How to Use Git on Terminal

Purpose
Intended Audience
Introduction to Git
Introduction to Terminal
Prerequisites
Versions
Conventions
Notes
About the Project

Purpose

This documentation will introduce users to the basic Terminal commands they will need to know to set up Git on their computer, create and manage their own Git repository, and use Git to collaborate with others.

Intended Audience

This user documentation series is meant for first time users of Git on Terminal who are already comfortable navigating their Mac operating systems.

Introduction to Git

Git is a popular version-control system used in software development. Version-control allows developers to track changes in source code throughout development. It also enables collaboration between developers working remotely.

Introduction to Terminal

Terminal is the built-in command-line interface on Mac operating systems. A command-line interface processes text commands to the computer. One way to use Git is through the command line. While there are now different graphical user interfaces that allow you to utilize Git without using Terminal, like GitHub Desktop, there are certain Git commands that can only be executed on the command line. Many employers expect developers to be comfortable working on the command line.

Prerequisites

These instructions assume that users are already familiar with their Mac operating systems and can access the Terminal interface. It will also assume that a user can prepare their own project files to store on Git.

To follow these instructions, you will need:

A computer with a Mac operating system
A functional keyboard

Versions

The latest Git for Mac update is version 2.25. The latest Mac OS update is version 10.15.4. It is highly recommended to work with the latest versions of each software. We will walk you through the installation process for Git for Mac on the ‘Getting Started’ page.

Conventions

The typographic conventions of our instruction set are listed here:

Type	Example
Terminal input appears inside a box	`git add`
Terminal input to be customized will be inside the <> symbols	`open <file-name>`

Notes

Pay special attention to the following icon when it appears in our instructions:

Icon	Description
	The note symbol signals that additional information is being provided just in time for the following step.

About the Project

The project was originally designed to help fellow computer science students with the basics of Git on Mac’s Terminal interface.