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Development Tools Git Basics Getting Started With Git Looking Back on What We've Done

Chris Martinez
Chris Martinez
11,715 Points
Posted by Chris Martinez
Chris Martinez
11,715 Points

"git -add" verbiage: repository/ staging area

the 11-question challenge at the end of "Getting started With Git" asks two questions with identical answers: one asks you to add a file to the repository, and the other asks to add a file to the staging area. Both answers are "git -add" and some file name. is the difference that the latter supposes your file has already been added to the repository --and you are merely staging the changes you made?

Jacqueline Boltik
Jacqueline Boltik
Courses Plus Student 11,153 Points

I found this confusing too when I was first getting started with git. Here's how I keep it straight:

$ git add .

Stages your changes but they have not been added to your repository yet

$git commit -m "some message"

commits your changes LOCALLY

$git push

adds changes to your online repository

This is useful because if you don't have an internet connection you can commit a bunch of changes (which technically are local to your machine) and then push them up to GitHub when you have internet again.

I'm not sure if this fully answers your question but hopefully it's helpful!

1 Answer

Tommy Morgan
STAFF
Tommy Morgan
Treehouse Guest Teacher
Tommy Morgan
Tommy Morgan
Treehouse Guest Teacher

Chris Martinez -

You're right, that's the distinction. git add really only does one thing - "add stuff to the staging area to prepare it for a commit." But if you're adding a completely new file, there's an extra step that it does - it tells git to "track" the file as being part of your project. This means that git will pay attention to when it changes and make sure you know if you have changes that you need to commit - otherwise git will basically just ignore the file (other than reminding you that it's there when you run git status).

So you can think of git add as doing that one thing - "add stuff to the staging area" - or you can think of it as having two different purposes - "start tracking this file" and "add changes I made to this file to the staging area."

Hope that helps.