The git book is a thorough and helpful introduction to installing and setting up git. Sections 1 Getting Started and 2 Git Basics cover everything we expect plus a little extra. Below we review the commands we expect you to know, plus a summary of usage and a link to more information.
- Create a new repo (
git init) - Get an existing repo (
git clone) - Stage changes for commit (
git add) - Commit changes (
git commit) - Push changes to remote (
git push) - Get updates (
git pull) - Check the current status (
git status,git diff,git diff --cached)
git init creates a new repository from a directory.
For more details, see initializing a repository in directory.
git clone makes a local copy of someone else's repository.
The other repository can be hosted anywhere - on Github, Gitlab, or someone else's computer.
For more details see cloning an existing repository.
git add will tell git to track changes to a file.
Adding a file also stages the changes made to that file for committing.
The changes are not actually saved until git commit is run.
For more details, see tracking new files.
git commit saves the staged changes to git.
A commit stores the name & email of the person who wrote it, the date the change was made, its parent, and the changes themselves.
For more details, see committing your changes.
git push sends all commits to someone else's repository.
If you used git clone, by default they are sent to origin, which is the repository you cloned from.
For more details, see pushing to your remote.
git pull updates your local copy with changes from someone else's repository.
If you used git clone, by default the changes are fetched from origin, which is the repository you cloned from.
For more details, see pulling from your remote.
git status shows what git currently knows about the files in the repository.
It show what files git is tracking, what files have had changes, and what files have changes staged for commit.
git status only shows the names of files.
For more details, see checking the status of your files.
git diff shows changes in file that git tracks that haven't been staged for comit.
git diff --cached (also known as git diff --staged) shows changes to files that have been staged for commit.
Both commands show the actual changes that happened in a file.
For more details, see viewing your changes.