Advanced Operations

Why it matters

These commands separate beginners from power users. Master them to handle complex situations with confidence.

Key concepts

• cherry-pick — Copy specific commits to current branch
• bisect — Binary search to find bug-introducing commit
• stash — Temporarily save uncommitted changes
• rebase -i — Interactive rebase to edit commit history

The idea

The Power Tools

cherry-pick: Copy a single commit to another branch. Like copying one chapter from one book to another.

bisect: Find which commit introduced a bug. Binary search through history—incredibly efficient.

stash: Temporarily hide changes. Like putting papers in a drawer while you clean your desk.

rebase -i: Rewrite history. Edit, squash, reorder, or drop commits before sharing.

Walkthrough

Cherry-Pick

# Copy commit abc123 to current branch
git cherry-pick abc123

# Cherry-pick without committing (just apply changes)
git cherry-pick --no-commit abc123

# Cherry-pick a range
git cherry-pick abc123..def456

Use case: Backport a bugfix from main to a release branch.

Bisect (Binary Search for Bugs)

# Start bisect session
git bisect start

# Mark current commit as bad
git bisect bad

# Mark known good commit
git bisect good v1.0

# Git checks out middle commit
# Test, then mark it:
git bisect good  # or
git bisect bad

# Repeat until Git finds the culprit
# When done:
git bisect reset

Automated bisect:

git bisect run ./test-script.sh
# Returns 0 = good, 1+ = bad

Stash

# Save current changes
git stash

# Save with message
git stash push -m "Work in progress on login"

# List stashes
git stash list

# Apply most recent stash (keep in list)
git stash apply

# Apply and remove from list
git stash pop

# Apply specific stash
git stash apply stash@{2}

# Drop a stash
git stash drop stash@{0}

Interactive Rebase

# Rebase last 5 commits interactively
git rebase -i HEAD~5

Opens editor with commands:

pick abc123 First commit
pick def456 Second commit
squash ghi789 Third commit (squash into second)
reword jkl012 Fourth commit (edit message)
drop mno345 Fifth commit (remove entirely)

Commands:

• pick: Keep commit as-is
• reword: Keep commit, edit message
• squash: Combine with previous commit
• fixup: Like squash but discard message
• drop: Remove commit entirely
• edit: Pause to amend commit

Key takeaways

• cherry-pick for selective backporting
• bisect finds bugs in O(log n) commits
• stash saves WIP without committing
• rebase -i cleans history before sharing

Dos & don’ts

✅ DO

• Use stash for quick context switches: Don’t commit WIP
• Use bisect for mysterious regressions: Let Git find the bug
• Squash before pushing: Clean history is easier to review
• Use —fixup with rebase: git commit --fixup abc123 + git rebase -i --autosquash

❌ DON’T

• Don’t cherry-pick carelessly: Creates duplicate commits
• Don’t rebase -i pushed commits: Rewrites public history
• Don’t forget stashed changes: They expire after 90 days

Going deeper

The reflog protects you: Even after dangerous operations, reflog keeps references for 90 days. git reflog shows all HEAD movements. You can recover almost anything.

Autosquash workflow:

1. Make fix: git commit --fixup abc123
2. Later: git rebase -i --autosquash main
3. Git automatically reorders and squashes

Common mistakes

Cherry-pick conflicts: The commit may depend on earlier changes not present in target branch. You’ll need to resolve conflicts manually.

Interactive rebase on wrong branch: Always double-check which branch you’re on before rebase -i. git branch shows current branch with asterisk.