Git and GitHub for Beginners #2
Getting started with Git
First of all, go to the official website of Git and install git on your device. The installation process is simple, you can just follow the documentation given on the site and it will be installed easily.
Once the installation is complete, search Git Bash in your PC and open it. Git Bash is a terminal for git just like command prompt and powershell in Windows.
(PS: Git Bash is not compulsory to use. Git commands can be executed even in other terminals like command prompt or powershell.)
Basic commands and Set Up
- Checking installation:
Once you open the Git Bash, type the first command:
git
On executing the above command, it gives a list of various commands which can be executing in Git. This helps us to check if git is properly installed in our system or not. The output will be something like this: (You can ignore the below code, it is just a check if git is properly installed.)
usage: git [--version] [--help] [-C <path>] [-c <name>=<value>][--exec-path[=<path>]] [--html-path] [--man-path] [--info-path][-p | --paginate | -P | --no-pager] [--no-replace-objects] [--bare][--git-dir=<path>] [--work-tree=<path>] [--namespace=<name>]<command> [<args>]These are common Git commands used in various situations:start a working area (see also: git help tutorial)clone Clone a repository into a new directoryinit Create an empty Git repository or reinitialize an existing onework on the current change (see also: git help everyday)add Add file contents to the indexmv Move or rename a file, a directory, or a symlinkrestore Restore working tree filesrm Remove files from the working tree and from the indexexamine the history and state (see also: git help revisions)bisect Use binary search to find the commit that introduced a bugdiff Show changes between commits, commit and working tree, etcgrep Print lines matching a patternlog Show commit logsshow Show various types of objectsstatus Show the working tree statusgrow, mark and tweak your common historybranch List, create, or delete branchescommit Record changes to the repositorymerge Join two or more development histories togetherrebase Reapply commits on top of another base tipreset Reset current HEAD to the specified stateswitch Switch branchestag Create, list, delete or verify a tag object signed with GPGcollaborate (see also: git help workflows)fetch Download objects and refs from another repositorypull Fetch from and integrate with another repository or a local branchpush Update remote refs along with associated objects'git help -a' and 'git help -g' list available subcommands and someconcept guides. See 'git help <command>' or 'git help <concept>'to read about a specific subcommand or concept.See 'git help git' for an overview of the system.
- Checking git version:
Type in the following command to check your git version:
git --version
It will give output something like this:
git version 2.24.1.windows.2
- Checking status of our repository:
Type in the following command:
git status
Executing the above command will give us a warning:
fatal: not a git repository (or any of the parent directories): .git
The above warning is because currently we have not initialized any repository. Thus, we first need to initialize a git repository before checking its status.
- Initializing a Git Repository:
First go to any folder containing your project. (It can even be an empty folder.) Open the Git Bash over there and type the following command:
git init
The above command initializes an empty git repository in your directory, and gives output something like this:
Initialized empty Git repository in D:/gitMediumBlog/.git/
Now try checking status of your repository using the command stated earlier. The output will be something as follows:
On branch masterNo commits yetUntracked files:
(use “git add <file>…” to include in what will be committed)
hello world.pynothing added to commit but untracked files present (use “git add” to track)
So congratulations! You have been able to make your first git repository!
At this stage, you might be curious to know about other git commands like “git add” and “git commit” but before that you should have a thorough knowledge of Git architecture, which will be discussed in my next blog.
Just knowing the git commands is not fruitful, you should even know what goes behind the scenes
Half-knowledge is worse than ignorance.
Thanks for reading :)
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