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Development Tools Git Basics Getting Started With Git Committing Changes

Posted by Benjamin Ferguson
Benjamin Ferguson
2,955 Points

Can't write a message to git commit

So I'm following along on my own computer's terminal (a 2009 macbook) and everything was working until I had to do a git commit for the README file. After I open git commit and write the message at the top, it won't let me exit using ^x (control-x). In fact, it just brings up a message at the bottom that says "-- ^X mode (^]^D^E^F^I^K^L^N^O^Ps^U^V^Y)"

So, I looked online on how to exit git commit, and found some suggestions (press esc, then q) but that brings up an error, which says "E37: No write since last change (add ! to override)" so naturally, I added the ! and force quit the git commit, but that eliminates it from saving my changes! How the heck do I make this work??

3 Answers

Jane Eyer
Jane Eyer
2,586 Points
Jane Eyer
Jane Eyer
2,586 Points

If ctrl + x does not work for you then your git is using vim. In that case, Press esc and type ":wq" (w- means for write, q - means for quit) and press enter.

In the future if you want to use nano as a default text editor. then go to the main screen on terminal. type: nano ~/.gitconfig

The above command line will open an empty file and in the empty file type: git config core.editor "nano"

then press ctrl + x and enter to save and get out.

Happy gitting :D

Benjamin Ferguson
Benjamin Ferguson
2,955 Points

Thank you! This is exactly the answer I was looking for.

James Gill
PLUS
James Gill
Courses Plus Student 34,936 Points
James Gill
James Gill
Courses Plus Student 34,936 Points

Benjamin, are you using nano to edit the commit message? That's what he's doing. Also, you use Crtl-O to write out your edits, then Ctrl-X to exit in nano.

Sravan Reddy
Sravan Reddy
926 Points
Sravan Reddy
Sravan Reddy
926 Points

hey git by default uses vim for commit messages to exit vim you press ESC then :q ENTER

or you can commit using 'git commit -m "Your message"

Benjamin Ferguson
Benjamin Ferguson
2,955 Points

Yes but as I was saying I tried that and it gave me that E37 error message. Using 'git commit -m "Your Message"' worked but I was just wondering why I can't do it the same way he did it in the video.