7/16/2018 An Intro to Git and GitHub for Beginners (Tutorial)

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An Intro to Git and GitHub for Beginners

(Tutorial)
OCT 1, 2015 / BY MEGHAN NELSON

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7/16/2018 An Intro to Git and GitHub for Beginners (Tutorial)

In August, we hosted a Women Who Code meetup at HubSpot and led a workshop for
beginners on using git and GitHub. I first walked through a slide presentation on the basics
and background of git and then we broke out into groups to run through a tutorial I created to
simulate working on a large, collaborative project. We got feedback after the event that it was
a helpful, hands-on introduction. So if you're new to git, too, follow the steps below to get
comfortable making changes to the code base, opening up a pull request (PR), and merging
code into the master branch. Any important git and GitHub terms are in bold with links to the
official git reference materials.

Step 0: Install git and create a GitHub account

The first two things you'll want to do are install git and create a free GitHub account.

Follow the instructions here to install git (if it's not already installed). Note that for this tutorial
we will be using git on the command line only. While there are some great git GUIs (graphical
user interfaces), I think it's easier to learn git using git-specific commands first and then to try
out a git GUI once you're more comfortable with the command.

Once you've done that, create a GitHub account here. (Accounts are free for public
repositories, but there's a charge for private repositories.)

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Step 1: Create a local git repository

When creating a new project on your local machine using git, you'll first create a
new repository (or often, 'repo', for short).

To use git we'll be using the terminal. If you don't have much experience with the terminal and
basic commands, check out this tutorial (especially the 'Navigating the Filesystem' and 'Moving
Around' sections).

To begin, open up a terminal and move to where you want to place the project on your local
machine using the cd (change directory) command. For example, if you have a 'projects' folder
on your desktop, you'd do something like:

mnelson:Desktop mnelson$ cd ~/Desktop

mnelson:Desktop mnelson$ mkdir myproject
mnelson:Desktop mnelson$ cd myproject/

terminalcd.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

To initialize a git repository in the root of the folder, run the git init command:

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git init

Initialized empty Git repository in /Users/mnelson/Desktop/myproject/.git/

gitinit.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

Step 2: Add a new file to the repo

Go ahead and add a new file to the project, using any text editor you like or running a touch
command.

Once you've added or modified files in a folder containing a git repo, git will notice that
changes have been made inside the repo. But, git won't officially keep track of the file (that is,
put it in a commit - we'll talk more about commits next) unless you explicitly tell it to.

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mnelson:myproject mnelson$ touch mnelson.txt

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ ls
mnelson.txt

addfile.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

After creating the new file, you can use the git status command to see which files git
knows exist.

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git status

On branch master

Initial commit

Untracked files:
(use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)

mnelson.txt

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use "git add" to track)

gitstatus.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

What this basically says is, "Hey, we noticed you created a new file called mnelson.txt, but
unless you use the 'git add' command we aren't going to do anything with it."

An interlude: The staging environment, the commit, and you

One of the most confusing parts when you're first learning git is the concept of the staging
environment and how it relates to a commit.

A commit is a record of what files you have changed since the last time you made a
commit. Essentially, you make changes to your repo (for example, adding a file or modifying
one) and then tell git to put those files into a commit.

Commits make up the essence of your project and allow you to go back to the state of a
project at any point.

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So, how do you tell git which files to put into a commit? This is where the staging
environment or index come in. As seen in Step 2, when you make changes to your repo, git
notices that a file has changed but won't do anything with it (like adding it in a commit).

To add a file to a commit, you first need to add it to the staging environment. To do this, you
can use the git add <filename> command (see Step 3 below).

Once you've used the git add command to add all the files you want to the staging
environment, you can then tell git to package them into a commit using the git commit
command.

Note: The staging environment, also called 'staging', is the new preferred term for this, but you
can also see it referred to as the 'index'.

Step 3: Add a file to the staging environment

Add a file to the staging environment using the git add command.

If you rerun the git status command, you'll see that git has added the file to the staging
environment (notice the "Changes to be committed" line).

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git status

On branch master

Initial commit

Changes to be committed:
(use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)

new file: mnelson.txt

addtostaging.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

To reiterate, the file has not yet been added to a commit, but it's about to be.

Step 4: Create a commit

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It's time to create your first commit!

Run the command git commit -m "Your message about the commit"

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git commit -m "This is my first commit!"

[master (root-commit) b345d9a] This is my first commit!
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)
create mode 100644 mnelson.txt

commit.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

The message at the end of the commit should be something related to what the commit
contains - maybe it's a new feature, maybe it's a bug fix, maybe it's just fixing a typo. Don't put
a message like "asdfadsf" or "foobar". That makes the other people who see your commit sad.
Very, very, sad.

Step 5: Create a new branch

Now that you've made a new commit, let's try something a little more advanced.

Say you want to make a new feature but are worried about making changes to the main project
while developing the feature. This is where git branches come in.

Branches allow you to move back and forth between 'states' of a project. For instance, if you
want to add a new page to your website you can create a new branch just for that page without
affecting the main part of the project. Once you're done with the page, you can merge your
changes from your branch into the master branch. When you create a new branch, Git
keeps track of which commit your branch 'branched' off of, so it knows the history behind all
the files.

Let's say you are on the master branch and want to create a new branch to develop your web
page. Here's what you'll do: Run git checkout -b <my branch name>. This command
will automatically create a new branch and then 'check you out' on it, meaning git will move
you to that branch, off of the master branch.

After running the above command, you can use the git branch command to confirm that
your branch was created:

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mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git branch

master
* my-new-branch

gitbranch.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

The branch name with the asterisk next to it indicates which branch you're pointed to at that
given time.

Now, if you switch back to the master branch and make some more commits, your new branch
won't see any of those changes until you merge those changes onto your new branch.

Step 6: Create a new repository on GitHub

If you only want to keep track of your code locally, you don't need to use GitHub. But if you
want to work with a team, you can use GitHub to collaboratively modify the project's code.

To create a new repo on GitHub, log in and go to the GitHub home page. You should see a
green '+ New repository' button:

After clicking the button, GitHub will ask you to name your repo and provide a brief description:

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When you're done filling out the information, press the 'Create repository' button to make your
new repo.

GitHub will ask if you want to create a new repo from scratch or if you want to add a repo you
have created locally. In this case, since we've already created a new repo locally, we want to
push that onto GitHub so follow the '....or push an existing repository from the command
line' section:
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mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git remote add origin https://github.com/cubeton/mynewrepository.git

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git push -u origin master
Counting objects: 3, done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 263 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To https://github.com/cubeton/mynewrepository.git
* [new branch] master -> master
Branch master set up to track remote branch master from origin.

addgithub.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

(You'll want to change the URL in the first command line to what GitHub lists in this section
since your GitHub username and repo name are different.)

Step 7: Push a branch to GitHub

Now we'll push the commit in your branch to your new GitHub repo. This allows other people
to see the changes you've made. If they're approved by the repository's owner, the changes
can then be merged into the master branch.

To push changes onto a new branch on GitHub, you'll want to run git push origin
yourbranchname. GitHub will automatically create the branch for you on the remote
repository:

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git push origin my-new-branch

Counting objects: 3, done.
Delta compression using up to 8 threads.
Compressing objects: 100% (2/2), done.
Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 313 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
Total 3 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0)
To https://github.com/cubeton/mynewrepository.git
* [new branch] my-new-branch -> my-new-branch

addnewbranchgithub.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

You might be wondering what that "origin" word means in the command above. What happens
is that when you clone a remote repository to your local machine, git creates an alias for you.
In nearly all cases this alias is called "origin." It's essentially shorthand for the remote
repository's URL. So, to push your changes to the remote repository, you could've used either
the command: git push [email protected]:git/git.git yourbranchname or git
push origin yourbranchname
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(If this is your first time using GitHub locally, it might prompt you to log in with your GitHub
username and password.)

If you refresh the GitHub page, you'll see note saying a branch with your name has just been
pushed into the repository. You can also click the 'branches' link to see your branch listed
there.

Now click the green button in the screenshot above. We're going to make a pull request!

Step 8: Create a Pull Request (PR)

A pull request (or PR) is a way to alert a repo's owners that you want to make some changes
to their code. It allows them to review the code and make sure it looks good before putting
your changes on the master branch.

This is what the PR page looks like before you've submitted it:

And this is what it looks like once you've submitted the PR request:

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You might see a big green button at the bottom that says 'Merge pull request'. Clicking this
means you'll merge your changes into the master branch.

Note that this button won't always be green. In some cases it'll be grey, which means you're
faced with a merge conflict. This is when there is a change in one file that conflicts with a
change in another file and git can't figure out which version to use. You'll have to manually go
in and tell git which version to use.

Sometimes you'll be a co-owner or the sole owner of a repo, in which case you may not need
to create a PR to merge your changes. However, it's still a good idea to make one so you can
keep a more complete history of your updates and to make sure you always create a new
branch when making changes.

Step 9: Merge a PR

Go ahead and click the green 'Merge pull request' button. This will merge your changes into
the master branch.

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When you're done, I recommend deleting your branch (too many branches can become
messy), so hit that grey 'Delete branch' button as well.

You can double check that your commits were merged by clicking on the 'Commits' link on the
first page of your new repo.

This will show you a list of all the commits in that branch. You can see the one I just merged
right up top (Merge pull request #2).

You can also see the hash code of the commit on the right hand side. A hash code is a unique
identifier for that specific commit. It's useful for referring to specific commits and when undoing
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changes (use the git revert <hash code number> command to backtrack).

Step 10: Get changes on GitHub back to your computer

Right now, the repo on GitHub looks a little different than what you have on your local
machine. For example, the commit you made in your branch and merged into the master
branch doesn't exist in the master branch on your local machine.

In order to get the most recent changes that you or others have merged on GitHub, use the
git pull origin master command (when working on the master branch).

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git pull origin master

remote: Counting objects: 1, done.
remote: Total 1 (delta 0), reused 0 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
Unpacking objects: 100% (1/1), done.
From https://github.com/cubeton/mynewrepository
* branch master -> FETCH_HEAD
b345d9a..5381b7c master -> origin/master
Merge made by the 'recursive' strategy.
mnelson.txt | 1 +
1 file changed, 1 insertion(+)

pulloriginmaster.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

This shows you all the files that have changed and how they've changed.

Now we can use the git log command again to see all new commits.

(You may need to switch branches back to the master branch. You can do that using the git
checkout master command.)

mnelson:myproject mnelson$ git log

commit 3e270876db0e5ffd3e9bfc5edede89b64b83812c
Merge: 4f1cb17 5381b7c
Author: Meghan Nelson <[email protected]>
Date: Fri Sep 11 17:48:11 2015 -0400

Merge branch 'master' of https://github.com/cubeton/mynewrepository

commit 4f1cb1798b6e6890da797f98383e6337df577c2a
Author: Meghan Nelson <[email protected]>
Date: Fri Sep 11 17:48:00 2015 -0400

added a new file

commit 5381b7c53212ca92151c743b4ed7dde07d9be3ce
Merge: b345d9a 1e8dc08

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Author: Meghan Nelson <[email protected]>
Date: Fri Sep 11 17:43:22 2015 -0400

Merge pull request #2 from cubeton/my-newbranch

Added some more text to my file

commit 1e8dc0830b4db8c93efd80479ea886264768520c
Author: Meghan Nelson <[email protected]>
Date: Fri Sep 11 17:06:05 2015 -0400

Added some more text to my file

commit b345d9a25353037afdeaa9fcaf9f330effd157f1
Author: Meghan Nelson <[email protected]>
Date: Thu Sep 10 17:42:15 2015 -0400

This is my first commit!

gitlogaftermerge.md hosted with ❤ by GitHub view raw

Step 11: Bask in your git glory

You've successfully made a PR and merged your code to the master branch. Congratulations!
If you'd like to dive a little deeper, check out the files in this Git101 folder for even more tips
and tricks on using git and GitHub.

I also recommend finding some time to work with your team on simulating a smaller group
project like we did here. Have your team make a new folder with your team name, and add
some files with text to it. Then, try pushing those changes to this remote repo. That way, your
team can start making changes to files they didn't originally create and practice using the
PR feature. And, use the git blame and git history tools on GitHub to get familiar with tracking
which changes have been made in a file and who made those changes.

The more you use git, the more comfortable you'll... git with it. (I couldn't resist.)

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Written by Meghan Nelson

Comments
Sam 10/2/2015, 10:34:59 AM

Very informative post! Thanks!

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REPLY TO SAM

Alberto Guijarro Rodriguez 4/23/2018, 12:27:33 AM

Thank you very much for the tutorial, clear and easy to follow.
REPLY TO ALBERTO GUIJARRO RODRIGUEZ

June 12/13/2015, 10:14:56 PM

Thanks for the tutorial, but I have one question. I've done to step 8 (Step 8: Create a Pull
Request (PR), but the github page could not find any changes, it says "master and my-branch-
name are identical." I tried several times but still couldn't find the reason. I don't know where
did I do wrong, anyone has the same problem?
REPLY TO JUNE

Meghan Nelson 12/15/2015, 12:04:26 AM

Hi June! I'm glad you're going through the tutorial. It sounds like what's happening is
you've created your new branch on GitHub, but you haven't made changes (commits) on
that branch or pushed your local changes (commits) onto GitHub.

What you can do is:

1. Make sure you're working on the correct branch (use the 'git branch' command). There
should be an asterisk next to your branch name you're currently working on.
2. Make sure you've made commits on your branch. You can use the 'git status' command
to see if there are any unsaved changes (You want it to say 'On branch my-branch-name
nothing to commit, working directory clean'). You can use the 'git log' command to make
sure that you have made commits on that branch. You'll need to make at least one commit
for there to be differences to appear.
3. Finally once you're sure you've made a commit on that branch, try redoing the 'git push
origin my-branch-name' command and refresh the page on GitHub. You should then your
changes listed in your branch on GitHub.

I hope this helps, let me know if you run into any problems!
REPLY TO MEGHAN NELSON

June 12/15/2015, 7:24:09 AM

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Hi Meghan,
Thanks for the answer. Yesterday I tried it again and finally could make the git push
command!
I'm completely new in coding, have just studied it for a few months, and finding
something really easy to follow like your tutorial is such a great happiness.
Thanks so much!
REPLY TO JUNE

Michael Owen 12/30/2015, 6:50:48 PM

Thanks for the answer. Yesterday I tried it again and finally could make the git push command!
I'm completely new in coding, have just studied it for a few months, and finding something
really easy to follow like your tutorial is such a great happiness.
Thanks so much!
Thanks for the answer. Yesterday I tried it again and finally could make the git push command!
I'm completely new in coding, have just studied it for a few months, and finding something
really easy to follow like your tutorial is such a great happiness.
Thanks so much!
REPLY TO MICHAEL OWEN

Kristin Day 5/31/2016, 7:05:20 PM

This was so helpful! Thank you so much for posting!!

REPLY TO KRISTIN DAY

Virendra More 8/14/2016, 7:19:51 PM

Can I configure remote repository with corporate domain user accounts?

REPLY TO VIRENDRA MORE

Paul Swanson 10/17/2016, 2:46:38 AM

Wonderful guide! This was very useful for my purposes. I didnt wanna to have to load 100 files
at a time using to stupid gui, This let me upload all 9k in a single go. And it will prove
invaluable as I go forward with my project. When doing a git commit will this work?
git commit i_want_everything_in_this_folder*
REPLY TO PAUL SWANSON

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Arjun Satarkar 9/15/2017, 11:49:19 PM

Where did you get 9k files from? Just curious.

REPLY TO ARJUN SATARKAR

Niraj Warade 12/11/2016, 7:31:19 PM

Thanks Meghan for your efforts!

The tutorial was really helpful.
REPLY TO NIRAJ WARADE

Gyan Prakash 12/27/2016, 2:27:10 PM

very helpful tutorial with all required links. Hopefully I will be able to use git and github.
REPLY TO GYAN PRAKASH

Joe Austin 1/15/2017, 1:35:18 AM

Thanks for the tutorial. Trying to keep GitHub repo, local repo, master, branch, staging,
working copy and all that straight is mind-boggling, but your explanation helps.
Guess my next step is to clone a project from some other website
to my website, make changes, then push/pull them back to the original website with GitHub--
just one more layer of complexity! I'd assume this requires complicity of the original website.
REPLY TO JOE AUSTIN

Daljeet 2/16/2017, 1:57:52 AM

A BIG thanks to you for providing such a wonderful tutorial. Now i know what my team is going
to work on and how to do work as a team !
REPLY TO DALJEET

Manish Sonwane 2/27/2017, 1:28:24 PM

i want to learn coding

REPLY TO MANISH SONWANE

Manish Sonwane 2/27/2017, 1:29:37 PM

i want to learn coding

REPLY TO MANISH SONWANE

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Kathy 3/1/2017, 4:17:56 AM

I really want to complete this tutorial but I got stuck on step 1 :( It says "To use git we'll be
using the terminal. If you don't have much experience with the terminal and basic commands,
check out this tutorial" but the link goes to a mac site. What are us Windows users supposed
to do?
REPLY TO KATHY

Topher Eliot 4/21/2017, 10:21:47 AM

I recommend that rather than learning to use Windows command line tools, you instead
learn Linux command line tools. The good news is that you can do this on Windows! The
trick is to get a package called Cygwin (https://cygwin.com/install.html) and install and run
it. That will get you a command line window that does a pretty good job of mimicking
Linux. This gives you most of the power of Linux command line tools, which will be very
handy as you expand your skills.
REPLY TO TOPHER ELIOT

Diana Hoober 4/21/2017, 10:35:30 AM

Thanks Topher I appreciate the tip for Linux. My main concern is learning it for the
contracts I do at Microsoft so figured out that it is the command line for Windows and
there is no problem learning the terminology for that since I have been using that off
and on for over 37 years.
REPLY TO DIANA HOOBER

Jaspreet Singh 3/8/2017, 5:55:25 PM

Hello

Thanks for sharing a great article in which you write step by step about Git and Github tutorial.
I understand easily after reading your article. I am a beginner for Git and Github.
Thanks again for sharing useful matter with me and whole people.
REPLY TO JASPREET SINGH

Praveen 3/16/2017, 4:42:40 PM

Thanks for your article. I also think it helps people a lot if you can make a video of this
process.
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It is a very simple process and takes like 10 minutes of actually showing how it is done. For
beginners using Windows I suggest using Github for Windows so there is no need to start
using command line straight away and it is 127 mb size download the last time I downloaded.
Tutorial for Windows: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LufnCoPShZE
Website to download Github for Windows: https://desktop.github.com/

It is very simple to use and have fun, you can get into command line way of doing things after
you get used this process.

Have Fun and God Bless :)

REPLY TO PRAVEEN

Lucian Agnello 3/21/2017, 2:10:22 AM

Thank you for the walkthrough tutorial. It was super easy and a fantastic crash course, as I
have to use it for a new job
REPLY TO LUCIAN AGNELLO

Pu Dinh 3/23/2017, 3:33:39 PM

Thank you so much. So now I can to use it for a new job.

REPLY TO PU DINH

DHIRAJ MASODGI 3/26/2017, 5:26:52 AM

Very handy for beginners to start with. Great work.

REPLY TO DHIRAJ MASODGI

Elian Maciel 4/1/2017, 12:05:43 AM

Elian from software engineering class

REPLY TO ELIAN MACIEL

Al Rii 4/7/2017, 6:57:31 AM

This is beautifully explained in brief steps. This is what tutorials should be.
REPLY TO AL RII

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Mahdi Nematpour 4/8/2017, 2:03:35 AM

Thanks for your useful and brief post.

REPLY TO MAHDI NEMATPOUR

Diana Hoober 4/19/2017, 1:23:28 AM

I just started the tutorial and am having trouble understanding some of the terminology. It says
you have to used a terminal. What is that? Does it mean open a command prompt window and
work at that level? I'm using Windows and have used it since DOS 2.1 so I am familiar with the
command prompt, etc. having only been able to work at that level at the time I started using
personal computers.
REPLY TO DIANA HOOBER

John Sobanski 4/24/2017, 9:17:44 PM

Good writeup. Nice use of both the command line and the web GUI.
REPLY TO JOHN SOBANSKI

Zak Longo 5/4/2017, 12:59:45 AM

Great refresher. I have been in TFS land for 4 years, and needed a refresher on GIT. I wasn't
comfortable simply relying on IntelliJ's GIT GUI, because I remember how powerful GIT can be
when you know how to use the terminal commands.
REPLY TO ZAK LONGO

Jim Kerns 5/11/2017, 4:26:39 AM

I'm sorry, but didn't you leave out an important step before the commit, like telling git who you
are?
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"
git config --global user.name "Your Name"

otherwise you get "*** Please tell me who you are."

Your instructions did not work for me without it.

Thanks.
REPLY TO JIM KERNS

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Manish Sonwane 5/17/2017, 2:38:20 PM

i want to learn coding

REPLY TO MANISH SONWANE

Manish Sonwane 5/17/2017, 2:40:15 PM

i want to learn coding

REPLY TO MANISH SONWANE

Manish Sonwane 5/17/2017, 2:42:46 PM

i want to learn coding

REPLY TO MANISH SONWANE

Ousmane Abdou 5/21/2017, 9:16:39 PM

Very informative. Thank you so much!

REPLY TO OUSMANE ABDOU

Mayur B 5/24/2017, 5:36:49 AM

Thanks! Your kind of beginners guide really helped.

Thanks again!
REPLY TO MAYUR B

Shobhit Khare 5/24/2017, 1:44:10 PM

Thanks for sharing such a very helpful article for beginners.

REPLY TO SHOBHIT KHARE

Ashish S 6/5/2017, 4:47:11 PM

Excellent article! Anyone who is new to Git, should go through it for the simple explanation that
it provides!
REPLY TO ASHISH S

Julien Danjou 6/13/2017, 3:57:34 PM

In order to manage your pull requests from the command line, you can use the git-pull-request
tool. It's pretty neat: https://github.com/jd/git-pull-request

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REPLY TO JULIEN DANJOU

Angela 6/13/2017, 10:23:57 PM

This is a great tutorial/article. It has really helped me to understand how Git and GitHub works
without all of the fancy jargon. Thank you so much for writing it.
REPLY TO ANGELA

Abhilash Srivastava 6/17/2017, 2:02:45 AM

Just love the way you have explained the concepts in simple words!.
I feel this tutorial is better than the official Git tutorials.
Thanks a lot!
REPLY TO ABHILASH SRIVASTAVA

Ian Dalrymple 6/27/2017, 3:25:30 PM

Good work - thank you for putting this together

REPLY TO IAN DALRYMPLE

Nihar More 6/28/2017, 8:47:15 PM

Great Post
Thanks a lot it helped me a lot
I am also going to share it to my friends and over my social media.
Also,
Hackr.io is a great platform to find and share the best tutorials and they have a specific page
for Git

This might be useful to your readers: https://hackr.io/tutorials/learn-git

REPLY TO NIHAR MORE

Thanks Megan Very 6/29/2017, 7:31:29 PM

could understand
REPLY TO THANKS MEGAN VERY

James Hoyland 6/30/2017, 12:38:23 AM

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Thanks Megan! Was looking for an exercise to introduce git for my coding for physics students
- this has saved me a couple of hours prep! :) Great work.
REPLY TO JAMES HOYLAND

John Escario 7/5/2017, 1:04:08 PM

Just want to say thanks. This tutorial was very helpful. Great resource!
REPLY TO JOHN ESCARIO

Mrinalini Kaushal 7/13/2017, 12:58:28 AM

Nice article. It cleared most of my doubts which I had related to Git and GitHub and how to use
it.

Thanks a lot. Very helpful.

REPLY TO MRINALINI KAUSHAL

Victor Nnadi 7/20/2017, 3:44:37 AM

The terminal tutorial you referred us to seems to be for OSX, I am using Windows OS. SO
what terminal should I use?
REPLY TO VICTOR NNADI

Abhishek 7/22/2017, 1:14:50 PM

I have a doubt. After I merged the pull request on github, I deleted the other branch I made.
And on my local computer I did "git pull origin master". But still the other branch that I deleted
on github exists on my local computer. Is that supposed to work this way, or I am I doing
something wrong? Do I have to manually delete the branch on my local computer? If yes,
how?
REPLY TO ABHISHEK

Flurin Conradin 2/19/2018, 3:16:54 AM

I had the same question....

REPLY TO FLURIN CONRADIN

Codeverb Team 7/23/2017, 5:07:02 PM

it's a great resource for github

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REPLY TO CODEVERB TEAM

Parth Chonkar 7/24/2017, 3:47:04 AM

Super useful article

REPLY TO PARTH CHONKAR

Ketan Chavda 7/25/2017, 8:04:24 PM

Its really very good post.I am new in git.I got almost basic commands and details about git.
Thanks a lot for this post.
REPLY TO KETAN CHAVDA

Vijay 7/30/2017, 2:15:40 PM

Thanks for sharing such nice short yet essential tutorial.

I was looking for such tutorial to jump start with git and github together.

Thanks once again.

REPLY TO VIJAY

JUN JULIAN 8/24/2017, 11:17:22 AM

One of the tutorial that i have bookmarked. Nicely done! Thanks.

REPLY TO JUN JULIAN

Justin H 9/7/2017, 11:07:00 PM

Help... I am a huge noob to programming but I am an IT so I know some Command lines for
regular work I do as a network admin and server admin, so Batch files in windows are my
friend. I know basic powershell and have tried over the years to understand PY and C# but
have failed to stay interested in it. I have only managed to make programs and games in batch
files. I have now joined Github so I can learn new methods and see examples, but I want to run
one of them to see what it looks like and see if that's the style of code I want to actually learn
(seeing is believing for me). I have "cloned" a "RPG" repository to my desktop github app, but
can't seem to find a way to run this program that has been modified and written out in code.
how do I actually used all these py files in the branch section and actually run this program!?!?
REPLY TO JUSTIN H

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Gautam Tadigoppula 9/17/2017, 5:47:36 PM

Thanks Megan for such a great post !

I followed the tutorial and successfully created a repo from my local machine onto github
account. Thanks again !
REPLY TO GAUTAM TADIGOPPULA

Ivan Horvat 10/11/2017, 8:57:25 PM

Great tutorial, really simple and forward. Thank you!

REPLY TO IVAN HORVAT

Juan Triana 11/18/2017, 10:29:43 AM

A thousand thumbs up ! Thank you very much, this was really helpful for a beginner like me!
REPLY TO JUAN TRIANA

Preethi Sreenath 11/23/2017, 11:59:43 AM

Thank your very much for a wonderful step by step tutorial. I am a beginner and could try my
first sample following the steps given by you.
REPLY TO PREETHI SREENATH

Mlm City 12/14/2017, 4:23:41 AM

Man, this tutorial makes me feel like I am developmentally challenged. Perhaps it's lack of
sleep but I am beyond frustrated. I am assuming no one will see or respond to this comment.
But I'll put it out here anyway.
On step 7 I receive the following

error: src refspec my-new-branch does not match any.

So obviously the branch wasn't automatically created as is shown in the example. What am I
doing wrong?
REPLY TO MLM CITY

Ramon Reyes 12/19/2017, 12:51:55 AM

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Wow! I'm new to this git/github and by far this one the most comprehensive tutorial i've seen.
However, i have a question though since I made some mistakes switching from master to
branch and had never return successfully after. My question is, after Step 5: Create a new
branch, should we checkout to master first before we proceed to Step 6: Create a new repo in
github?
REPLY TO RAMON REYES

Preethi 12/19/2017, 12:20:32 PM

It is not necessary to checkout to master after step 5. Step 6 in done on GitHub directly. Then
step 7 from command line.
REPLY TO PREETHI

Wahyu 1/17/2018, 8:06:42 PM

Thank you very much, this was really helpful for a beginner like me!
REPLY TO WAHYU

Water Flosser 1/28/2018, 2:08:30 AM

Github is not very intuitive. This simplified our understanding of the system.
REPLY TO WATER FLOSSER

Celso Oliveira 2/8/2018, 2:23:25 AM

such a great article and tutorial. great work.

REPLY TO CELSO OLIVEIRA

1ifrah Awnoor 3/2/2018, 6:14:20 PM

Programming
REPLY TO 1IFRAH AWNOOR

Kuldeep Singh 3/4/2018, 1:35:17 PM

Thanks for this awesome article. Very easy to follow and implement.
REPLY TO KULDEEP SINGH

Shahin Ansari 4/4/2018, 8:34:57 AM

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I was trying to create a pull request earlier tonight, and the GitHub site was giving me an error
stating "there is nothing to compare". It is now some five hours later, and I am able to do it. I
know I did not make any changes to my local repository. It must take some time for the two
repos to sync up or something.
Thanks by the way for the article. It helped drive the concepts home. I need to read about
something, then practice it, before I really understand it.
REPLY TO SHAHIN ANSARI

Hje Hje 4/5/2018, 3:46:25 AM

stopped making ANY SENSE at all after 10 sentences.

try eg to explain what you are saying.
no, just more of: press F10 to get a 4hr after gutgutgut.
REPLY TO HJE HJE

Nona Baltazar 4/20/2018, 11:47:35 PM

Thanks soooo much! Super helpful! Great job :)

REPLY TO NONA BALTAZAR

Jen O'Dea 4/25/2018, 8:24:32 PM

For step 3 to use the 'git add' command you actually need to do:
git add .
That period is needed otherwise you won't be able to add (at least for me)

Step 5. to create a new branch you use this code:

git checkout -b new-branch
there aren't any these: '< >'

The merging was a little confusing, but was able to eventually figure it out.

This was really helpful though! It was clear and mostly easy to follow along with
REPLY TO JEN O'DEA

Jack Harbaer 5/20/2018, 12:33:39 PM

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Get Github Star, Forks and watchings. https://www.peopleperhour.com/hourlie/give-you-

github-star-and-fork/392888 https://www.fiverr.com/creativenode/give-github-star-and-forks
REPLY TO JACK HARBAER

Callmebob 5/1/2018, 6:03:50 PM

Great post! Very helpful, thanks a lot!

REPLY TO CALLMEBOB

Ameen Abdelghani 5/3/2018, 8:30:32 AM

I have been stuck on setep 7 for some time now. when I try to do git -u push origin master, the
instructions didnt mention the need for the log in into GitHub. I have a github account, I know
my password / username / email. But for some reason every time the login is failing. I've tried
to do solutions online but they're not solving this problem. Please help! =0
REPLY TO AMEEN ABDELGHANI

Carm 5/11/2018, 6:14:24 AM

Great post! Thanks! I am in the middle of a course on github and your post is way clearer than
the course instruction.
REPLY TO CARM

5/18/2018, 2:14:22 AM
REPLY TO

5/19/2018, 4:07:18 PM
REPLY TO

Leon Baradat 6/5/2018, 3:36:20 AM

This is a great basic tutorial for git, just the sort of thing I was hoping to find! Thanks, you've
helped get me ready to revive a FOSS edutainment program I've wanted to get back to for
some time.
REPLY TO LEON BARADAT

Vinayak Kadam 6/28/2018, 1:28:12 PM

Nice tutorial

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REPLY TO VINAYAK KADAM

Faith 6/29/2018, 4:21:38 PM

Thanks a lot! I've always found git or github very complicated and confusing, I don't even know
the difference between git and github, just thought git is a short form for github but your article
explained it clearly and easily. Now I understand all those words I normally see on github and I
think I will be able to comfortably work with it now.
Thanks :)
REPLY TO FAITH

Ayam Asayam 7/4/2018, 9:00:43 AM

Thanks a lot, very clear, the definitive git/github tutorial!

REPLY TO AYAM ASAYAM

Rudra Singh 7/9/2018, 6:15:43 PM

How to use github in visual studio

REPLY TO RUDRA SINGH

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