Creating aliases to execute Git commands more effectively.

Last week, I discussed with a friend how we can use the Git Bash console to create simple aliases that make executing Git commands more convenient and efficient. I use Visual Studio Code on my Windows machine, and the default terminal in it is Git Bash.

To start, I opened my user directory by pressing Win+R and typing %USERPROFILE%.

Next, I created a .bashrc file and added the following lines:

alias gs='git status'
alias gaa='git add --all'
alias gcm='git commit -m'
alias gpl='git pull'
alias gps='git push'
alias amend='git commit --amend --no-edit'
alias amendm='git commit --amend -m'
alias gcb='git checkout -b'
alias gco='git checkout main'
alias gm='git merge'
alias gb='git branch'
alias gbd='git branch -d'
alias gsc='git switch -c'
alias gsm='git switch main'

After saving the file, I closed the Git Bash terminal in VSCode and reopened it. Now, when I run the alias command, I can see all the aliases listed. If I ever forget an alias, I can simply execute alias to view them.

Finally, I can now execute an alias command like gaa in Git Bash, which results in running the command I wrote in my .bashrc file, git add --all, making it easy to stage all changes across the repository.