Git and GitHub Tutorial for Beginners
Git is a tool that helps us keep track of changes in our projects. It is very useful when we are working on code.
GitHub is a website where we can store our Git projects online and share them with other people.
Git and GitHub are not the same. Git works on our computer, while GitHub allows us to store and work with our Git projects online.
Installing Git
First, install Git on your computer.
After installing it, open the terminal and check the installation:
git — version
If Git is installed correctly, you will see the Git version.
Setting Up Git
Before using Git, we should set our name and email:
git config — global user.name “Your Name”
git config — global user.email “you@example.com”
We can check the settings with:
git config — global — list
Creating a Git Project
Creating a Git Project
Let’s create a small project.
Open the terminal and type:
mkdir my-website
cd my-website
git init
The git init command creates a new Git repository.
Adding a File
Create a file called index.html and add some HTML to it.
Then check the project:
git status
Now add the file to Git:
git add index.html
Then create a commit:
git commit -m “Create homepage”
A commit saves a version of our project.
Making Changes
If we change our index.html file, we can check the changes:
git status
We can also see exactly what changed:
git diff
Then add and commit the changes:
git add .
git commit -m “Update homepage”
The basic Git process is:
Make changes → git add → git commit
Branches
A branch allows us to work on a new feature without changing the main project directly.
For example:
git switch -c login-page
Now we can create our login page and commit the changes:
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git add .
git commit -m “Add login page”
When the feature is ready, go back to the main branch:
git switch main
Then merge the changes:
git merge login-page
GitHub
Now we can upload our project to GitHub.
Create a new repository on GitHub. Then connect our local project to it:
git remote add origin <repository-address>
Then upload the project:
git push -u origin main
Our project is now on GitHub.
Git Pull and Clone
If someone changes the project on GitHub, we can get the latest changes with:
git pull
If we want to download an existing GitHub project, we can use:
git clone <repository-address>
Pull Requests
When working with other developers, we can create a separate branch, make our changes, and push the branch to GitHub.
Then we can create a Pull Request.
A Pull Request allows other developers to review our changes before they are merged into the main project.
Useful Git Commands
- git init — Creates a Git repository.
- git status — Shows the current status of the project.
- git add . — Adds changes to the staging area.
- git commit -m “message” — Saves the changes.
- git push — Uploads changes to GitHub.
- git pull — Gets the latest changes from GitHub.
- git clone <repository-address> — Downloads a GitHub repository.
- git switch -c feature-name — Creates a new branch.
- git merge feature-name — Merges a branch.
Conclusion
Git helps us track changes in our projects, and GitHub helps us store and share those projects online.
The basic workflow is:
Write code → git add → git commit → git push
Once we practice these commands, Git and GitHub become much easier to understand.
