Learn Git Basics 🚀

Welcome to the Git Basics Workshop! This repository contains exercises to help you learn essential Git commands.

Workshop Prerequisites

• Git installed on your computer
• A GitHub account
• A text editor

Getting Started

1. Fork this repository by clicking the "Fork" button at the top right of this page
2. Clone your forked repository in your computer's terminal:

git clone https://github.com/<github username>/<forked repo name>
cd <forked repo name>
mkdir git-workshop
cd git-workshop

Exercises

Exercise 1: Making Your First Commit

1. Create a new file called introduction.txt (touch introduction.txt in your terminal or create a new file in your file explorer)
2. Add your name and one fun fact about yourself
3. Stage the file:

git add introduction.txt

4. Commit the change:

git status  # Check what's staged
git commit -m "Add personal introduction"

Exercise 2: Branching Out

1. Create and switch to a new branch:

git checkout -b feature/add-hobby

2. Create a file called hobbies.txt and list your hobbies
3. Stage and commit your changes
4. Switch back to main:

git checkout main

Exercise 3: Merging Changes

1. Merge your feature branch into main:

git merge feature/add-hobby

2. Resolve any conflicts if they occur

Exercise 4: Collaboration

1. Create a new branch called feature/favorite-foods
2. Add a file favorite-foods.txt with your top 3 favorite foods
3. Stage and commit your changes
4. Push your branch to GitHub:

git push origin feature/favorite-foods

4. Create a Pull Request on GitHub

Exercise 5: Pulling Updates

1. Pull the latest changes from the main branch:

git checkout main
git pull origin main

Common Git Commands Reference

# Repository Setup
git clone <url>          # Clone a repository
git init                 # Initialize a new repository

# Basic Commands
git status              # Check repository status
git add <file>          # Stage changes
git commit -m "message" # Commit changes
git push                # Push changes to remote
git pull                # Pull changes from remote

# Branching
git branch              # List branches
git checkout <branch>   # Switch branches
git checkout -b <name>  # Create and switch to new branch
git merge <branch>      # Merge branches

# History
git log                 # View commit history
git diff                # View changes

Troubleshooting Tips

• If you make a mistake in your last commit message:

  git commit --amend -m "New message"

• If you need to undo staged changes:

  git reset HEAD <file>

• If you need to discard local changes:

  git checkout -- <file>

Extra Challenges

1. Try creating multiple branches and merging them
2. Practice resolving merge conflicts
3. Experiment with git revert to undo commits
4. Create a .gitignore file and test it

Need Help?

If you get stuck, try these steps:

1. Check git status to see what's happening
2. Look at the error message carefully
3. Ask a workshop mentor for help
4. Google the error message (a very real developer skill!)