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Git Interview Questions

Git interview questions are like a quiz on the basics, such as the difference between Git, the tool, and GitHub, the website that hosts it.

In this page:

  1. What is the difference between Git and GitHub?
  2. What is the difference between merge and rebase?
  3. What does git stash do?
  4. What is a detached HEAD state?
  5. What is git cherry-pick?

What is the difference between Git and GitHub?

Git is the version control software itself — it works entirely offline and doesn't require any server. GitHub is a company's hosting service built on top of Git, adding a web UI, pull requests, issue tracking, and a remote place to store repositories — you could use Git fully without ever touching GitHub.

Example: What is the difference between Git and GitHub?

bash 
git init
# vs.
git remote add origin https://github.com/user/repo.git

What is the difference between merge and rebase?

A merge creates a new commit with two parents, preserving the exact shape of how both branches' histories actually happened, including every intermediate commit. A rebase replays your commits one by one onto a new base, producing a straight line with no merge commit — cleaner to read, but it rewrites commit hashes, which is unsafe on a branch others have already pulled.

Example: What is the difference between merge and rebase?

bash 
git merge feature-x
# vs.
git rebase main

What does git stash do?

git stash snapshots your uncommitted changes (staged and unstaged) onto a stack and resets your working directory to match the last commit, giving you a clean slate to switch tasks without committing unfinished work — you bring the changes back later with git stash pop.

Example: What does git stash do?

bash 
git stash
git stash pop

What is a detached HEAD state?

Checking out a commit hash or tag directly (instead of a branch name) puts HEAD in a "detached" state — you're on a specific commit rather than the tip of any branch, so any new commits you make there aren't attached to a branch and can be lost once you check out something else, unless you create a branch from that point first.

Example: What is a detached HEAD state?

bash 
git checkout a1b2c3d

What is git cherry-pick?

git cherry-pick <hash> takes one specific commit from anywhere in the repository's history — often another branch — and replays it as a new commit on your current branch, useful for pulling in a single fix without merging that branch's other, unrelated commits.

Example: What is git cherry-pick?

bash 
git cherry-pick a1b2c3d
Related Topics

Git Common Mistakes · Git Signing Commits & Tags · Git Security Best Practices · Git Commit Message Best Practices

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Common Mistakes
  1. Saying Git and GitHub are the same thing, when Git is the tool and GitHub is a hosting service.
  2. Describing git rebase as just another merge, without noting that it rewrites commits and should not be used on shared branches.
  3. Explaining git stash as saving changes permanently, when it is a temporary stack and untracked files need -u.
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