Cli-Intro-to-Git

Introduction to git on the command line in 60 seconds or less

Type these commands directly into the Bash your terminal on the right -->

pwd

cd /tmp

pwd

mkdir git

cd git

pwd

git init

echo 'my test' > test1

ls

git status

git add test1

git status

git commit -am 'initial add of test1'

^this command will fail with an error message about git requesting you identify yourself, so let's do that.

git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

git config --global user.name "Testy McTesterson"

git commit -am 'initial add of test1'

git log

echo 'second test' >> test1

git status

git diff

echo 'second test file'> test2

git status

git diff

git add .

git commit -am 'second test'

git log

git branch

git checkout -b my_new_branch

echo 'second test file but add to the first line'> test2

git status

git diff

git commit -am 'third test'

git log

git checkout master

git log

git diff my_new_branch

git merge my_new_branch

git log

WTF just happened?!?!

After typing all the commands above click continue to go to an explanation of what just went on.

Ok so that was git in 60 seconds (if you are a fast typist).

What just went on?

Let me be a bit more verbose with an intro of some very basic commands with a basic explanation after:

pwd

^ Print Working Directory (the "you are here" of unix land)

mkdir dir_to_make

^ make directory/folder named dir_to_make

mv dir_to_make dir_to_cd_into

^ move directory/folder named dir_to_make to be renamed to dir_to_cd_into

cd dir_to_cd_into

^ change directory (this is how you 'move' around the file system

ls

^ list the current directory i.e. show me what is in the current folder

man ls

^ “manual” gives the manual page for any command i.e. man ls will give the manual page for ls. You will need to click on the terminal on the right and type a Q to quit the manual pager.

man git

^ At some point you'll feel confident enough to just pull this page up for reference. Again, you will need to click on the terminal on the right and type a Q to quit the manual pager.

Click the continue button to continue.

Learning what is going on

You should have typed all those commands into your command prompt. Like learning a new language, it's best for you to actually speak (type) the words and see the resulting output. It's very satisfying to see your creation take life. Let's see those first commands again with some comments to explain what's going on.

Click the continue button to continue.

explanations

pwd

^ The command pwd should print the path to your home directory at the moment by default this is where you usually start when opening a shell

cd /tmp

^ Change directory to /tmp.

(/tmp is a great place for temporary stuff, careful this place is erased upon reboot)

pwd

^ Prove to me that we changed directories (i.e. it should now print /tmp).

mkdir git2

^ Make a new directory named ‘git2’.

cd git2

^ Change into the git2 directory.

pwd

^ Now displays /tmp/git.

git init

^ Initialize /tmp/git2 into a git repo.

echo 'my test' >test1

^ Overwrite or make a new file called test1 and makes its contents read ‘my test’.

ls

^ Show me this new file.

cat test1

^ Dumps the contents of the file which should be ‘my test’.

git status

^ Have git tell us of any changes in the current directory.

git add test1

^ Add our new file to the git source code tracking system.

git status

^ Show us that the new file has now been added.

git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

^ This adds your email to your local gitconfig ~/.gitconfig

git config --global user.name "Testy McTesterson"

^ This adds your name to your local gitconfig ~/.gitconfig

git commit -am 'initial add of test1'

^ Make a commit and give it a nice message explaining what is going on.

git log

^ Show us a log of the history of this git repo.

echo 'second test' >>test1

^ Make a second line in our first test file.

git status

^ Show us which files have changed.

echo 'second test file'>test2

^ Make a second test file.

git status

^ Again show us which files have changed.

git diff

^ Show us the changes.

git add .

^ This adds all files and changes present in this directory and all sub-directories to git source code management tracking system.

git commit -am 'second test'

^ Commit those changes.

git log

^ Show us a log of the history of this git repo.

git checkout -b my_new_branch

^ This creates a new branch and checks that new branch out in a single command.

echo 'second test file but add to the first line'> test2

^ This overwrites that second file with a new first line.

git status

^ This should show us that the second file has changed.

git diff

^ This should show us the differences in the second file that has changed.

git commit -am 'third test'

^ This will commit the differences in the second file that has changed.

git log

^ This will now show the commit where we committed the differences in the second file that has changed.

git checkout master

^ This will now checkout the master branch.

git log

^ This will not show the most recent commit we made because that was in the other branch my_new_branch because are back on the master branch.

git diff my_new_branch

^ This will show the difference between the master branch and the my_new_branch branch.

git merge my_new_branch

^ This will merge the differences between the master branch and the my_new_branch branch.

git log

^ This will now show the most recent commit we just made because we just merged the other branch my_new_branch into the master branch.

Click the continue button to continue.

Permanent home for git

Okay from here let’s make a git directory in our home and start cloning repos from a git repo

cd

^ given no arguments cd will take you home

mkdir git

^ there is no output for this command

cd git

^ again no output on this command so long as there are no errors but let's prove to ourselves that we changed directories with pwd

pwd

Click the continue button to continue.

Creating your own repo

Let’s get you your own repo and make a static page.

If you don’t have a github account get one here it’s free.

Now make a new repo.

First let’s make sure we are in our git directory in the home folder:

cd ~/git

Ok now let's clone that repo! There is a link on the righthand side of the page, copy it, then git clone that link.

Here’s an example of what it might look like:

git clone https://github.com/YOURGITHUBID/YOURREPO.git

The output should look something like this:

Cloning into 'YOURREPO'...
remote: Counting objects: 331, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
remote: Total 331 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Receiving objects: 100% (331/331), 3.65 MiB | 483.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 100% (43/43), done.
Checking connectivity... done.

Click the continue button to continue.

Now cd into that repo.

cd YOURREPO

Make a new index and add it to git as a tracked file, commit, then push it back up to github.

echo "Howdy folks" > index.html

^ The echo command is an easy way to add a line to a file, or in this case overwrite the file (which is the difference between > and >>, but I’ll save the rest of that lecture for a tutorial on STDIN STDOUT and STDERR redirection and piping!).

git add index.html

^ Add the README file to git.

git commit -am “added new index.html”

^ Make a new commit in git.

git push origin master

^ Push it all back up to github (or whatever your origin is set to).

Now click on the ‘settings’ page for your repo. In there you will find a section called Github Pages and under there a subsection called Source like this:

Source
GitHub Pages is currently disabled. Select a source below to enable
GitHub Pages for this repository. Learn more.

Then click on the dropdown that says "None" and choose 'master branch'. Now your site will be served under:

http://YOURGITHUBID.github.io/YOURREPO

Congratulations you now have a static site!