5 advanced Git tips to boost your productivity

Git is powerful, and without any doubt, it’s one of the most popular version control systems. There are many Git best practices, and Git tips are there which can help you to save your time. If you work with Git repositories to manage your codes and resources, you might be familiar with the commands that are commonly used.

And in this post, I will share 5 Git tips (and infographics) that will boost your productivity to the next level. So, let's dive into the actual discussion. Share it with your peers if it is helpful.

Parallel Programming in Git

This single Git tip can save valuable time, especially if you are working on different areas on one of the large projects. In Git, parallel programming is possible with the help of work trees.

Imagine you are working on a feature on a branch called "feature-login", and at the same time, you have to fix something urgent in the "support" branch. One way is to switch your branch (which is good if it's one time task) and the other way is adding a new work tree (it's good if you have two switch your branch quite often).

By default, you have the main work tree available for the "feature-login" branch, but you can create additional work trees known as linked work tree. By adding additional work trees, you can have another branch in the linked work tree. And once your work is complete on the Linked work tree, you can delete it.

Here are two important commands for parallel programming work trees

a. Add a new worktree

git worktree add <your_new_worktree_name>

b. Remove a worktree

git worktree remove <your_existing_worktree_name>

#2. Search in Your Git Repository (Like a Pro)

Git Search is helpful if you are trying to hunt for something within your project (in all repositories).

Let's take an example before we dive into the search. Imagine, you are trying to replace a string in your Git-based project (in all branches). The traditional way is to switch to your branch. And then search in that particular branch and repeat for all branches.

The other effective way is - search in all the branches at the same time, with one single Git command. Technically in this way, you will search in Git like a pro.

git rev-list --all | xargs git grep -F '<your_search_string>'

So here you are searching the term in all your repository, and your result will be displayed in a fraction of a second.

#3. Use Git Message Template (Enhanced Standards)

Git commit messages are important. They act as documentation for the developers. But many times, developers forgot to add a message with a commit or add the commit message that is not meet the standards.

You can set up a message template for your team. So the idea is whenever your teammate check-in changes in the repository, a standard template will open, and they just have to fill it. It is a two-step process:

a. Update the config to use the message template

git config commit.template ./gitmessage

b. Edit the message template file (gitmessage)

Here is a simple message template file content.

Why:
*
# 30-character subject line
# Please write a line for additional description

This simple message template will improve the standard of commit message in your team.

#4. See Your Commit Visually

Commits are acted as a mini version of documentation for developers. Here is the command which will show one-line commit messages with the author-name.

git log --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit --date=relative

#5. View all Conflicts

There are chances that during a merge, you might get conflicts. If the number of conflicts is low like 1 or 2, then it's easy to deal with.

And in there are more conflicts then there is a powerful git command that can help you to view all the conflicts at the same time. Here is the Git command:

git diff --name-only | uniq | xargs $EDITOR

And if you have all the conflicts in front of you, it's easy to deal with them.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that Git is powerful and one of the most popular distributed version control system. And if you use Git best practices & Git tips, you can get the most out of it.

Hope these Git tips can help you in saving your time and boost overall productivity. Also, I am sharing infographics for you below. Let me know your thoughts.