: https://github.com/...

Read more about Git.io.

Keyboard Shortcuts

When on a repository page, keyboard shortcuts allow you to navigate easily.

  • Pressing t will bring up a file explorer.
  • Pressing w will bring up the branch selector.
  • Pressing s will focus the search field for the current repository. Pressing ↓ to select the “All GitHub” option changes the field to search all of GitHub.
  • Pressing l will edit labels on existing Issues.
  • Pressing y when looking at a file (e.g., https://github.com/tiimgreen/github-cheat-sheet/blob/master/README.md) will change your URL to one which, in effect, freezes the page you are looking at. If this code changes, you will still be able to see what you saw at that current time.

To see all of the shortcuts for the current page press ?:

Keyboard shortcuts

Read more about search syntax you can use.

Line Highlighting in Repositories

Either adding, e.g., #L52 to the end of a code file URL or simply clicking the line number will highlight that line number.

It also works with ranges, e.g., #L53-L60, to select ranges, hold shift and click two lines:

https://github.com/rails/rails/blob/master/activemodel/lib/active_model.rb#L53-L60
Line Highlighting

Closing Issues via Commit Messages

If a particular commit fixes an issue, any of the keywords fix/fixes/fixed, close/closes/closed or resolve/resolves/resolved, followed by the issue number, will close the issue once it is committed to the repository's default branch.

$ git commit -m "Fix screwup, fixes #12"

This closes the issue and references the closing commit.

Closing Repo

Read more about closing Issues via commit messages.

If you want to link to another issue in the same repository, simply type hash # then the issue number, and it will be auto-linked.

To link to an issue in another repository, {user}/{repo}#ISSUE_NUMBER, e.g., tiimgreen/toc#12.

Cross-Link Issues

Locking Conversations

Pull Requests and Issues can now be locked by owners or collaborators of the repo.

Lock conversation

This means that users who are not collaborators on the project will no longer be able to comment.

Comments locked

Read more about locking conversations.

CI Status on Pull Requests

If set up correctly, every time you receive a Pull Request, Travis CI will build that Pull Request just like it would every time you make a new commit. Read more about how to get started with Travis CI.

Travis CI status

Read more about the commit status API.

Filters

Both issues and pull requests allow filtering in the user interface.

For the Rails repo: https://github.com/rails/rails/issues, the following filter is built by selecting the label "activerecord":

is:issue label:activerecord

But, you can also find all issues that are NOT labeled activerecord:

is:issue -label:activerecord

Additionally, this also works for pull requests:

is:pr -label:activerecord

Github has tabs for displaying open or closed issues and pull requests but you can also see merged pull requests. Just put the following in the filter:

is:merged

Read more about searching issues.

Finally, github now allows you to filter by the Status API's status.

Pull requests with only successful statuses:

status:success

Read more about searching on the Status API.

Syntax Highlighting in Markdown Files

For example, to syntax highlight Ruby code in your Markdown files write:

```ruby
require 'tabbit'
table = Tabbit.new('Name', 'Email')
table.add_row('Tim Green', '[email protected]')
puts table.to_s
```

This will produce:

require 'tabbit'
table = Tabbit.new('Name', 'Email')
table.add_row('Tim Green', '[email protected]')
puts table.to_s

GitHub uses Linguist to perform language detection and syntax highlighting. You can find out which keywords are valid by perusing the languages YAML file.

Read more about GitHub Flavored Markdown.

Emojis

Emojis can be added to Pull Requests, Issues, commit messages, repository descriptions, etc. using :name_of_emoji:.

The full list of supported Emojis on GitHub can be found at emoji-cheat-sheet.com or scotch-io/All-Github-Emoji-Icons. A handy emoji search engine can be found at emoji.muan.co.

The top 5 used Emojis on GitHub are:

  1. :shipit:
  2. :sparkles:
  3. :-1:
  4. :+1:
  5. :clap:

Images/GIFs

Images and GIFs can be added to comments, READMEs etc.:

![Alt Text](http://www.sheawong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/keephatin.gif)

Raw images from the repo can be used by calling them directly.:

![Alt Text](https://github.com/{user}/{repo}/raw/master/path/to/image.gif)
Peter don't care

All images are cached on GitHub, so if your host goes down, the image will remain available.

Embedding Images in GitHub Wiki

There are multiple ways of embedding images in Wiki pages. There's the standard Markdown syntax (shown above). But there's also a syntax that allows things like specifying the height or width of the image:

[[ http://www.sheawong.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/keephatin.gif | height = 100px ]]

Which produces:

Just a screenshot

Quick Quoting

When on a comment thread and you want to quote something someone previously said, highlight the text and press r, this will copy it into your text box in the block-quote format.

Quick Quote

Read more about quick quoting.

Pasting Clipboard Image to Comments

(Works on Chrome browsers only)

After taking a screenshot and adding it to the clipboard (mac: cmd-ctrl-shift-4), you can simply paste (cmd-v / ctrl-v) the image into the comment section and it will be auto-uploaded to github.

Pasting Clipboard Image to Comments

Read more about issue attachments.

Quick Licensing

When creating a repository, GitHub gives you the option of adding in a pre-made license:

License

You can also add them to existing repositories by creating a new file through the web interface. When the name LICENSE is typed in you will get an option to use a template:

License

Also works for .gitignore.

Read more about open source licensing.

Task Lists

In Issues and Pull requests check boxes can be added with the following syntax (notice the space):

- [ ] Be [awesome](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/miscellaneous/awesome)
- [ ] Prepare dinner
  - [ ] Research recipe
  - [ ] Buy ingredients
  - [ ] Cook recipe
- [ ] Sleep
Task List

When they are clicked, they will be updated in the pure Markdown:

- [x] Be [awesome](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/miscellaneous/awesome)
- [ ] Prepare dinner
  - [x] Research recipe
  - [x] Buy ingredients
  - [ ] Cook recipe
- [ ] Sleep

Read more about task lists.

Task Lists in Markdown Documents

In full Markdown documents read-only checklists can now be added using the following syntax:

- [ ] Mercury
- [x] Venus
- [x] [Earth](/@harrisonqian/awesome/wiki/miscellaneous/earth)
  - [x] Moon
- [x] Mars
  - [ ] Deimos
  - [ ] Phobos
  • [ ] Mercury
  • [x] Venus
  • [x] Earth
    • [x] Moon
  • [x] Mars
    • [ ] Deimos
    • [ ] Phobos

Read more about task lists in markdown documents.

Relative links are recommended in your Markdown files when linking to internal content.

[Link to a header](#awesome-section)
[Link to a file](docs/readme)

Absolute links have to be updated whenever the URL changes (e.g., repository renamed, username changed, project forked). Using relative links makes your documentation easily stand on its own.

Read more about relative links.

Metadata and Plugin Support for GitHub Pages

Within Jekyll pages and posts, repository information is available within the site.github namespace, and can be displayed, for example, using {{ site.github.project_title }}.

The Jemoji and jekyll-mentions plugins enable emoji and @mentions in your Jekyll posts and pages to work just like you'd expect when interacting with a repository on GitHub.com.

Read more about repository metadata and plugin support for GitHub Pages.

Viewing YAML Metadata in your Documents

Many blogging websites, like Jekyll with GitHub Pages, depend on some YAML-formatted metadata at the beginning of your post. GitHub will render this metadata as a horizontal table, for easier reading

YAML metadata

Read more about viewing YAML metadata in your documents.

truncated — full list on GitHub

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