Adding to your project

First, let's check what branch we are in

git branch

Git tells us we are working with the master branch. Open this directory in your text editor, add a file, and save. Now, you can ask git about the status of things with

git status

Git will respond and even provide some helpful hints for us.

Discuss the status and explain why we'll need to "add" next.

Now, let's go ahead and tell git to track our file:

git add <filename>

As before, we will "commit" this change with a message:

git commit -m "message about the change"

Discuss add vs. commit.

Try running git status. Notice that git knows what's up. Git now remembers the changes you made. Run git log to see a history of commits.

Review

Asking git for information

Command What it means What it does
git status git, what's your status? tells us which files have changed since our last commit
git log git, give us a log shows us a history of our commits

Commands to tell git about changes

Command What it means What it does
git add hello.txt git, add hello.txt to your "stage" tells git to keep an eye on the hello.txt file
git commit -m "a message" git, commit these changes as described by this message tells git to track the changes of the staged files and to remember the changes with the commit message