github commands

This file will show how to link a remote repo to local repo, add and remove files, or create new sub-folder in your local repo, and commit the changes to the remote repo

Step 0: create a remote repo in your Github account

right now it is an empty repo without any files

Step 1: clone remote repo to local directory

  • $ cd ~/desktop
  • $ git clone https://github.com/fanouyang/sna_exampler.git # here is the remote repo link you can copy from the repo page
  • info showed after the commands
    Cloning into ‘sna_exampler’…
    remote: Counting objects: 24, done.
    remote: Compressing objects: 100% (24/24), done.
    remote: Total 24 (delta 11), reused 5 (delta 0), pack-reused 0
    Unpacking objects: 100% (24/24), done.

Step 2: you work locally; add files you want to push into remote repo

  • $ cd sna_exampler
  • $ git status
  • info showed after the commands
    On branch master
    Your branch is up-to-date with ‘origin/master’.
    Changes not staged for commit:
    (use “git add …” to update what will be committed)
    (use “git checkout – …” to discard changes in working directory)
    modified: sna_exampler.Rmd
    modified: sna_exampler.html
    Untracked files:
    (use “git add …” to include in what will be committed)
    sna_test.csv
    no changes added to commit (use “git add” and/or “git commit -a”)

Step 3: as the reminders show above, use the command “git add file_name_here” to update files you want to push into remote

  • $ git add sna_exampler.Rmd
  • $ git add sna_exampler.html
  • $ git add sna_test.csv
  • $ git commit -m “add files” # add comments that will be shown alongside of files in remote repo
  • info showed after the commands
    [master 08bf409] add files
    3 files changed, 97 insertions(+), 10 deletions(-)
    create mode 100644 sna_test.csv

Step 4: Now, everything is ready to be officially pushed into the remote repo. Push the changes into remote repo with “git push”

  • $ git push
  • info showed after the commands
    Counting objects: 5, done.
    Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
    Compressing objects: 100% (5/5), done.
    Writing objects: 100% (5/5), 298.15 KiB | 0 bytes/s, done.
    Total 5 (delta 3), reused 0 (delta 0)
    remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (3/3), completed with 3 local objects.
    To https://github.com/fanouyang/sna_exampler.git
    0af172d..08bf409 master -> master

Step 5: It is useful to always check git status after your change

  • $ git status
  • info showed after the commands
    On branch master
    Your branch is up-to-date with ‘origin/master’.
    nothing to commit, working tree clean

Step 7: you can make remote repo to reflect changes in local repo, anytime you have changed files in local repo

  • $ git push -u origin master
  • info showed after the commands
    Branch master set up to track remote branch master from origin.
    Everything up-to-date
  • now assume that you made some changes in local repo $ git status
  • info showed after the commands
    On branch master
    Your branch is up-to-date with ‘origin/master’.
    Changes not staged for commit:
    (use “git add/rm …” to update what will be committed)
    (use “git checkout – …” to discard changes in working directory)
    deleted: one_mode_ad_mat.csv
    deleted: sna_test.csv
    deleted: two_mode_ad_mat.csv
    Untracked files:
    (use “git add …” to include in what will be committed)
    data/
    no changes added to commit (use “git add” and/or “git commit -a”)

Step 8: as the info showed, some files were removed, and one folder was added, now you need the remote repo to reflect the local changes so you need to manually add/remove files

  • $ git rm one_mode_ad_mat.csv
  • info showed after the commands
    rm ‘one_mode_ad_mat.csv’
  • $ git rm sna_test.csv
  • info showed after the commands
    rm ‘sna_test.csv’
  • $ git rm two_mode_ad_mat.csv
  • info showed after the commands
    rm ‘two_mode_ad_mat.csv’

  • $ git add data/

  • $ git status

  • info showed after the commands
    On branch master
    Your branch is up-to-date with ‘origin/master’.
    Changes to be committed:
    (use “git reset HEAD …” to unstage)

    renamed: one_mode_ad_mat.csv -> data/one_mode_ad_mat.csv
    renamed: sna_test.csv -> data/sna_test.csv
    renamed: two_mode_ad_mat.csv -> data/two_mode_ad_mat.csv

  • $ git commit -m “move files”

  • info showed after the commands
    [master 0244185] move files
    3 files changed, 0 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
    rename one_mode_ad_mat.csv => data/one_mode_ad_mat.csv (100%)
    rename sna_test.csv => data/sna_test.csv (100%)
    rename two_mode_ad_mat.csv => data/two_mode_ad_mat.csv (100%)

Step 9: again, make remote repo to reflect local changes

  • $ git push -u origin master

  • info showed after the commands
    Counting objects: 3, done.
    Delta compression using up to 4 threads.
    Compressing objects: 100% (3/3), done.
    Writing objects: 100% (3/3), 377 bytes | 0 bytes/s, done.
    Total 3 (delta 1), reused 0 (delta 0)
    remote: Resolving deltas: 100% (1/1), completed with 1 local object.
    To https://github.com/fanouyang/sna_exampler.git
    08bf409..0244185 master -> master
    Branch master set up to track remote branch master from origin.

  • $ git status

  • info showed after the commands
    On branch master
    Your branch is up-to-date with ‘origin/master’.
    nothing to commit, working tree clean

Now every time you make some changes in your local repo, make sure to repeat step 7 to step 9 to make sure your remote repo reflect your local changes.

notes:

Many people mention they got problems like “updates rejected when pushing to github” after they make some changes locally. In this case, I usually clone the existing remote repo into local directory again (step 1), and work locally (e.g. add or remove files), then I repeat the steps abovementioned. This usually works. Make sure that before you push, you use commands manually to add/remove files/folders you want to commit.