Install git on the local computer

Check if git has already been installed on my Mac:

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git --version
git version 2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)

I got “git version 2.30.1 (Apple Git-130)"; that means I have already got git installed on my Mac.

If you can see the version information, you need to download and install git on your computer.

Create a free GitHub account

Go to GitHub website and sign up to get a free GitHub account.

Config git on the local computer

Add your GitHub email and username to git:

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git config --global user.email "youremai@email.com" 
git config --global user.name "your-git-username"

Create a project folder on the local computer to store your local version of the GitHub repository. You can use either of the following ways:

  • On your Desktop, create a folder git_202201 (you can use your desired folder name). Press CMD+shidt+n, and then change the new folder’s name to git_202201.

  • Go to Terminal. From Terminal, goto desktop (Mac)

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    cd /Users/your-username-on-mac/Desktop
mkdir git_202201

After creating the project folder (In this article, the folder is git_202201), open Terminal and enter the project folder:

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cd git_202201
git init

Now, you have established the git folder on your computer, and it is connected to the content in your GitHub account on the GitHub website.

Tips: “Command + Shift + . " let you see the folder or file with . in the front of it (such as .git); it’s a taogle command shortcut. Using the toggle shortcut, you can make the .git folder visible or invisible. Check git status:

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git status

Remember, you’re still under the folder of git_202201, NOT git_202201/.git. Create a new file:

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touch file1.txt

Check the status:

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git status

You can see a new file is not on the stage. Add the new file to the stage and check again:

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git add file1.txt
git status

You can see the new file is on the stage in green. Under the line of “Changes to be committed:”.

Commit the new file to the main brunch, with the message “added file1.txt”:

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git commit -m "added file1.txt"
git status

You can see no file on the stage. All changes are committed.

You can’t see the new file in GitHub repository until you run this line:

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git push

Delete a file

You don’t need to delete a file or a folder from the Finder first. Just execute the following command:

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git rm filename(s)

When removing files, I found that I needed to write each filename, couldn’t use wildcard *.

Check the status:

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git status

You will see the list of deleted files; that are also changes needed to be committed.

Commit the changes and push to the repo on GitHub:

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git commit -m "files with filenames are deleted."
git push

Get repository on GitHub to local computer

To establish the connection between the GitHub repository and the local version of the same repository, you need to do one of the following two things according to your situation:

  • If you have all content on your local computer, you need to create a repository on GitHub and get its link; then execute the following command in your project folder:

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    cd project-folder
git init
git add .
git commit -m "first commit"
git branch -M main
git remote add origin https://github.com/yourusername/yourusername.github.io.git

    Here, we assume your repository’s name is “yourusername.github.io”.

    Then you can push your changes to the repository on GitHub:

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    git push -u origin main

    To see what you have done earlier:

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    git log

    To see the command list for git:

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    git --help

  • If you already have your repository on GitHub and have nothing on your local computer, you need to execute the following command:

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    git clone https://github.com/yourusername/yourusername.github.io.git

    Then you will get the repository from the GitHub website to your local computer. You can check if you have the remote repository on your local computer:

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    git remote -v

    After making changes:

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    git add .
git commit -m "message..."
git push

When you push the first time, you need to use your personal access token. You need to go to the GutHub website to generated your personal access token to complete your first push.

Rename a repository

Go to the repository you want to rename. Go to Settings. Under Repository name, change the name, and then click Rename button. It is better to do “git clone “https:// … address of new repository” in a new folder, and later just delete the old folder of this repository on your local computer. If the repository is not too big, this will avoid lots of confusion.

Other command lines

To stop tracking a file:

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git rm --cached <file>

These are some basic commands to get you started. For more specific and detailed information, please refer to the documentation from the GitHub website.