Git: Very Basic Commands

Here are some very basic git commands. They are very useful for git beginners.

Here is the step-by-step guide:

Go to any folder where you want to create local copy of your repository

cd /path/to/your/directory

Create a working copy of a local repository


git clone /path/to/repository

For remove server:


git clone username@host:/path/to/repository

For example, if you want to checkout github repo then you can do:

git clone https://github.com/anyUsername/my-repo-name.git

Now, your local copy will be created in the folder named ‘my-repo-name‘.

You can now go to that folder and try all the git commands (check status; add, commit & push changes, etc.).

Check status of your repository

This will list files that are changed which you might want/need to add or commit.


git status

In git tree, there are three areas:

– First one is the Working directory.

– The second one is the Index which acts as a staging area. When you run ‘git add‘ command, files/changes are added to this area.

– The third one is Head. You have to run ‘git commit‘ command to move files/changes to this area. Head is still your local working copy.

– Your changes in files are not yet moved to your remote repository. To move your changes to remote repository, you need to execute ‘git push‘ command.

Add files to Index (staging area)


git add -A (add all)
git add path/to/filename (single file)
git add path/ (directory)

Commit changes to head (but not yet to the remote repository)


git commit -m "Commit message" 

Commit all files:


git commit -m "Commit message" -a

Send changes to the master branch of your remote repository


git push origin master

Fetch and merge changes on the remote server to your working directory


git pull

I have not included about branching, tagging & logging over here.
You can find out more at Basic Git Commands and git – the simple guide.

Hope this helps.
Thanks.