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Posted by FNU Christian
FNU Christian
5,549 Points

Using Git Commit

Hello,

I am trying to follow the tutorial to use Git from treehouse. I already added git add readme.txt and would like to do git commit

After that, the terminal looks like this

Please enter the commit message for your changes. Lines starting
# with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts the commit.
#
# Committer: Christian <Christian@Christians-MacBook-Pro.local>
#
# On branch master
#
# Initial commit
#
# Changes to be committed:
#       new file:   readme.txt
#
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~
~

However, after I add the message above, I can't do anything to save, or exit, there is no help about command whatsoever at the bottom of the terminal. I tried ctrl x, cmd x, and some possible combinations just like what nano has. It didn't help.

Anyone knows whats wrong with my git? I am using git version 1.8.5.2(Apple Git-48)

4 Answers

Pedro GCA
Pedro GCA
20,683 Points
Pedro GCA
Pedro GCA
20,683 Points

Hey Christian, It seems you are using vim as text editor and not nano. If Im right, the commands for vim are completely different of nano's. In this case there is nothing wrong with git, you are just doing some command mistakes.

Instructions: After type your message --> type "esc" to exit the insert mode (vim text editor mode) --> then type :w which means save the file --> then type :q which means quit vim. Then your commit will be ok. Test it and let me know. ;)

For more information about vim commands click here.

FNU Christian
FNU Christian
5,549 Points

Hi Pedro,

It worked! Thank you so much. Just two more questions:

  1. How do I get the list of all commands in vim, if I want to get the list directly from vim. Because in nano, it shows all the commands at the bottom of the terminal, but not in vim.
  2. If I want to change it to nano as my text editor, how do I do that?
Stone Preston
Stone Preston
42,016 Points
Stone Preston
Stone Preston
42,016 Points

type your commit message, then press the esc key, then type :wq.

For future reference, you can use the -m flag on your commit command to specify a message without using the default editor:

git commit -m "this is the commit message"
FNU Christian
FNU Christian
5,549 Points

Thanks Stone, good idea, never thought about it!

Pedro GCA
Pedro GCA
20,683 Points
Pedro GCA
Pedro GCA
20,683 Points

No worries Christian,

1st: I don't know exactly how to show up vim commands in the terminal like nano, I guess the software does not give us this option, just because is a different software.

2nd: to change your default text editor for git:

git config --global core.editor nano

For more information check git website.

I hope I helped.

FNU Christian
FNU Christian
5,549 Points

Thank you, you helped me a lot!

Mitch Maynard
Mitch Maynard
12,953 Points
Mitch Maynard
Mitch Maynard
12,953 Points

If you just made some changes and want to add everything and commit everything, the following two commands make it pretty easy. I find myself using this combination all the time:

  • git add -A
  • git commit -a -m "Comment on changes made goes here"