One of the most frequently used Git commands. In its simplest form, you just type git status. It's part of most developers' daily routine because it gives you a quick snapshot of your repository's current state — which branch you're on, which files are staged, unstaged, or untracked. The output can be customized with various flags.

This is the command you run when you think "what did I even change?" before making a commit.

Depending on the flags you pass, the output can be simplified or expanded. These flags can be grouped under three categories: output format, detail and content filtering, and comparison and rename detection.

A) OUTPUT FORMAT:

  • --short (or -s): Displays each file on a single line using a two-character status code. The left character represents the staging area, the right represents the working directory. Both can be set if a file has changes in both areas. git status -s output codes
    Character Meaning Where it appears
    ' ' Unmodified Left or right
    M Modified Left or right
    A Added Left
    D Deleted Left or right
    R Renamed Left
    ? Untracked Both
    ! Ignored Both
  • --branch (or -b): Adds branch information to the output, including how many commits ahead or behind you are compared to the upstream branch. Usually combined with -s.
    Tip: git status -sb is a popular daily driver — compact output with branch context at a glance.
  • --show-stash: Includes the number of stashed entries in the output.
    Useful for catching stashes you forgot about. Adds a line like Your stash currently has 2 entries to the output.

B) DETAIL AND CONTENT FILTERING:

  • --untracked-files (or -u): Controls how untracked files are displayed. Three modes are available:

    1. -uno: Hide untracked files entirely
    2. -unormal: (default) Show only the directory name, not its contents
    3. -uall: List every untracked file individually

  • --ignored: By default, files matched by .gitignore are hidden. Use this flag when you're trying to figure out why a file isn't being tracked.

  • --verbose (or -v): Shows not just the names of staged files, but their actual line-by-line diff. Using -vv also includes unstaged changes.

C) COMPARISON AND RENAME DETECTION:

  • --ahead-behind / --no-ahead-behind: Shows or hides how many commits your local branch is ahead of or behind its upstream.

Advanced rename detection:

  • --find-renames[=n]: Git can detect that a deleted file and a newly added file are actually the same file renamed, based on content similarity. n sets the similarity threshold (0–100). For example, --find-renames=80 treats files with 80% matching content as renames. The default threshold is around 50%.

  • --no-renames: Disables rename detection entirely. Git will always show a rename as a separate delete and untracked file.

Flag Shorthand What it does Frequency
--short -s Compact one-line output per file ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
--branch -b Adds branch name and upstream diff ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
--untracked-files -u Controls how untracked files are listed ⭐⭐⭐
--show-stash — Shows the number of stashed entries ⭐⭐
--ignored — Lists files ignored by .gitignore ⭐⭐
--verbose -v Shows line-by-line diff of staged files ⭐⭐
--ahead-behind — Shows/hides upstream commit difference ⭐⭐
--find-renames — Detects renamed files by content similarity ⭐
--no-renames — Disables rename detection ⭐

For all available flags: git status --help

After reading the git status output, the next step is usually staging your changes or making a commit. Continue with git add or git commit.