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Git Basics

Clarification

git ≠ GitHub

Basic operations

Create a git repository in the current directory:
```
git init
```
Create a new directory with a git repository in it:
```
git init directory-name
```
Stage a changed file or a new file for the next commit:
```
git add filename
```
Stage all changed and new files for the next commit:
```
git add .
```
Unstage a file you have staged for the next commit:
```
git rm --cached filename
```

Commit the staged files:

git commit -m "A message about this commit."

Get status of repository:
```
git status
```
Get history of repository:
```
git log
```
Delete a file:
```
git rm filename
```
Rename or move a file:
```
git mv source destination
```

Use the git rm command to delete files instead of the Windows Explorer, the Finder in macOS, your Linux file manager, or other shell commands to delete and move/rename files in a repository. Doing so will simplify staging.

Branching and merging

A git repository has a default branch called master.
To create a new branch:
```
git branch branch-name
```
Switch to an existing branch:
```
git checkout branch-name
```
Create a new branch and immediately switch to it:
```
git checkout -b branch-name
```
Merge changes in another branch into the current branch:
```
git merge branch-name
```
Delete a branch that you're not currently in:
```
git branch -d branch-name
```

Ignoring files

To make git ignore some files in your project, create a .gitignore file in the project directory.

.gitignore

# Ignore specific files
nastyfile.txt
another-nastyfile.docx
 
# Ignore compiled file(s)
*.exe
*.o
 
# Ignore all files in directory foo
foo/*

The file name must be .gitignore, not .gitignore.txt or gitignore.txt. To create a .gitignore file in Windows, open the Bash shell in the directory where you want the file and enter:

touch .gitignore

GUI interface

git gui: opens a GUI for performing common git functions.
gitk: opens a GUI commit browsing tool.
Lots of other third party Git tools are available.

More git stuff

My Git tips.
Roger Dudler's git - the simple guide goes beyond what's here, is beginner friendly, and is quite good.

Mithat Konar (the wiki)

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