Git is a distributed version control system. It is used for keeping track of projects and files as developers change the code. Git stores information about the project’s progress in a repository. A repository has commits to the project or a set of references to the commits called heads.

There are a ton of resources on the internet to learn Git from. But for a beginner, it might get intimidating to go through so much of information. So in this article I will briefly go through 10 important git commands to help you get started with git and github.

1. init

To initialize a git repository for a new or existing project.

The git init command is used for creating a new git repository. It can be used to convert an existing project to a git repository or initialize a new and empty repository.

git init [repository name]

2. add

To add changes to index in your working directory.

The git add command adds a change in the working directory to the staging area. It tells git that you want to include updates to a particular file in the next commit.

git add [file]

3. commit

To commit your changes and sets it to new commit object for your remote version.

The git commit command captures a snapshot of the project’s currently staged changes.

git commit -m ”commit-message”

4. stash

To save changes that you don’t want to commit immediately.

Use git stash command is used to record the current state of the working directory and the index. This command saves your local modifications away and reverts the working directory to match the head commit.

git stash [list]

5. push

To push the local changes to the master branch of the project.

The git push command is used to upload local repository content to a remote repository.

git push [branch-name]

6. branch

To list out all the branches in the project.

The git branch command lets you create, list, rename, and delete branches. However it doesn’t let you switch between branches or put a forked history back together again.

git branch [branch-name]

7. checkout

To switch to a different branch.

The git checkout command lets you navigate between the branches created by git branch. Checking out a branch updates the files in the working directory to match the version stored in that branch, and it tells git to record all new commits on that branch.

git checkout [branch-name]

8. merge

To merge two branches you were working on.

The git merge command is used to integrate changes from another branch. It combines all the integrated changes into a single commit, instead of preserving them as individual commits.

git merge [branch-name]

9. clone

To copy a git repository from a remote source.

The git clone command copies an existing git repository. This is similar to SVN checkout, except the working copy is a git repository, having its own history, manages its own files, and is a completely isolated environment from the original repository.

git clone [url]

10. status

To check the status of files you’ve changed in your working directory

The git status command displays the state of the working directory and the staging area. It lets you see which changes have been staged, which haven’t, and which files aren’t being tracked by git at the moment.

git status

References/Further Readings