git basics (quick reference)

Quick review of how to use git.

• Make your repository: https://github.com/new

You will be presented with a command line option - but it is pretty basic:

echo "# test" >> README.md
git init
git add README.md
git commit -m "first commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/thinkmelt/test.git
git push -u origin main

Working through this command set as not a lot is explained as to what is going on here:

git init

Will produce the .git hidden directory

Adding files:

git add README.md  # Add a single file
git add -A         # Recursively add everythigng
git add --all      # Recursively add everything.

Once you have added to your git list, you need to 'commit' it as in:

git commit -m "first commit"

Understanding that 'git commit' is a 'index snapshot' of the files at that time. But only locally to your .git directory tracker.

And then sync it upstream with:

git push -u origin main
# Please not 

Gotcha:  github now has added token authorization that you need to complete before pushing to anything and it requires its own installation.   'Console' logins are now deprecated.  So:

Which if you are holding cookies inside your browser, and are currently logged into github you will now get:

Caution: Removing files vs .gitignore

Typically one can make a .gitignore put in your list of wildcards, and it will not sync to your online repository (but remain local).  However one must use a lot of caution as it would presume that 'git rm' indicates that you wanted it removed from the online repository - it just deletes the file if you had issued a 'rm' command!

• Let's presume that we want to remove 1 file from our git and then push it back again.

git rm places.txt  && git commit -m "Next Branch"

We will see the following:

git push -u origin

However it has purged it from both the local repository AND the online repository - Ouch!  The devil is in the details. 'git rm' removes it from the git local repository listing. 'git commit' actually does the delete!

Understanding git synchronizing against a fresh .gitignore

Now that we know to use a LOT of caution pairing the 'git rm' with the 'git commit' we will

git add .
git commit -m "Readded files"
git push -u origin

git rm -r --cached .
# add all files as per new .gitignore
git add .
# now, commit for new .gitignore to apply
git commit -m ".gitignore is now working"
git push -u origin

Listing Files:  git ls-files

git uses a complex indexing system which you can read more about here:

In essence we can:

git ls-files  #or
git ls-files --stage  

For a more detailed listing:

Listing and handling Commits:

One may list all the historical commits with:

git log   # It is very detailed therefore
git log | grep commit

One may switch to a commit with:

git checkout -f cbc4... long string

You will get a long update as in:

Making a branch:

git push --set-upstream origin newbranch

This will make a branch / fork off the origin for new branch.

When you examine the main page it will now show the branch: