Add and tracked files

Git is a content tracker. So let’s add some content.

Create a few text files to keep notes on the commands we’re learning.

touch git-init.txt git-status.txt git-add.txt

Run git status to see what’s changed.

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
  git-add.txt
  git-init.txt
  git-status.txt

Note the addition of the Untracked files section. We now have files that can be added to git index.

Use git add <file> to do so.

git add git-add.txt

Run git status again to

Changes to be committed:
  (use "git rm --cached <file>..." to unstage)
  new file:   git-add.txt

Untracked files:
  (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed)
  git-init.txt
  git-status.txt

Now we see an additional section Changes to be comitted.

Adding all changes

I’d be pretty irritated to add files one-by-one. Fortunately, Git gives us a number of options.

Most common is is the shortgut add. Using . adds all of the files in your working directory.

git add .

You can also use globs to select groupings of similar files. Say, I wanted to only files with a .txt suffix.

git add '*.txt'
# don't forget the quotes when using globs

Assignment #1

Use the different approaches to add files to the staging area.

Assignment #2

You may need to remove changes as well. Run git status to discover the command git recommends for this.

Assignment #3

Check out the documentation for git-add by running git help add. There’s an interactive mode that I use quite frequently but won’t cover in this guide.