# A Bunch Of Useful Github Features You Probably Don’t Know 🔥 **URL:** \ **Category:** Tutorials & Methods\ **Tags:** tips-tricks\ **Created:** [December 13, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/a-bunch-of-useful-github-features-you-probably-don-t-know/209394 "2021-12-13T12:20:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TheStrength](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/thestrength/32/46753_2.png) [@TheStrength](https://onehack.st/u/TheStrength)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 12:20pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/a-bunch-of-useful-github-features-you-probably-don-t-know/209394/1 "2021-12-13T12:20:28Z")
[Github](https://github.com/) is now the place where programmers and designers work together. They collaborate, contribute, and fix bugs. It also **hosts plenty of open source projects and codes of various programming languages**. What’s more, Github also released a desktop application for both [Windows](https://windows.github.com/) and [macOS](https://mac.github.com/) that allows anyone to integrate Github within their workflow seamlessly. `(Written by Thoriq Firdaus)` But, there is more to Github than meets the eye. A number of features are somewhat hidden beneath the neat user interface and hence are overlooked by many. So, here are **10 Github features that you might not know**. #### 1. Drag and Drop Gist Code [Gist](https://gist.github.com/) is Github’s very own facility that allows you to host code snippets. You can also **browse and find a large number of code snippets of a variety of languages**. Using Gist is downright easy and should be intuitive. But, did you know that **you can add codes directly from files**? Simply drag and drop the files on the Gist, the codes within the files will be immediately copied. It’s quick and saves you a lot of time! ![drag drop](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/drag-n-drop.gif) #### 2. Creating a folder via the Web Interface While many of us may manage Github repositories through the free Github app, Github has also built what they called WebFlow. It **allows us to manage repositories through Github’s web interface**. And this is how you **create new folders or files in directly in Github**. End each new input with a `/` to create a new folder. Or, specify a file extension and hit Commit a New File to create a new file. ![creating folder](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-new-files.gif) #### 3. Using Git URL Shortener These days people like sharing things from their photos, statuses, and news in Twitter. If you are a Github user, you might also want to **share your Github repository**. Yet, the repository URL is sometimes too long to be shared in Twitter, which only accepts 140 characters. Certainly there are plenty of options to shorten the URL like [Bit.ly](https://bitly.com/) and [Goo.gl](https://goo.gl/), but why not consider using Github’s very own facility, [Git.io](https://git.io/)? [Git.io](http://Git.io) will shorten the URL of your Github repository. There is also [the command line interface for Git.io](https://github.com/cocoahero/gitio) to shorten the URL through Terminal using the `gitio` command. ![git url shorterner](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/git-io.jpg) #### 4. File Finder Besides creating new files, you can also **navigate through the files in any repository quickly**. This feature is not visibly obvious as it comes in the form of a **keyboard shortcut**. Hit the T key to activate File Finder. Press the ↑ and ↑ jump over files up and down. Or, type the file name to select a specific file you already have in mind. ![file finder](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-file-finder.gif) #### 5. Using Github Emoji Emojis or emoticons are tiny icons that depict an expression of some sort (mostly in the form of faces). In Facebook and Twitter, **people often express their feelings with emojis**. Actually, **you can also show emojis in Github**. Find all the Emoji characters and codes in [the Emoji Cheat Sheet](http://www.emoji-cheat-sheet.com/). The emojis can be added in README.md file of the repository, Wiki, and in the Issues thread. ![github emoji](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-emoji.jpg) #### 6. Using Github Command Line Interface Whilst most people like working using a GUI, there are still some who prefer using CLI (Command Line Interface). This is where [Github CLI](https://github.com/github/hub) comes in. Github CLI is initiated with `hub`. It **brings extra commands that can be used** along with the `git` commands. The full list of the features can be found in [the Hub repository page](https://github.com/github/hub). ![github command line](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-hub.jpg) #### 7. Linking Lines Sometimes, you might want to **share and point out specific lines within the file of your repository**. Github allows you to do this by adding `#L` followed by the line number at the end of file URL (take a look at the example below). You can also **select a range of lines by specifying the starting and end lines** within the `#L` parameter. The `#L10-15`, as an example, selects line 10 to 15. ![linking lines](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-linking-lines.jpg) #### 8. Task Checklist Github **extends markdown to cater to its own need**. Now you can add a list of checkboxes in Github using `- []` or `- [x]` to denote a checked item. Please note that the checkbox will only appear in a list item; the `[]` sign have to be initiated with a dash sign `‐`. Here is an example: ```auto - [x] create a post. - [x] create a page. - [x] add images. - [] published the post. ``` This code will turn into: ![checklist](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-checklist.jpg) #### 9. Map, CSV and 3D Rendering Gihub supports CSV. If you include a .csv file, Github will **render your CSV file into an interactive tabular data format**. It even allows you to search through it. Aside CSV, Github will also automatically render Map with the [STL extension](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STL_(file_format)). ![map csv](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/github-map.jpg) #### 10. Get Octodex Last but not least, did you know that Github has **a variety of versions** of its mascot, **Octocat**? Google has its Doodle, while Github has [Octodex](https://octodex.github.com/). Octodex is a collection of creative alternate version of Octocat. There, you can find Labtocat, Femalecodertocat, Octoliberty, Spidertocat, Megacat, and a bunch of other cool Octocats. You can use Octodex as you personal avatar. Refer to the [FAQ page](https://octodex.github.com/faq/) for more on the use policy of Octodex. ![Octodex](https://assets.hongkiat.com/uploads/github-overlooked-features/octodex.jpg) **Happy learning!** ---
**Author:** ![leejiacheng1](https://onehack.st/user_avatar/onehack.st/leejiacheng1/32/94426_2.png) [@leejiacheng1](https://onehack.st/u/leejiacheng1)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2021, 9:28pm UTC](https://onehack.st/t/a-bunch-of-useful-github-features-you-probably-don-t-know/209394/2 "2021-12-13T21:28:35Z")
Thanks for these great features. Appreciate 👍