Instructions: Complete the following activity to install and setup Git on your local machine, practice creating, editing and making changes to a file using Git by starting a simple shopping list text file.

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Part 1: Set Up Git on Your Local Machine

  1. Open a Terminal program on your computer (For more details, reference Lesson 3.1 Git: Installation.)
  2. Install Git
    • Choose one of the following commands to run based on the operating system of your computer.
    • Linux
       
       
       

      $ sudo apt install git-all

      • Note: You may need to refer to the official Git documentation depending on the version of Linux (ie. Ubuntu, Debian) that your machine is running.
    • macOS
       
       
       

      $ git --version

      • Note: Running the command should prompt you to install Git if it is not yet installed.
    • Windows
  3. Configure Git (One-time setup, if haven't done so already):
     
     
     

    $ git config --global user.name "Your Name"

    $ git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"             

 

Part 2: Initialize a Repository

  1. Create a new folder called my-repo (or choose your own folder name but make sure to stay consistent) for your project and initialize Git:
     
     
     

    $ mkdir my-local-repo

    $ cd my-local-repo

    ~/my-local-repo$ git init

    • Note: Notice that the terminal prompt changed from just $ to ~/my-local-repo$ after the command cd my-local-repo is used to change into this new directory.

 

Part 3: Create and Save Your File

  1. Create a new file called shopList.txt and adding a first item:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ echo "Milk" > shopList.txt

  2. Stage the file:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ git add shopList.txt

  3. Commit the file:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ git commit -m "Initial commit: add milk to shopping list"

 

Part 4: Edit, Stage, and Commit Again

  1. Add more items (note that >> is used to append to the file)
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ echo "Juice" >> shopList.txt

    ~/my-local-repo$ echo "Eggs" >> shopList.txt

  2. Look at the status of your repo and list the changes:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ git status

    ~/my-local-repo$ git diff

  3. Stage and commit the file:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ git add shopList.txt

    ~/my-local-repo$ git commit -m "Add Juice and Eggs to shopping list"

 

Part 5: Undo a Change

  1. Add a new item (but pretend you changed your mind):
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ echo "Ice cream" >> shopList.txt

  2. Undo the unsaved change:
     
     
     

    ~/my-local-repo$ git restore shopList.txt

  

Tip: Explore more Git commands using git --help.

If you're feeling stuck completing this exercise, please feel free to pose questions or consult the Discussion Forum.