Git Basics

Introduction to Git

Git is a distributed version control system that allows you to track changes to files, collaborate with others, and maintain a history of your work. Git is widely used in software development to manage code changes, track project history, and collaborate with other developers. It was created by Linus Torvalds in 2005 and is an open-source tool that is free to use. Nowadays, Git is the most popular version control system and is used by millions of developers around the world. Not only is Git used for software development, but it is also used for managing configuration files, documentation, and other types of files.

Setting Up Git

To get started with Git, you need to install on your local machine and configure your Git username and email address. You can download Git from the official Git website and follow the installation instructions for your operating system. Once Git is installed, you can configure your username and email address using the following commands:

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "example@example.com"

The commands above set up your Git username and email address. Replace "Your Name" with your actual name and "example@example.com" with your actual email address. These settings are used to identify you as the author of the changes you make in Git.

Core Concepts

Git has several core concepts that you need to understand to use Git effectively:

• Repository: A repository is a collection of files and directories that are tracked by Git. It contains the project history, branches, and configuration settings.
• Commit: A commit is a snapshot of the project at a specific point in time. It records changes to files and includes a commit message that describes the changes.
• Branch: A branch is a parallel version of the project that allows you to work on different features independently. It is used to isolate changes and merge them later.
• Merge: Merging is the process of combining changes from one branch into another branch. It is used to integrate changes and resolve conflicts between branches.
• Remote: A remote is a shared repository that is hosted on a server. It allows multiple users to collaborate on a project and share changes with others.
• Staging Area: The staging area is a temporary storage area where changes are prepared before committing them to the repository. It allows you to review changes and select which changes to commit.

Git Workflow

The typical Git workflow consists of the following steps:

Initialize Repository

To start using Git, you need to initialize a new repository in your project directory. You can do this by running the following command:

git init

The command above initializes a new Git repository in your project directory. This command creates a hidden .git directory that contains the project history and configuration settings.

Add and Commit Changes

After initializing a repository, you can add files to the staging area and commit changes to the repository. You can add files to the staging area using the git add command and commit changes using the git commit command:

git add file.txt
git commit -m "Add file.txt"

The commands above add a file to the staging area and commit changes to the repository. Replace file.txt with the name of the file you want to add, and Add file.txt with a descriptive commit message.

View History and Changes

You can view the project history and changes using the git log and git diff commands. The git log command displays the commit history, and the git diff command shows the changes between files:

git log
git diff file.txt

The commands above show the project history and changes. The git log command displays the commit history, and the git diff command shows the changes between files.

Undoing Changes

You can undo changes in Git using the git checkout, git reset, and git revert commands. The git checkout command is used to discard changes in the working directory, the git reset command is used to unstage changes in the staging area, and the git revert command is used to revert commits in the repository.

Checkout

The git checkout command is used to discard changes in the working directory. You can use it to revert changes to a specific file or restore the project to a previous commit:

git checkout file.txt
git checkout HEAD~1

The commands above show how to discard changes to a specific file and restore the project to a previous commit. Replace file.txt with the name of the file you want to discard changes to, and HEAD~1 with the commit you want to restore the project to.

Reset

The git reset command is used to unstage changes in the staging area. You can use it to unstage changes to a specific file or reset the staging area to the last commit:

git reset file.txt
git reset

The commands above show how to unstage changes to a specific file and reset the staging area to the last commit. Replace file.txt with the name of the file you want to unstage changes to.

Revert

The git revert command is used to revert commits in the repository. You can use it to create a new commit that undoes the changes introduced by a specific commit:

git revert HEAD

The command above shows how to revert a specific commit in the repository. Replace HEAD with the commit you want to revert.