GIT

GIT

About the Tutorial

Git is a distributed revision control and source code management system with an
emphasis on speed. Git was initially designed and developed by Linus Torvalds
for Linux kernel development. Git is a free software distributed under the terms
of the GNU General Public License version 2.
This tutorial explains how to use Git for project version control in a distributed
environment while working on web-based and non-web-based applications
development.

Audience
This tutorial will help beginners learn the basic functionality of Git version control
system. After completing this tutorial, you will find yourself at a moderate level
of expertise in using Git version control system from where you can take
yourself to the next levels.

Prerequisites
We assume that you are going to use Git to handle all levels of Java and nonJava projects. So it will be good if you have some amount of exposure to
software development life cycle and working knowledge of developing webbased and non-web-based applications.

Copyright & Disclaimer

Copyright 2014 by Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd.
All the content and graphics published in this e-book are the property of
Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. The user of this e-book is prohibited to reuse, retain,
copy, distribute or republish any contents or a part of contents of this e-book in
any manner without written consent of the publisher.
We strive to update the contents of our website and tutorials as timely and as
precisely as possible, however, the contents may contain inaccuracies or errors.
Tutorials Point (I) Pvt. Ltd. provides no guarantee regarding the accuracy,
timeliness or completeness of our website or its contents including this tutorial.
If you discover any errors on our website or in this tutorial, please notify us at
contact@tutorialspoint.com

GIT

Table of Contents
About the Tutorial i
Audience i
Prerequisites i
Copyright & Disclaimer i
Table of Contents ii

1. BASIC CONCEPTS 1
Version Control System 1
Distributed Version Control System 1
Advantages of Git 2
DVCS Terminologies 3

2. ENVIRONMENT SETUP 7
Installation of Git Client 7
Customize Git Environment 7

3. LIFE CYCLE 10
4. CREATE OPERATION 11
Create New User 11
Create a Bare Repository 11
Generate Public/Private RSA Key Pair 12
Adding Keys to authorized_keys 13
Push Changes to the Repository 14

5. CLONE OPERATION 17
6. PERFORM CHANGES 18
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7. REVIEW CHANGES 21
8. COMMIT CHANGES 24
9. PUSH OPERATION 26
10. UPDATE OPERATION 29
Modify Existing Function 29
Add New Function 32
Fetch Latest Changes 34

11. STASH OPERATION 37

12. MOVE OPERATION 39
13. RENAME OPERATION 41
14. DELETE OPERATION 43
15. FIX MISTAKES 45
Revert Uncommitted Changes 45
Remove Changes from Staging Area 46
Move HEAD Pointer with Git Reset 47

16. TAG OPERATION 52

Create Tags 52
View Tags 52
Delete Tags 54

17. PATCH OPERATION 55

18. MANAGING BRANCHES 58
Create a Branch58
Switch between Branches 59

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Shortcut to Create and Switch Branch 59

Delete a Branch59
Rename a Branch 60
Merge Two Branches 61
Rebase Branches 65

19. HANDLING CONFLICTS 67

Perform Changes in wchar_support Branch 67
Perform Changes in Master Branch 68
Tackle Conflicts 71
Resolve Conflicts 71

20. DIFFERENT PLATFORMS 75

21. ONLINE REPOSITORIES 76
Create GitHub Repository 76
Push Operation 76
Pull Operation 78

iv

1. BASIC CONCEPTS

GIT

Version Control System

Version Control System (VCS) is a software that helps software developers to
work together and maintain a complete history of their work.
Listed below are the functions of a VCS:

Allows developers to work simultaneously.

Does not allow overwriting each others changes.

Maintains a history of every version.

Following are the types of VCS:

Centralized version control system (CVCS).

Distributed/Decentralized version control system (DVCS).

In this chapter, we will concentrate only on distributed version control system

and especially on Git. Git falls under distributed version control system.

Distributed Version Control System

Centralized version control system (CVCS) uses a central server to store all files
and enables team collaboration. But the major drawback of CVCS is its single
point of failure, i.e., failure of the central server. Unfortunately, if the central
server goes down for an hour, then during that hour, no one can collaborate at
all. And even in a worst case, if the disk of the central server gets corrupted and
proper backup has not been taken, then you will lose the entire history of the
project. Here, distributed version control system (DVCS) comes into picture.
DVCS clients not only check out the latest snapshot of the directory but they
also fully mirror the repository. If the sever goes down, then the repository from
any client can be copied back to the server to restore it. Every checkout is a full
backup of the repository. Git does not rely on the central server and that is why
you can perform many operations when you are offline. You can commit
changes, create branches, view logs, and perform other operations when you
are offline. You require network connection only to publish your changes and
take the latest changes.

GIT

Advantages of Git
Free and open source
Git is released under GPLs open source license. It is available freely over the
internet. You can use Git to manage propriety projects without paying a single
penny. As it is an open source, you can download its source code and also
perform changes according to your requirements.

Fast and small

As most of the operations are performed locally, it gives a huge benefit in terms
of speed. Git does not rely on the central server; that is why, there is no need to
interact with the remote server for every operation performed. The core part of
Git is written in C, which avoids runtime overheads associated with other highlevel languages. Though Git mirrors entire repository, the size of the data on the
client side is small. This illustrates the efficiency of Git at compressing and
storing data on the client side.

Implicit backup
The chances of losing data are very rare when there are multiple copies of it.
Data present on any client side mirrors the repository, hence it can be used in
the event of a crash or disk corruption.

Security
Git uses a common cryptographic hash function called secure hash function
(SHA1), to name and identify objects within its database. Every file and commit
is check-summed and retrieved by its checksum at the time of checkout. It
implies that it is impossible to change file, date, and commit message and any
other data from the Git database without knowing Git.

No need of powerful hardware

In case of CVCS, the central server needs to be powerful enough to serve
requests of the entire team. For smaller teams, it is not an issue, but as the
team size grows, the hardware limitations of the server can be a performance
bottleneck. In case of DVCS, developers dont interact with the server unless
they need to push or pull changes. All the heavy lifting happens on the client
side, so the server hardware can be very simple indeed.

Easier branching
CVCS uses cheap copy mechanism. If we create a new branch, it will copy all the
codes to the new branch, so it is time-consuming and not efficient. Also, deletion
and merging of branches in CVCS is complicated and time-consuming. But
branch management with Git is very simple. It takes only a few seconds to
create, delete, and merge branches.
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DVCS Terminologies
Local Repository
Every VCS tool provides a private workplace as a working copy. Developers
make changes in their private workplace and after commit, these changes
become a part of the repository. Git takes it one step further by providing them
a private copy of the whole repository. Users can perform many operations with
this repository such as add file, remove file, rename file, move file, commit
changes, and many more.

Working Directory and Staging Area or Index

The working directory is the place where files are checked out. In other CVCS,
developers generally make modifications and commit their changes directly to
the repository. But Git uses a different strategy. Git doesnt track each and
every modified file. Whenever you do commit an operation, Git looks for the files
present in the staging area. Only those files present in the staging area are
considered for commit and not all the modified files.
Let us see the basic workflow of Git.
Step 1: You modify a file from the working directory.
Step 2: You add these files to the staging area.
Step 3: You perform commit operation that moves the files from the staging
area. After push operation, it stores the changes permanently to the Git
repository.

Suppose you modified two files, namely sort.c and search.c and you want
two different commits for each operation. You can add one file in the staging
3

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area and do commit. After the first commit, repeat the same procedure for
another file.
# First commit
[bash]$ git add sort.c

# adds file to the staging area

[bash]$ git commit m Added sort operation
# Second commit
[bash]$ git add search.c

# adds file to the staging area

[bash]$ git commit m Added search operation

Blobs
Blob stands for Binary Large Object. Each version of a file is represented by
blob. A blob holds the file data but doesnt contain any metadata about the file.
It is a binary file and in Git database, it is named as SHA1 hash of that file. In
Git, files are not addressed by names. Everything is content-addressed.

Trees
Tree is an object, which represents a directory. It holds blobs as well as other
sub-directories. A tree is a binary file that stores references to blobs and trees
which are also named as SHA1 hash of the tree object.

Commits
Commit holds the current state of the repository. A commit is also named
by SHA1 hash. You can consider a commit object as a node of the linked list.
Every commit object has a pointer to the parent commit object. From a given
commit, you can traverse back by looking at the parent pointer to view the
history of the commit. If a commit has multiple parent commits, then that
particular commit has been created by merging two branches.

Branches
Branches are used to create another line of development. By default, Git has a
master branch, which is same as trunk in Subversion. Usually, a branch is
created to work on a new feature. Once the feature is completed, it is merged
back with the master branch and we delete the branch. Every branch is
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referenced by HEAD, which points to the latest commit in the branch. Whenever
you make a commit, HEAD is updated with the latest commit.

Tags
Tag assigns a meaningful name with a specific version in the repository. Tags
are very similar to branches, but the difference is that tags are immutable. It
means, tag is a branch, which nobody intends to modify. Once a tag is created
for a particular commit, even if you create a new commit, it will not be updated.
Usually, developers create tags for product releases.

Clone
Clone operation creates the instance of the repository. Clone operation not only
checks out the working copy, but it also mirrors the complete repository. Users
can perform many operations with this local repository. The only time
networking gets involved is when the repository instances are being
synchronized.

Pull
Pull operation copies the changes from a remote repository instance to a local
one. The pull operation is used for synchronization between two repository
instances. This is same as the update operation in Subversion.

Push
Push operation copies changes from a local repository instance to a remote one.
This is used to store the changes permanently into the Git repository. This is
same as the commit operation in Subversion.

HEAD
HEAD is a pointer, which always points to the latest commit in the branch.
Whenever you make a commit, HEAD is updated with the latest commit. The
heads of the branches are stored in .git/refs/heads/ directory.
[CentOS]$ ls -1 .git/refs/heads/
master

[CentOS]$ cat .git/refs/heads/master

570837e7d58fa4bccd86cb575d884502188b0c49

GIT

Revision
Revision represents the version of the source code. Revisions in Git are
represented by commits. These commits are identified by SHA1 secure hashes.

URL
URL represents the location of the Git repository. Git URL is stored in config file.
[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ pwd
/home/tom/tom_repo

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ cat .git/config

[core]
repositoryformatversion = 0
filemode = true
bare = false
logallrefupdates = true
[remote "origin"]
url = gituser@git.server.com:project.git
fetch = +refs/heads/*:refs/remotes/origin/*

2. ENVIRONMENT SETUP

GIT

Before you can use Git, you have to install and do some basic configuration
changes. Below are the steps to install Git client on Ubuntu and Centos Linux.

Installation of Git Client

If you are using Debian base GNU/Linux distribution, then apt-get command
will do the needful.
[ubuntu ~]$ sudo apt-get install git-core
[sudo] password for ubuntu:

[ubuntu ~]$ git --version

git version 1.8.1.2
And if you are using RPM based GNU/Linux distribution, then use yum command
as given.
[CentOS ~]$
su Password:

[CentOS ~]# yum -y install git-core

[CentOS ~]# git --version

git version 1.7.1

Customize Git Environment

Git provides the git config tool, which allows you to set configuration variables.
Git stores all global configurations in .gitconfig file, which is located in your
home directory. To set these configuration values as global, add the -global option, and if you omit --global option, then your configurations are
specific for the current Git repository.
You can also set up system wide configuration. Git stores these values in
the /etc/gitconfig file, which contains the configuration for every user and
7

GIT

repository on the system. To set these values, you must have the root rights
and use the --system option.
When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

Setting username
This information is used by Git for each commit.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global user.name "Jerry Mouse"

Setting email id
This information is used by Git for each commit.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global user.email
"jerry@tutorialspoint.com"

Avoid merge commits for pulling

You pull the latest changes from a remote repository, and if these changes are
divergent, then by default Git creates merge commits. We can avoid this via
following settings.
jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global branch.autosetuprebase always

Color highlighting
The following commands enable color highlighting for Git in the console.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.ui true

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.status auto

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global color.branch auto

Setting default editor

By default, Git uses the system default editor, which is taken from the VISUAL or
EDITOR environment variable. We can configure a different one by using git
config.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global core.editor vim

Setting default merge tool

8

GIT

Git does not provide a default merge tool for integrating conflicting changes into
your working tree. We can set default merge tool by enabling following settings.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git config --global merge.tool vimdiff

Listing Git settings

To verify your Git settings of the local repository, use git config list command
as given below.
[jerry@CentOS ~]$ git config --list
The above command will produce the following result.
user.name=Jerry Mouse
user.email=jerry@tutorialspoint.com
push.default=nothing
branch.autosetuprebase=always
color.ui=true
color.status=auto
color.branch=auto
core.editor=vim
merge.tool=vimdiff

3. LIFE CYCLE

GIT

In this chapter, we will discuss the life cycle of Git. In later chapters, we will
cover the Git commands for each operation.
General workflow is as follows:
1. You clone the Git repository as a working copy.
2. You modify the working copy by adding/editing files.
3. If necessary, you also update the working copy by taking other
developers' changes.
4. You review the changes before commit.
5. You commit changes. If everything is fine, then you push the changes to
the repository.
6. After committing, if you realize something is wrong, then you correct the
last commit and push the changes to the repository.
Shown below is the pictorial representation of the workflow.

10

4. CREATE OPERATION

GIT

In this chapter, we will see how to create a remote Git repository; from now on,
we will refer to it as Git Server. We need a Git server to allow team
collaboration.

Create New User

# add new group
[root@CentOS ~]# groupadd dev

# add new user

[root@CentOS ~]# useradd -G devs -d /home/gituser -m -s /bin/bash
gituser

# change password
[root@CentOS ~]# passwd gituser
The above command will produce the following result.
Changing password for user gituser.
New password:
Retype new password:
passwd: all authentication tokens updated successfully.

Create a Bare Repository

Let us initialize a new repository by using init command followed by -bare option. It initializes the repository without a working directory. By
convention, the bare repository must be named as .git.
[gituser@CentOS ~]$ pwd
/home/gituser

[gituser@CentOS ~]$ mkdir project.git

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GIT

[gituser@CentOS ~]$ cd project.git/

[gituser@CentOS project.git]$ ls

[gituser@CentOS project.git]$ git --bare init

Initialized empty Git repository in /home/gituser-m/project.git/

[gituser@CentOS project.git]$ ls
branches config description HEAD hooks info objects refs

Generate Public/Private RSA Key Pair

Let us walk through the process of configuring a Git server. ssh-keygen utility
generates public/private RSA key pair that we will use for user authentication.
Open a terminal and enter the following command and just press enter for each
input. After successful completion, it will create a .ssh directory inside the home
directory.
tom@CentOS ~]$ pwd
/home/tom

[tom@CentOS ~]$ ssh-keygen

The above command will produce the following result.
Generating public/private rsa key pair.
Enter file in which to save the key (/home/tom/.ssh/id_rsa): Press Enter
Only
Created directory '/home/tom/.ssh'.
Enter passphrase (empty for no passphrase): ---------------> Press Enter
Only
Enter same passphrase again: ------------------------------> Press Enter
Only
Your identification has been saved in /home/tom/.ssh/id_rsa.
Your public key has been saved in /home/tom/.ssh/id_rsa.pub.
The key fingerprint is:
df:93:8c:a1:b8:b7:67:69:3a:1f:65:e8:0e:e9:25:a1 tom@CentOS
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The key's randomart image is:

+--[ RSA 2048]----+
| |
| |
| |
|
.
|
| Soo |
| o*B. |
| E = *.= |
| oo==. . |
| ..+Oo
|
+-----------------+
ssh-keygen has generated two keys, first one is private (i.e., id_rsa) and the
second one is public (i.e., id_rsa.pub).
Note: Never share your PRIVATE KEY with others.

Adding Keys to authorized_keys

Suppose there are two developers working on a project, namely Tom and Jerry.
Both users have generated public keys. Let us see how to use these keys for
authentication.
Tom added his public key to the server by using ssh-copy-id command as given
below:
[tom@CentOS ~]$ pwd
/home/tom

[tom@CentOS ~]$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub gituser@git.server.com

The above command will produce the following result.
gituser@git.server.com's password:
Now try logging into the machine, with "ssh 'gituser@git.server.com'",
and check in:
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.ssh/authorized_keys
to make sure we haven't added extra keys that you weren't expecting.

Similarly, Jerry added his public key to the server by using ssh-copy-id
command.
[jerry@CentOS ~]$ pwd
/home/jerry

[jerry@CentOS ~]$ ssh-copy-id -i ~/.ssh/id_rsa gituser@git.server.com

The above command will produce the following result.
gituser@git.server.com's password:
Now try logging into the machine, with "ssh 'gituser@git.server.com'",
and check in:
.ssh/authorized_keys
to make sure we haven't added extra keys that you weren't expecting.

Push Changes to the Repository

We have created a bare repository on the server and allowed access for two
users. From now on, Tom and Jerry can push their changes to the repository by
adding it as a remote.
Git init command creates .git directory to store metadata about the repository
every time it reads the configuration from the .git/config file.
Tom creates a new directory, adds README file, and commits his change as
initial commit. After commit, he verifies the commit message by running the git
log command.
[tom@CentOS ~]$ pwd
/home/tom

[tom@CentOS ~]$ mkdir tom_repo

[tom@CentOS ~]$ cd tom_repo/

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git init

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Initialized empty Git repository in /home/tom/tom_repo/.git/

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ echo 'TODO: Add contents for README' > README

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git status -s

?? README

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git add .

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git status -s

A README

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git commit -m 'Initial commit'

The above command will produce the following result.
[master (root-commit) 19ae206] Initial commit
1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 README
Tom checks the log message by executing the git log command.
[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result.
commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit
Tom committed his changes to the local repository. Now, its time to push the
changes to the remote repository. But before that, we have to add the
repository as a remote, this is a one-time operation. After this, he can safely
push the changes to the remote repository.
Note: By default, Git pushes only to matching branches: For every branch that
exists on the local side, the remote side is updated if a branch with the same
name already exists there. In our tutorials, every time we push changes to the
15

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origin master branch, use appropriate branch name according to your

requirement.
[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git remote add origin
gituser@git.server.com:project.git

[tom@CentOS tom_repo]$ git push origin master

The above command will produce the following result.
Counting objects: 3, done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 242 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
* [new branch]
master > master
Now, the changes are successfully committed to the remote repository.

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5. CLONE OPERATION

GIT

We have a bare repository on the Git server and Tom also pushed his first
version. Now, Jerry can view his changes. The Clone operation creates an
instance of the remote repository.
Jerry creates a new directory in his home directory and performs the clone
operation.
[jerry@CentOS ~]$ mkdir jerry_repo

[jerry@CentOS ~]$ cd jerry_repo/

[jerry@CentOS jerry_repo]$ git clone gituser@git.server.com:project.git

The above command will produce the following result.
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/.git/
remote: Counting objects: 3, done.
Receiving objects: 100% (3/3), 241 bytes, done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Jerry changes the directory to new local repository and lists its directory
contents.
[jerry@CentOS jerry_repo]$ cd project/

[jerry@CentOS jerry_repo]$ ls
README

17

6. PERFORM CHANGES

GIT

Jerry clones the repository and decides to implement basic string operations. So
he creates string.c file. After adding the contents, string.c will look as follows:
#include <stdio.h>

int my_strlen(char *s)

{
char *p = s;

while (*p)
++p;

return (p - s);
}

int main(void)
{
int i;
char *s[] = {
"Git tutorials",
"Tutorials Point"
};

for (i = 0; i < 2; ++i)

printf("string lenght of %s = %d\n", s[i], my_strlen(s[i]));

return 0;
}
He compiled and tested his code and everything is working fine. Now, he can
safely add these changes to the repository.
Git add operation adds file to the staging area.
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GIT

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s

?? string
?? string.c

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git add string.c

Git is showing a question mark before file names. Obviously, these files are not
a part of Git, and that is why Git does not know what to do with these files. That
is why, Git is showing a question mark before file names.
Jerry has added the file to the stash area, git status command will show files
present in the staging area.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s
A string.c
?? string
To commit the changes, he used the git commit command followed by m
option. If we omit m option, Git will open a text editor where we can write
multiline commit message.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git commit -m 'Implemented my_strlen function'
The above command will produce the following result:
[master cbe1249] Implemented my_strlen function
1 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 string.c
After commit to view log details, he runs the git log command. It will display the
information of all the commits with their commit ID, commit author, commit
date and SHA-1 hash of commit.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result:
commit cbe1249b140dad24b2c35b15cc7e26a6f02d2277
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Implemented my_strlen function

19

GIT

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit

20

7. REVIEW CHANGES

GIT

After viewing the commit details, Jerry realizes that the string length cannot be
negative, thats why he decides to change the return type of my_strlen function.
Jerry uses the git log command to view log details.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log

The above command will produce the following result.

commit cbe1249b140dad24b2c35b15cc7e26a6f02d2277
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Implemented my_strlen function

Jerry uses the git show command to view the commit details. The git show
command takes SHA-1 commit ID as a parameter.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git show
cbe1249b140dad24b2c35b15cc7e26a6f02d2277
The above command will produce the following result:
commit cbe1249b140dad24b2c35b15cc7e26a6f02d2277
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Implemented my_strlen function

diff --git a/string.c b/string.c

new file mode 100644
index 0000000..187afb9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/string.c
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
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+#include <stdio.h>
+
+int my_strlen(char *s)
+{
+
char *p = s;
+
+
while (*p)
+ ++p;
+ return (p -s );
+}
+
He changes the return type of the function from int to size_t. After testing the
code, he reviews his changes by running the git diff command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git diff
The above command will produce the following result:
diff --git a/string.c b/string.c
index 187afb9..7da2992 100644
--- a/string.c
+++ b/string.c
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
#include <stdio.h>

-int my_strlen(char *s)

+size_t my_strlen(char *s)
{
char *p = s;
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ int main(void)
};
for (i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
- printf("string lenght of %s = %d\n", s[i], my_strlen(s[i]));
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+ printf("string lenght of %s = %lu\n", s[i], my_strlen(s[i]));

return 0;
}
Git diff shows '+' sign before lines, which are newly added and sign for
deleted lines.

23

8. COMMIT CHANGES

GIT

Jerry has already committed the changes and he wants to correct his last
commit. In this case, git amend operation will help. The amend operation
changes the last commit including your commit message; it creates a new
commit ID.
Before amend operation, he checks the commit log.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result.
commit cbe1249b140dad24b2c35b15cc7e26a6f02d2277
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Implemented my_strlen function

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit
Jerry commits the new changes with -- amend operation and views the commit
log.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s
M string.c
?? string

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git add string.c

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s

M string.c
24

GIT

?? string

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git commit --amend -m 'Changed return type of

my_strlen to size_t'
[master d1e19d3] Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t
1 files changed, 24 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 string.c
Now, git log will show new commit message with new commit ID.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result:
commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit

25

9. PUSH OPERATION

GIT

Jerry modified his last commit by using the amend operation and he is ready to
push the changes. The Push operation stores data permanently to the Git
repository. After a successful push operation, other developers can see Jerrys
changes.
He executes the git log command to view the commit details.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result:
commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

Before push operation, he wants to review his changes, so he uses the git show
command to review his changes.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git show
d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
The above command will produce the following result:
commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

diff --git a/string.c b/string.c

new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7da2992
--- /dev/null
+++ b/string.c
26

GIT

@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+#include <stdio.h>
+
+size_t my_strlen(char *s)
+{
+
char *p = s;
+
+
while (*p)
+ ++p;
+ return (p -s );
+}
+
+int main(void)
+{
+ int i;
+ char *s[] = {
+ "Git tutorials",
+ "Tutorials Point"
+
};
+
+
+
for (i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
printf("string lenght of %s = %lu\n", s[i], my_strlen(s[i]));
+
+
return 0;
+}
Jerry is happy with his changes and he is ready to push his changes.
27

GIT

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git push origin master

The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 4, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 517 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
19ae206..d1e19d3 master > master
Jerrys changes have been successfully pushed to the repository; now other
developers can view his changes by performing clone or update operation.

28

10. UPDATE OPERATION

GIT

Modify Existing Function

Tom performs the clone operation and finds a new file - string.c. He wants to
know who added this file to the repository and for what purpose, so he executes
the git log command.
[tom@CentOS ~]$ git clone gituser@git.server.com:project.git
The above command will produce the following result:
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/tom/project/.git/
remote: Counting objects: 6, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Receiving objects: 100% (6/6), 726 bytes, done.
remote: Total 6 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
The Clone operation will create a new directory inside the current working
directory. He changes the directory to newly created directory and executes the
git log command.
[tom@CentOS ~]$ cd project/

[tom@CentOS project]$ git log

The above command will produce the following result:
commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
29

GIT

Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit
After observing the log, he realizes that the file string.c was added by Jerry to
implement basic string operations. He is curious about Jerrys code. So he opens
string.c in text editor and immediately finds a bug. In my_strlen function, Jerry
is not using a constant pointer. So, he decides to modify Jerrys code. After
modification, the code looks as follows:
[tom@CentOS project]$ git diff
The above command will produce the following result:
diff --git a/string.c b/string.c
index 7da2992..32489eb 100644
--- a/string.c
+++ b/string.c
@@ -1,8 +1,8 @@
#include
-size_t my_strlen(char *s)
+size_t my_strlen(const char *s)
{
- char *p = s;
+ const char *p = s;
while (*p)
++p;
After testing, he commits his change.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git status -s
M string.c
?? string

[tom@CentOS project]$ git add string.c

[tom@CentOS project]$ git commit -m 'Changed char pointer to const char

pointer'
30

GIT

[master cea2c00] Changed char pointer to const char pointer

1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

[tom@CentOS project]$ git log

The above command will produce the following result:
commit cea2c000f53ba99508c5959e3e12fff493b
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:32:07 2013 +0530

Changed char pointer to const char pointer

commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530
Initial commit
Tom uses git push command to push his changes.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git push origin master
The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 5, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 336 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
31

GIT

d1e19d3..cea2c00 master > master

Add New Function

Meanwhile, Jerry decides to implement string compare functionality. So he
modifies string.c. After modification, the file looks as follows:
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git diff
The above command will produce the following result:
index 7da2992..bc864ed 100644
--- a/string.c
+++ b/string.c
30Git Tutorials
@@ -9,9 +9,20 @@ size_t my_strlen(char *s)
return (p -s );
}
+char *my_strcpy(char *t, char *s)
+{
+
char *p = t;
+
+ while (*t++ = *s++)
+ ;
+
+
return p;
+}
+
int main(void)
{
int i;
+
char p1[32];
char *s[] = {
32

GIT

"Git tutorials",
"Tutorials Point"
@@ -20,5 +31,7 @@ int main(void)
for (i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
printf("string lenght of %s = %lu\n", s[i], my_strlen(s[i]));
+
printf("%s\n", my_strcpy(p1, "Hello, World !!!"));
+
return 0;
}
After testing, he is ready to push his change.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s
M string.c
?? string

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git add string.c

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git commit -m "Added my_strcpy function"

[master e944e5a] Added my_strcpy function
1 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
Before push operation, he verifies commit by viewing log messages.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result:
commit e944e5aab74b26e7447d3281b225309e4e59efcd
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:41:42 2013 +0530

Added my_strcpy function

commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
33

GIT

Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>

Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530

Initial commit
Jerry is happy with the changes and he wants to push his changes.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git push origin master
The above command will produce the following result:
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
! [rejected]
master > master (non-fast-forward)
error: failed to push some refs to 'gituser@git.server.com:project.git'
To prevent you from losing history, non-fast-forward updates were
rejected
Merge the remote changes before pushing again. See the 'Note about
fast-forwards' section of 'git push --help' for details.
But Git is not allowing Jerry to push his changes. Because Git identified that the
remote repository and Jerrys local repository are not in sync. Because of this,
he can lose the history of the project. To avoid this mess, Git failed this
operation. Now, Jerry has to first update the local repository and only thereafter,
he can push his own changes.

Fetch Latest Changes

Jerry executes the git pull command to synchronize his local repository with the
remote one.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git pull
34

GIT

The above command will produce the following result:

remote: Counting objects: 5, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done.
From git.server.com:project
d1e19d3..cea2c00 master > origin/master
First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
Applying: Added my_strcpy function
After pull operation, Jerry checks the log messages and finds the details of
Toms
commit
with
commit
ID
cea2c000f53ba99508c5959e3e12fff493ba6f69
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log
The above command will produce the following result:
commit e86f0621c2a3f68190bba633a9fe6c57c94f8e4f
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:41:42 2013 +0530

Added my_strcpy function

commit cea2c000f53ba99508c5959e3e12fff493ba6f69
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:32:07 2013 +0530

Changed char pointer to const char pointer

commit d1e19d316224cddc437e3ed34ec3c931ad803958
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 08:05:26 2013 +0530

35

GIT

Changed return type of my_strlen to size_t

commit 19ae20683fc460db7d127cf201a1429523b0e319
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 07:32:56 2013 +0530
Initial commit
Now, Jerrys local repository is fully synchronized with the remote repository. So
he can safely push his changes.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git push origin master
The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 5, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 455 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
cea2c00..e86f062 master > master

36

11. STASH OPERATION

GIT

Suppose you are implementing a new feature for your product. Your code is in
progress and suddenly a customer escalation comes. Because of this, you have
to keep aside your new feature work for a few hours. You cannot commit your
partial code and also cannot throw away your changes. So you need some
temporary space, where you can store your partial changes and later on commit
it.
In Git, the stash operation takes your modified tracked files, stages changes,
and saves them on a stack of unfinished changes that you can reapply at any
time.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s
M string.c
?? string
Now, you want to switch branches for customer escalation, but you dont want to
commit what youve been working on yet; so youll stash the changes. To push a
new stash onto your stack, run the git stash command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git stash
Saved working directory and index state WIP on master: e86f062 Added
my_strcpy function
HEAD is now at e86f062 Added my_strcpy function
Now, your working directory is clean and all the changes are saved on a stack.
Let us verify it with the git status command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s
?? string
Now you can safely switch the branch and work elsewhere. We can view a list of
stashed changes by using the git stash list command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git stash list
stash@{0}: WIP on master: e86f062 Added my_strcpy function
Suppose you have resolved the customer escalation and you are back on your
new feature looking for your half-done code, just execute the git stash pop
command to remove the changes from the stack and place them in the current
working directory.
37

GIT

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s

?? string

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git stash pop

The above command will produce the following result:
# On branch master
# Changed but not updated:
# (use "git add ..." to update what will be committed)
# (use "git checkout -- ..." to discard changes in working directory)
#
#
modified: string.c
#
# Untracked files:
# (use "git add ..." to include in what will be committed)
#
#
string
no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
Dropped refs/stash@{0} (36f79dfedae4ac20e2e8558830154bd6315e72d4)

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git status -s

M string.c
?? string

38

12. MOVE OPERATION

GIT

As the name suggests, the move operation moves a directory or a file from one
location to another. Tom decides to move the source code into the src directory.
The modified directory structure will appear as follows:
[tom@CentOS project]$ pwd
/home/tom/project

[tom@CentOS project]$ ls
README string string.c

[tom@CentOS project]$ mkdir src

[tom@CentOS project]$ git mv string.c src/

[tom@CentOS project]$ git status -s

R string.c > src/string.c
?? string
To make these changes permanent, we have to push the modified directory
structure to the remote repository so that other developers can see this.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git commit -m "Modified directory structure"

[master 7d9ea97] Modified directory structure

1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
rename string.c => src/string.c (100%)

[tom@CentOS project]$ git push origin master

Counting objects: 4, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 320 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
39

GIT

To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
e86f062..7d9ea97 master > master
In Jerrys local repository, before the pull operation, it will show the old directory
structure.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project

[jerry@CentOS project]$ ls
README string string.c
But after the pull operation, the directory structure will get updated. Now, Jerry
can see the src directory and the file present inside that directory.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git pull
remote: Counting objects: 4, done.
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done.
From git.server.com:project
e86f062..7d9ea97 master > origin/master
First, rewinding head to replay your work on top of it...
Fast-forwarded master to 7d9ea97683da90bcdb87c28ec9b4f64160673c8a.

[jerry@CentOS project]$ ls
README src string

[jerry@CentOS project]$ ls src/

string.c

40

13. RENAME OPERATION

GIT

Till now, both Tom and Jerry were using manual commands to compile their
project. Now, Jerry decides to create Makefile for their project and also give a
proper name to the file string.c.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project

[jerry@CentOS project]$ ls
README src

[jerry@CentOS project]$ cd src/

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add Makefile

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git mv string.c string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s

A Makefile
R string.c > string_operations.c
Git is showing R before file name to indicate that the file has been renamed.
For commit operation, Jerry used -a flag that makes git commit automatically
detect the modified files.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git commit -a -m 'Added Makefile and renamed
strings.c to
string_operations.c '

[master 94f7b26] Added Makefile and renamed strings.c to

string_operations.c
1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
create mode 100644 src/Makefile
rename src/{string.c => string_operations.c} (100%)
41

GIT

After commit, he pushes his changes to the repository.

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git push origin master
The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 6, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 396 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
7d9ea97..94f7b26 master > master
Now, other developers can view these modifications by updating their local
repository.

42

14. DELETE OPERATION

GIT

Tom updates his local repository and finds the compiled binary in the src
directory. After viewing the commit message, he realizes that the compiled
binary was added by Jerry.
[tom@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/tom/project/src

[tom@CentOS src]$ ls
Makefile string_operations string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ file string_operations

string_operations: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV),
dynamically linked (uses
shared libs), for GNU/Linux 2.6.18, not stripped

[tom@CentOS src]$ git log

commit 29af9d45947dc044e33d69b9141d8d2dad37cc62
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:16:25 2013 +0530

Added compiled binary

VCS is used to store the source code only and not executable binaries. So, Tom
decides to remove this file from the repository. For further operation, he uses
the git rm command.
[tom@CentOS src]$ ls
Makefile string_operations string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git rm string_operations

rm 'src/string_operations'

[tom@CentOS src]$ git commit -a -m "Removed executable binary"

43

GIT

[master 5776472] Removed executable binary

1 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
delete mode 100755 src/string_operations
After commit, he pushes his changes to the repository.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git push origin master
The above command will produce the following result.
Counting objects: 5, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 310 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
29af9d4..5776472 master > master

44

15. FIX MISTAKES

GIT

To err is human. So every VCS provides a feature to fix mistakes until a certain
point. Git provides a feature that we can use to undo the modifications that have
been made to the local repository.
Suppose the user accidentally does some changes to his local repository and
then wants to undo these changes. In such cases, the revert operation plays an
important role.

Revert Uncommitted Changes

Let us suppose Jerry accidentally modifies a file from his local repository. But he
wants to undo his modification. To handle this situation, we can use the git
checkout command. We can use this command to revert the contents of a file.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/src

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s

M string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git checkout string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status s

Further, we can use the git checkout command to obtain a deleted file from the
local repository. Let us suppose Tom deletes a file from the local repository and
we want this file back. We can achieve this by using the same command.
[tom@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/tom/top_repo/project/src

[tom@CentOS src]$ ls -1
Makefile
string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ rm string_operations.c

45

GIT

[tom@CentOS src]$ ls -1
Makefile

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s

D string_operations.c
Git is showing the letter D before the filename. This indicates that the file has
been deleted from the local repository.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git checkout string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ ls -1
Makefile
string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s

Note: We can perform all these operations only before commit.

Remove Changes from Staging Area

We have seen that when we perform an add operation, the files move from the
local repository to the stating area. If a user accidently modifies a file and adds
it into the staging area, he can revert his changes by using the git checkout
command.
In Git, there is one HEAD pointer that always points to the latest commit. If you
want to undo a change from the staged area, then you can use the git checkout
command, but with the checkout command, you have to provide an additional
parameter, i.e., the HEAD pointer. The additional commit pointer parameter
instructs the git checkout command to reset the working tree and also to
remove the staged changes.
Let us suppose Tom modifies a file from his local repository. If we view the
status of this file, it will show that the file was modified but not added into the
staging area.
tom@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/tom/top_repo/project/src
# Unmodified file
46

GIT

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s

# Modify file and view its status.

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s
M string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

Git status shows that the file is present in the staging area, now revert it by
using the git checkout command and view the status of the reverted file.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git checkout HEAD -- string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s

Move HEAD Pointer with Git Reset

After doing few changes, you may decide to remove these changes. The Git
reset command is used to reset or revert changes. We can perform three
different types of reset operations.
Below diagram shows the pictorial representation of Git reset command.

47

GIT

Soft
Each branch has a HEAD pointer, which points to the latest commit. If we use
Git reset command with --soft option followed by commit ID, then it will reset
the HEAD pointer only without destroying anything.
.git/refs/heads/master file stores the commit ID of the HEAD pointer. We can
verify it by using the git log -1 command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ cat .git/refs/heads/master
577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1
Now, view the latest commit ID, which will match with the above commit ID.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ git log -2
The above command will produce the following result.
commit 577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:21:20 2013 +0530

Removed executable binary

commit 29af9d45947dc044e33d69b9141d8d2dad37cc62
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:16:25 2013 +0530

Added compiled binary

48

GIT

Let us reset the HEAD pointer.

[jerry@CentOS project]$ git reset --soft HEAD~
Now, we just reset the HEAD pointer back by one position. Let us check the
contents of .git/refs/heads/master file.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ cat .git/refs/heads/master
29af9d45947dc044e33d69b9141d8d2dad37cc62
Commit ID from file is changed, now verify it by viewing commit messages.
jerry@CentOS project]$ git log -2
The above command will produce the following result.
commit 29af9d45947dc044e33d69b9141d8d2dad37cc62
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:16:25 2013 +0530

Added compiled binary

commit 94f7b26005f856f1a1b733ad438e97a0cd509c1a
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:08:01 2013 +0530

Added Makefile and renamed strings.c to string_operations.c

mixed
Git reset with --mixed option reverts those changes from the staging area that
have not been committed yet. It reverts the changes from the staging area only.
The actual changes made to the working copy of the file are unaffected. The
default Git reset is equivalent to the git reset -- mixed.

hard
If you use --hard option with the Git reset command, it will clear the staging
area; it will reset the HEAD pointer to the latest commit of the specific commit
ID and delete the local file changes too.
49

GIT

Let us check the commit ID.

[jerry@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/src

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git log -1

The above command will produce the following result.
commit 577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:21:20 2013 +0530

Removed executable binary

Jerry modified a file by adding single-line comment at the start of file.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ head -2 string_operations.c
/* This line be removed by git reset operation */
#include <stdio.h>
He verified it by using the git status command.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s
M string_operations.c
Jerry adds the modified file to the staging area and verifies it with the git status
command.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status
The above command will produce the following result.
# On branch master
# Changes to be committed:
# (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)
#
#
modified: string_operations.c
50

GIT

#
Git status is showing that the file is present in the staging area. Now, reset
HEAD with -- hard option.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git reset --hard
577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1

HEAD is now at 5776472 Removed executable binary

Git reset command succeeded, which will revert the file from the staging area as
well as remove any local changes made to the file.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s

Git status is showing that the file has been reverted from the staging area.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ head -2 string_operations.c
#include <stdio.h>
The head command also shows that the reset operation removed the local
changes too.

51

16. TAG OPERATION

GIT

Tag operation allows giving meaningful names to a specific version in the

repository. Suppose Tom and Jerry decide to tag their project code so that they
can later access it easily.

Create Tags
Let us tag the current HEAD by using the git tag command. Tom provides a tag
name with -a option and provides a tag message with m option.
tom@CentOS project]$ pwd
/home/tom/top_repo/project

[tom@CentOS project]$ git tag -a 'Release_1_0' -m 'Tagged basic string

operation code' HEAD
If you want to tag a particular commit, then use the appropriate COMMIT ID
instead of the HEAD pointer. Tom uses the following command to push the tag
into the remote repository.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git push origin tag Release_1_0
The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 1, done.
Writing objects: 100% (1/1), 183 bytes, done.
Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
* [new tag]
Release_1_0 > Release_1_0

View Tags
Tom created tags. Now, Jerry can view all the available tags by using the Git tag
command with l option.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/src
52

GIT

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git pull

remote: Counting objects: 1, done.
remote: Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (1/1), done.
From git.server.com:project
* [new tag]
Release_1_0 > Release_1_0
Current branch master is up to date.

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git tag -l

Release_1_0
Jerry uses the Git show command followed by its tag name to view more details
about the tag.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git show Release_1_0
The above command will produce the following result:
tag Release_1_0
Tagger: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 13:45:54 2013 +0530

Tagged basic string operation code

commit 577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:21:20 2013 +0530

Removed executable binary

diff --git a/src/string_operations b/src/string_operations

deleted file mode 100755
index 654004b..0000000
53

GIT

Binary files a/src/string_operations and /dev/null differ

Delete Tags
Tom uses the following command to delete tags from the local as well as the
remote repository.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git tag
Release_1_0

[tom@CentOS project]$ git tag -d Release_1_0

Deleted tag 'Release_1_0' (was 0f81ff4)
# Remove tag from remote repository.

[tom@CentOS project]$ git push origin :Release_1_0

To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
- [deleted]
Release_1_0

54

17. PATCH OPERATION

GIT

Patch is a text file, whose contents are similar to Git diff, but along with code, it
also has metadata about commits; e.g., commit ID, date, commit message, etc.
We can create a patch from commits and other people can apply them to their
repository.
Jerry implements the strcat function for his project. Jerry can create a path of
his code and send it to Tom. Then, he can apply the received patch to his code.
Jerry uses the Git format-patch command to create a patch for the latest
commit. If you want to create a patch for a specific commit, then
use COMMIT_ID with the format-patch command.
[jerry@CentOS project]$ pwd
/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/src

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s

M string_operations.c
?? string_operations

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git commit -m "Added my_strcat function"

[master b4c7f09] Added my_strcat function

1 files changed, 13 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git format-patch -1

0001-Added-my_strcat-function.patch
The above command creates .patch files inside the current working directory.
Tom can use this patch to modify his files. Git provides two commands to apply
patches git am and git apply, respectively. Git apply modifies the local files
without creating commit, while git am modifies the file and creates commit as
well.
To apply patch and create commit, use the following command:
55

GIT

[tom@CentOS src]$ pwd

/home/tom/top_repo/project/src

[tom@CentOS src]$ git diff

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status s

[tom@CentOS src]$ git apply 0001-Added-my_strcat-function.patch

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s

M string_operations.c
?? 0001-Added-my_strcat-function.patch
The patch gets applied successfully, now we can view the modifications by using
the git diff command.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git diff
The above command will produce the following result:
diff --git a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 8ab7f42..f282fcf 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
#include <stdio.h>
+char *my_strcat(char *t, char *s)
diff --git a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 8ab7f42..f282fcf 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,5 +1,16 @@
#include <stdio.h>
+char *my_strcat(char *t, char *s)
+{
+
56

GIT

char *p = t;
+
+
+
while (*p)
++p;
+
while (*p++ = *s++)
+ ;
+ return t;
+}
+
size_t my_strlen(const char *s)
{
const char *p = s;
@@ -23,6 +34,7 @@ int main(void)
{

57

18. MANAGING BRANCHES

GIT

Branch operation allows creating another line of development. We can use this
operation to fork off the development process into two different directions. For
example, we released a product for 6.0 version and we might want to create a
branch so that the development of 7.0 features can be kept separate from 6.0
bug fixes.

Create a Branch
Tom creates a new branch using the git branch <branch name> command. We
can create a new branch from an existing one. We can use a specific commit or
tag as the starting point. If any specific commit ID is not provided, then the
branch will be created with HEAD as its starting point.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch new_branch

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch

* master
new_branch
A new branch is created; Tom used the git branch command to list the available
branches. Git shows an asterisk mark before currently checked out branch.
The pictorial representation of create branch operation is shown below:

58

GIT

Switch between Branches

Jerry uses the git checkout command to switch between branches.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git checkout new_branch
Switched to branch 'new_branch'
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
master
* new_branch

Shortcut to Create and Switch Branch

In the above example, we have used two commands to create and switch
branches, respectively. Git provides b option with the checkout command; this
operation creates a new branch and immediately switches to the new branch.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git checkout -b test_branch
Switched to a new branch 'test_branch'

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch

master
new_branch
* test_branch

Delete a Branch
A branch can be deleted by providing D option with git branch command. But
before deleting the existing branch, switch to the other branch.
59

GIT

Jerry is currently on test_branch and he wants to remove that branch. So he

switches branch and deletes branch as shown below.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
master
new_branch
* test_branch

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git checkout master

Switched to branch 'master'

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch -D test_branch

Deleted branch test_branch (was 5776472).
Now, Git will show only two branches.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
* master
new_branch

Rename a Branch
Jerry decides to add support for wide characters in his string operations project.
He has already created a new branch, but the branch name is not appropriate.
So he changes the branch name by using m option followed by the old branch
name and the new branch name.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
* master
new_branch

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch -m new_branch wchar_support

Now, the git branch command will show the new branch name.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
* master
wchar_support

60

GIT

Merge Two Branches

Jerry implements a function to return the string length of wide character string.
New the code will appear as follows:
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
master
* wchar_support

[jerry@CentOS src]$ pwd

/home/jerry/jerry_repo/project/src

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git diff

The above command produces the following result:
t a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 8ab7f42..8fb4b00 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,4 +1,14 @@
#include <stdio.h>
+#include <wchar.h>
+
+size_t w_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
+{
+
const wchar_t *p = s;
+
+
while (*p)
+ ++p;
+ return (p - s);
+}
After testing, he commits and pushes his changes to the new branch.

61

GIT

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s

M string_operations.c
?? string_operations

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git commit -m 'Added w_strlen function to return

string lenght of wchar_t
string'

[wchar_support 64192f9] Added w_strlen function to return string lenght

of wchar_t string
1 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
Note that Jerry is pushing these changes to the new branch, which is why he
used the branch name wchar_support instead of the master branch.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git push origin wchar_support <
Observer branch_name
The above command will produce the following result.
Counting objects: 7, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 507 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
* [new branch]
wchar_support -> wchar_support
After committing the changes, the new branch will appear as follows:

62

GIT

Tom is curious about what Jerry is doing in his private branch and he checks the
log from the wchar_support branch.
[tom@CentOS src]$ pwd
/home/tom/top_repo/project/src

[tom@CentOS src]$ git log origin/wchar_support -2

The above command will produce the following result.
commit 64192f91d7cc2bcdf3bf946dd33ece63b74184a3
Author: Jerry Mouse <jerry@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 16:10:06 2013 +0530

Added w_strlen function to return string lenght of wchar_t string

commit 577647211ed44fe2ae479427a0668a4f12ed71a1
Author: Tom Cat <tom@tutorialspoint.com>
Date: Wed Sep 11 10:21:20 2013 +0530

Removed executable binary

By viewing commit messages, Tom realizes that Jerry implemented the strlen
function for wide character and he wants the same functionality in the master
branch. Instead of re-implementing, he decides to take Jerrys code by merging
his branch with the master branch.
63

GIT

[tom@CentOS project]$ git branch

* master

[tom@CentOS project]$ pwd

/home/tom/top_repo/project

[tom@CentOS project]$ git merge origin/wchar_support

Updating 5776472..64192f9
Fast-forward
src/string_operations.c | 10 ++++++++++
1 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
After the merge operation, the master branch will appear as follows:

Now, the branch wchar_support has been merged with the master branch. We
can verify it by viewing the commit message or by viewing the modifications
done into the string_operation.c file.
[tom@CentOS project]$ cd src/

[tom@CentOS src]$ git log -1

commit 64192f91d7cc2bcdf3bf946dd33ece63b74184a3
64

GIT

Author: Jerry Mouse

Date: Wed Sep 11 16:10:06 2013 +0530

Added w_strlen function to return string lenght of wchar_t string

[tom@CentOS src]$ head -12 string_operations.c

The above command will produce the following result.
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
size_t w_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
{
const wchar_t *p = s;

while (*p)
++p;

return (p - s);
}
After testing, he pushes his code changes to the master branch.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git push origin master
Total 0 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
5776472..64192f9 master > master

Rebase Branches
The Git rebase command is a branch merge command, but the difference is that
it modifies the order of commits.
The Git merge command tries to put the commits from other branches on top of
the HEAD of the current local branch. For example, your local branch has
commits A>B>C>D and the merge branch has commits A>B>X>Y,
then git merge will convert the current local branch to something like
A>B>C>D>X>Y.
65

GIT

The Git rebase command tries to find out the common ancestor between the
current local branch and the merge branch. It then pushes the commits to the
local branch by modifying the order of commits in the current local branch. For
example, if your local branch has commits A>B>C>D and the merge branch
has commits A>B>X>Y, then Git rebase will convert the current local
branch to something like A>B>X>Y>C>D.
When multiple developers work on a single remote repository, you cannot
modify the order of the commits in the remote repository. In this situation, you
can use rebase operation to put your local commits on top of the remote
repository commits and you can push these changes.

66

19. HANDLING CONFLICTS

GIT

Perform Changes in wchar_support Branch

Jerry is working on the wchar_support branch. He changes the name of the
functions and after testing, he commits his changes.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
master
* wchar_support
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git diff
The above command produces the following result:
diff --git a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 8fb4b00..01ff4e0 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
-size_t w_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
+size_t my_wstrlen(const wchar_t *s)
{
const wchar_t *p = s;
After verifying the code, he commits his changes.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s
M string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git commit -m 'Changed function name'

[wchar_support 3789fe8] Changed function name
67

GIT

1 files changed, 1 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git push origin wchar_support

The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 7, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 409 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
64192f9..3789fe8 wchar_support -> wchar_support

Perform Changes in Master Branch

Meanwhile in the master branch, Tom also changes the name of the same
function and pushes his changes to the master branch.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git branch
* master
[tom@CentOS src]$ git diff
The above command produces the following result:
diff --git a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 8fb4b00..52bec84 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
-size_t w_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
+/* wide character strlen fucntion */
+size_t my_wc_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
{
const wchar_t *p = s;

68

GIT

After verifying diff, he commits his changes.

[tom@CentOS src]$ git status -s
M string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

[tom@CentOS src]$ git commit -m 'Changed function name from w_strlen to

my_wc_strlen'
[master ad4b530] Changed function name from w_strlen to my_wc_strlen
1 files changed, 2 insertions(+), 1 deletions(-)

[tom@CentOS src]$ git push origin master

The above command will produce the following result:
Counting objects: 7, done.
Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 470 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
64192f9..ad4b530 master -> master
On the wchar_support branch, Jerry implements strchr function for wide
character string. After testing, he commits and pushes his changes to
the wchar_support branch.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git branch
master
* wchar_support
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git diff
The above command produces the following result:
diff --git a/src/string_operations.c b/src/string_operations.c
index 01ff4e0..163a779 100644
--- a/src/string_operations.c
69

GIT

+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@ -1,6 +1,16 @@
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
+wchar_t *my_wstrchr(wchar_t *ws, wchar_t wc)
+{
+
while (*ws) {
+
if (*ws == wc)
+
return ws;
+
++ws;
+ }
+ return NULL;
+}
+
size_t my_wstrlen(const wchar_t *s)
{
const wchar_t *p = s;
After verifying, he commits his changes.
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git status -s
M string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git add string_operations.c

[jerry@CentOS src]$ git commit -m 'Addded strchr function for wide
character string'
[wchar_support 9d201a9] Addded strchr function for wide character string
1 files changed, 10 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
[jerry@CentOS src]$ git push origin wchar_support
The above command will produce the following result:
70

GIT

Counting objects: 7, done.

Compressing objects: 100% (4/4), done.
Writing objects: 100% (4/4), 516 bytes, done.
Total 4 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
To gituser@git.server.com:project.git
3789fe8..9d201a9 wchar_support -> wchar_support

Tackle Conflicts
Tom wants to see what Jerry is doing on his private branch and so, he tries to
pull the latest changes from the wchar_support branch, but Git aborts the
operation with the following error message.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git pull origin wchar_support
The above command produces the following result:
remote: Counting objects: 11, done.
63Git Tutorials
remote: Compressing objects: 100% (8/8), done.
remote: Total 8 (delta 2), reused 0 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (8/8), done.
From git.server.com:project
* branch
wchar_support -> FETCH_HEAD
Auto-merging src/string_operations.c
CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in src/string_operations.c
Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.

Resolve Conflicts
From the error message, it is clear that there is a conflict in
src/string_operations.c . He runs the git diff command to view further details.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git diff
The above command produces the following result:
diff --cc src/string_operations.c
71

GIT

index 52bec84,163a779..0000000
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@@ -1,8 -1,17 +1,22 @@@
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
++<<<<<<< HEAD
+/* wide character strlen fucntion */
+size_t my_wc_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
++=======
+ wchar_t *my_wstrchr(wchar_t *ws, wchar_t wc)
+{
+
+
while (*ws) {
if (*ws == wc)
+
return ws;
+
++ws;
+ }
+ return NULL;
+}
+
+ size_t my_wstrlen(const wchar_t *s)
++>>>>>>>9d201a9c61bc4713f4095175f8954b642dae8f86
{
const wchar_t *p = s;
As both Tom and Jerry changed the name of the same function, Git is in a state
of confusion and it asks the user to resolve the conflict manually.
Tom decides to keep the function name suggested by Jerry, but he keeps the
comment added by him as it is. After removing the conflict markers, git diff will
look like this.
72

GIT

[tom@CentOS src]$ git diff

The above command produces the following result.
diff --cc src/string_operations.c
diff --cc src/string_operations.c
index 52bec84,163a779..0000000
--- a/src/string_operations.c
+++ b/src/string_operations.c
@@@ -1,8 -1,17 +1,18 @@@
#include <stdio.h>
#include <wchar.h>
+ wchar_t *my_wstrchr(wchar_t *ws, wchar_t wc)
+{
+
while (*ws) {
+
if (*ws == wc)
+
return ws;
+
++ws;
+ }
+ return NULL;
+}
+
+/* wide character strlen fucntion */
- size_t my_wc_strlen(const wchar_t *s)
+ size_t my_wstrlen(const wchar_t *s)
{
const wchar_t *p = s;
As Tom has modified the files, he has to commit these changes first and
thereafter, he can pull the changes.
[tom@CentOS src]$ git commit -a -m 'Resolved conflict'
73

GIT

[master 6b1ac36] Resolved conflict

[tom@CentOS src]$ git pull origin wchar_support.
Tom has resolved the conflict, now the pull operation will succeed.

74

20. DIFFERENT PLATFORMS

GIT

GNU/Linux and Mac OS uses line-feed (LF), or new line as line ending
character,
while
Windows
uses
line-feed
and
carriage-return
(LFCR) combination to represent the line-ending character.
To avoid unnecessary commits because of these line-ending differences, we
have to configure the Git client to write the same line ending to the Git
repository.
For Windows system, we can configure the Git client to convert line endings
to CRLF format while checking out, and convert them back to LF format during
the commit operation. The following settings will do the needful.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git config --global core.autocrlf true
For GNU/Linux or Mac OS, we can configure the Git client to convert line endings
from CRLF to LF while performing the checkout operation.
[tom@CentOS project]$ git config --global core.autocrlf input

75

21. ONLINE REPOSITORIES

GIT

GitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development projects that

uses the Git revision control system. It also has their standard GUI application
available for download (Windows, Mac, GNU/ Linux) directly from the service's
website. But in this session, we will see only CLI part.

Create GitHub Repository

Go to github.com. If you already have the GitHub account, then login using that
account or create a new one. Follow the steps from github.com website to create
a new repository.

Push Operation
Tom decides to use the GitHub server. To start a new project, he creates a new
directory and one file inside that.
[tom@CentOS]$ mkdir github_repo

[tom@CentOS]$ cd github_repo/

[tom@CentOS]$ vi hello.c

[tom@CentOS]$ make hello

cc hello.c -o hello

[tom@CentOS]$ ./hello
The above command will produce the following result:
Hello, World !!!
After verifying his code, he initializes the directory with the git init command and
commits his changes locally.
[tom@CentOS]$ git init
Initialized empty Git repository in /home/tom/github_repo/.git/

76

GIT

[tom@CentOS]$ git status -s

?? hello
?? hello.c

[tom@CentOS]$ git add hello.c

[tom@CentOS]$ git status -s

A hello.c
?? hello

[tom@CentOS]$ git commit -m 'Initial commit'

After that, he adds the GitHub repository URL as a remote origin and pushes his
changes to the remote repository.
[tom@CentOS]$ git remote add origin
https://github.com/kangralkar/testing_repo.git

[tom@CentOS]$ git push -u origin master

Push operation will ask for GitHub user name and password. After successful
authentication, the operation will succeed.
The above command will produce the following result:
Username for 'https://github.com': kangralkar
Password for 'https://kangralkar@github.com':
Counting objects: 3, done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 214 bytes, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To https://github.com/kangralkar/test_repo.git
* [new branch]

master > master

Branch master set up to track remote branch master from origin.

From now, Tom can push any changes to the GitHub repository. He can use all
the commands discussed in this chapter with the GitHub repository.

77

GIT

Pull Operation
Tom successfully pushed all his changes to the GitHub repository. Now, other
developers can view these changes by performing clone operation or updating
their local repository.
Jerry creates a new directory in his home directory and clones the GitHub
repository by using the git clone command.
[jerry@CentOS]$ pwd
/home/jerry

[jerry@CentOS]$ mkdir jerry_repo

[jerry@CentOS]$ git clone https://github.com/kangralkar/test_repo.git

The above command produces the following result:
Cloning into 'test_repo'...
remote: Counting objects: 3, done.
remote: Total 3 (delta 0), reused 3 (delta 0)
Unpacking objects: 100% (3/3), done.
He verifies the directory contents by executing the ls command.
[jerry@CentOS]$ ls
test_repo

[jerry@CentOS]$ ls test_repo/
hello.c

78