git config --global user.name “[firstname lastname]”
name to be used to identify user changes

git config --global user.email “[valid-email]”
set an email address that will be associated with each history marker 

git config --global color.ui auto
set automatic command line coloring for Git for easy reviewing

git init
initialize an existing directory as a Git repository

git clone [url]
retrieve an entire repository from a hosted location via URL

Some commands used when first setting up git version control for a project.

rm [file]
remove files from working directory

git rm [file]
remove files from staging area and working directory if it exists

git mv [existing-path] [new-path]
lets you move files around, file you want to move, to file you want to move it to  

git log --stat -M
show all commit logs with indication of any paths that moved

Information...

git rebase [branch]
apply any commits of current branch ahead of specified one

git reset --hard [commit]
clear staging area, rewrite working tree from specified commit 

Rewriting branches, updating commits and clearing history.

git stash
Save modified and staged changes

git stash list
list stack-order of stashed file changes

git stash pop
write working from top of stash stack

git stash drop
discard the changes from top of stash stack

Temporarily store modified, tracked files in order to change branches.

Three states every file goes through:
1. Modified: changes to a working directory, don't want to 
include all changes so only add files wanted to staging area  
2. Staged: changed files that you are going to commit 
3. Committed: the changed files that are added to the git repository 

git status
see what state the project files are in

git add [file]
add a file to the staging area, tracks changes

git reset [file]
unstage a file while retaining the changes in working directory

git diff
difference of what is changed, not staged compared to what is staged

git diff --staged
difference of what is staged, staged compared to previous commit

git commit -m "[useful message]"
commit your staged files

Commands used to add file changes to the staging area and to commit those changes to the git repo.

git log
show the commit history for the currently active branch  

git log branchB..branchA
show the commits on branchA that are not on branchB  

git log --follow [file]
show the commits that changed file, even across renames

git diff branchB...branchA
show the diff of what is in branchA that is not in branchB 

git show [SHA]
show any object in Git in human-readable format

Examining logs, diffs and object information.

logs/
*.notes
pattern*/
Save a file with desired patterns as .gitignore with either direct string 
matches or wildcard globs.

git config --global core.excludesfile [file]
system wide ignore pattern for all local repositories

Preventing unintentional staging or commiting of files.

git branch
list your branches. a * will appear next to the currently active branch

git branch [branch-name]
create a new branch at the current commit

git checkout
switch between branches and check it out into your working directory

git checkout -- [file]
if specifying file names, contents of those files will be overwritten with last committed versions 
or to undo a deletion of a file 

git merge [branch]
merge the specified branch’s history into the current one

git log
shows changes the repository's history of commits

git log -p
shows the lines that were added in each file commited
if output is too long, use up and down arrow keys, press q to quit and return 

Information...

git remote add [alias] [url]
add a git URL as an alias

git fetch [alias]
fetch down all the branches from that Git remote

git merge [alias]/[branch]
merge a remote branch into your current branch to bring it up to date  

git push [alias] [branch]
Transmit local branch commits to the remote repository branch

git pull
fetch and merge any commits from the tracking remote branch

Retrieving updates from another repository and updating local repos.