Staging and Committing Changes
After checking your repository status, the next step is to stage your changes and commit them to the repository.
1. Stage Changes
git add <file>
Description: Adds changes in a file to the staging area.
Staged changes are ready to be committed.
Example:
git add file1.txt
- To stage all changes in the repository:
git add .
2. Commit Changes
git commit -m "Your commit message"
Description: Records the staged changes in the repository history with a descriptive message.
Example:
git commit -m "Add initial project files"
- Commit messages should be short and descriptive.
- You can see the commit in the log using:
git log --oneline
3. Amend Last Commit
git commit --amend -m "Updated commit message"
Description: Modify the most recent commit. Useful if you forgot to include something or want to change the message.
Example:
git commit --amend -m "Add README file and initial setup"
- Only amend commits that haven’t been pushed to a remote repository.
Summary of Commit Commands
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
git add <file> | Stage changes in a specific file |
git add . | Stage all changes in the repository |
git commit -m "message" | Commit staged changes with a message |
git commit --amend -m "message" | Modify the most recent commit |
Next, you’ll learn how to push and pull changes with a remote repository.