A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO GIT

Introduction

Git is a free, open source version control system that developers and analyst use for tracking changes,collaborating and managing project history efficiently, allowing them to work offline and merge their work seamlessly.

Getting started

Before getting started with Git you’ll need to configure by setting your email and user name.
This is important for version control system as each Git commit uses this information
An example
git config --global user name "nashipae"
git config --global user. email "[e-mail]

The Git work plan

The life cycle of file has 3 stages. They include:

• Your working directory - This is where you are actively working on the file or editing

• Staging area-This is a loading dock for changes you want to save (almost final)

• The repository-This is a permanent storage area for your project
  An example, GitHub, GitLab

Essential commands

Starting a project
There are 2 ways to configure this

• Initialize a new project

git init

• Clone an existing project git clone (github project)

Checking status and tracking changes

Git allows you to check the status of a file

git status-see what has been changed in a file
An example

git status 
on branch master 
no commits yet`
changes to be committed:`
use `git restore --staged ..."to unstage
`
new file: index.html 

git diff- see detailed changes made to a file
git add (file name)-adding specific file to the staging area
git add.- adding all changes to your staging area

Saving your work

To save changes on Git we use the command
git commit -m "commit message"
To view history on commits for repository you can use the git log command

Pushing your code

To create a remote connection to github we use the command

git remote add origin "Github project"
To push to a main branch, we use the command
git push origin main
To push for the first time
git push -u origin main

Pulling code

git pull origin main

See what has changed

Version control deals with understanding what changes have been made to a file
For this you have to check the history of your commit
git log- see commit history
git log --oneline see compacted history
git blame(file name)find out who made changes
git diff (commit 1) (commit 2)- compare between commit
If you made a mistake during staging you need to go back to your previous changes, we use the command

git rese HEAD*
We have 3 examples of this
git reset --soft (HEAD ~1)
git reset --hard (HEAD ~1)
git reset --mixed(HEAD ~1)