git commands

Here are a few relatively common (and handy) git commands.

There is also an extremely useful, and comprehensive, official git cheat-sheet.

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Seeing the commit log

You can inspect commit messages on a branch (e.g. main) and their commit checksums: -

git log main --pretty=oneline

Display tags

Here we list tags that start "2026.": -

git tag -l "2026.*"

You can also get detailed for a tag

include who made it, when and the message: -

git show 2026.01.1

Checkout a tag

git checkout 2026.02.1

Creating a tag

Annotated tags are preferred over lightweight tags.

we provide -a to indicate it's annotated and then

provide a simple message on the command-line.

Alternatively, omit the -m and its message

to enter an editor where you can provide a more detailed

message.

git tag -a 2026.02.2 -m "Release 2026.02.2"

Creating a tag (for a prior commit)

To tag a prior commit, you simply have to add the commit checksum

(or part of it) to the end of the tag command:-

git tag -a 2026.02.2 9fceb02

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