Git Basics for Beginners (Plain English)

Git is a version control system - a fancy way of saying it saves snapshots of your project over time so you can see what changed, go back to an earlier version, and work without fear of breaking things permanently. Think of it as an unlimited undo history for your whole project, plus a way for several people to work on the same code without stepping on each other.

• git init - start tracking a project with Git. Run once, in your project folder.
• git status - show what has changed and what is staged. Run this constantly; it is your map.
• git add <file> - stage a change so it will be included in the next commit. Use 'git add .' to stage everything.
• git commit -m "message" - save a snapshot of the staged changes, with a short note describing them.
• git log - see the history of commits, newest first.
• git push - send your commits to a remote (like GitHub) so they are backed up and shareable.
• git pull - bring down changes others have pushed to the remote.
• git clone <url> - copy an existing project from a remote onto your machine.

A branch is a separate line of work. Your main branch holds the version you trust. When you want to try something, you make a branch, work on it freely, and only merge it back into main once it works. If it goes wrong, you throw the branch away and main is untouched.

• git branch <name> - create a new branch.
• git checkout <name> (or git switch <name>) - move onto that branch to work on it.
• git merge <name> - bring a branch's finished work back into the branch you are on.

1. 1Start work and run git status to see where things stand.
2. 2Make your changes, then git add the files you want to save.
3. 3git commit -m with a short, clear message describing what you did.
4. 4Repeat as you go - small, frequent commits are better than one giant one.
5. 5git push at the end so your work is backed up and shareable.