Beginner's Guide to Git

Basic Git Commands and their purpose:

To utilize these commands, be sure you are in the directory of the repository you intent to work on by typing cd directory_name from your home directory.

• git init start tracking a directory with git (this only needs to be done once within a directory)
• git status tracks the current status of your files
• git add <name_of_file.txt> add a file to track (goes to stagin area)
• git commit -m 'Message about your changes' commit changes (use the message 'Initial commit' for the first commit in a repository)
• git diff <name_of_file.txt> to see changes since last commit

Example of Creating a git repository, adding to a file, and committing the changes:

amyrippeto~$ mkdir favorite_things
amyrippeto~$ cd favorite_things
amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ touch musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ ls
musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/amyrippeto/favorite_things/.git/
amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ git add musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ git status
On branch master

No commits yet

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)

	new file:   musical_artists.txt

amyrippeto~/favorite_things$ git commit -m 'Initial commit'
[master (root-commit) ccbccff] Initial commit
 1 file changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master]$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working tree clean
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master]$ echo "ZZ Ward, Glass Animals, Milky Chance" >> musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master !]$ git status
On branch master
Changes not staged for commit:
  (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed)
  (use "git checkout -- <file>..." to discard changes in working directory)

	modified:   musical_artists.txt

no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master !]$ git add musical_artists.txt
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master !]$ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

	modified:   musical_artists.txt

amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master !]$ git commit -m 'Add 3 artists'
[master a6e9772] Add 3 artists
 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master]$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working tree clean
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master]$ cat musical_artists.txt
ZZ Ward, Glass Animals, Milky Chance
amyrippeto~/favorite_things[master]$

Steps for using your text editor to make changes to a repository:

1. In your terminal command line cd to the directory you want to work on.
2. Once in the directory type name of your text editor followed by a space then a period to open the file in your text editor. to use Atom you would type atom .
3. This will open the directory in your text editor. You can now select the file you want to make changes to and do so in the editor.
4. Once you are satified with your changes, save them by using the shortcut command + s
5. Return to your terminal (use shortcut command + tab)
6. Type git add name_of_file_changed.txt to add to the staging area.
7. Type git status to confirm the file has been modified and staged.
8. Now you can commit the changes by typing git commit -m 'Add specified changes'(use your own message)
9. To view the changes to the file you can type git diff name_of_file_changed.txt in the command line

Note: There is so much more that can be accomplished using Git. Hopefully these basics help you get started!