Learning Git!

It's never too late to start!

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Making a New Repo

Starting out, we first create a directory for the project. The name of the directory should match the name of the repository created on your GitHub account (via the web UI).

mkdir myrepo
cd myrepo
git init

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Connecting to the Remote Repo

Before pushing any changes, we need to tell Git where the remote repository is:

git remote add origin <remote:git_url>

This command sets the remote location for your local Git repository. While origin is the conventional name, you can name it anything.

You can inspect this setup in .git/config:

[remote "origin"]
    url = https://github.com/you/repo1.git
[remote "backup"]
    url = https://gitlab.com/you/repo.git

The second remote (backup) was added with:

git remote add backup https://gitlab.com/you/repo.git

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Commit Your Changes

Once your Git repository is initialized, and you’ve made changes (e.g. added a file), you need to stage and commit them:

git add file          # or use git add . to track all changes
git commit -m "commit message"

Alternatively, to stage and commit modified (tracked) files in one command:

git commit -am "commit message"

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Pushing to the Remote Repository

Now that changes are committed, push them to the remote repository:

git push origin main

Explanation:

• origin: alias for the remote repository
• main: the branch you’re pushing

To make this the default tracking connection (upstream):

git push -u origin main

Now you can simply run git push or git pull without specifying origin and main.

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Branching

Branches are like snapshots of your code. The main branch is the default. When you want to make changes without affecting main, you create a new branch. This helps avoid conflicts and enables safe experimentation.

For example, to add a new feature:

• Create a branch from main
• Work on the new branch
• Push the branch to remote
• Check and resolve conflicts
• Merge it into main once it’s working

Creating and Switching to a Branch

git branch <branch_name>       # create the branch
git checkout <branch_name>     # switch to it
# or, in shorthand:
git checkout -b <branch_name>

Alternatively (with newer Git versions):

git switch -c <branch_name>    # create and switch

Keeping Main Up-to-Date

Before creating a new branch, ensure your local main is up-to-date:

git checkout main
git pull origin main

If you’ve set an upstream, a simple git pull is enough:

git pull

Now you can confidently create a new feature branch from the latest main.

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Happy committing!