Setting up an Alias

Repeating the same git commands over and over again can be such a waste of time! And some of the most powerful ones are usually quite long and impossible to memorize.

That’s why aliases have been introduced!

Setting up an alias is really simple, just open up a terminal and type

git config --global alias.[commandName] [long command]

For example: git config --global alias.st 'status'

In this case, if I call git st, it will give me the result of git status.

Ok, this was easy, but what about long commands such as this one?

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

You don’t want to write it every single time, right?

Just run this:

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"

And you never have to remember this long command again!

Look at how cool and colorful this log is, by just using git lg:

Understanding Aliases

If with these two examples you agree with me that aliases are cool, let me give you some more information you should have, in order to use aliases mindfully. Later on, I’ll also share with you a list of other smart aliases you might find useful.

You can find everything in the video down below, where I also show:

• How to easily edit aliases without setting them from terminal
• How to use the bang operator ! (aka exclamation mark)
• How this this weird syntax is useful: "!f(){ [some commands here] }; f"
• A list of cool aliases to set up for you

See aliases in action

You can watch the video on YouTube, or directly here from the embedded player:

If you have some cool aliases to share, feel free to drop them here in a comment, thank you!

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Leonardo MontiniFollow

Awarded GitHub Star since 2023 ⭐️ and Microsoft MVP since 2024 🔷 I talk about Open Source, GitHub, and Web Development. I also run a YouTube channel called DevLeonardo, see you there!