Let’s see how a file can be added to Git. Type:

echo "Test" > README.txt

to create a file. The file is now in the directory, but Git was not told to add it to its index, as you can see what git status tells us:

Now we need to add the file to the repository with:

git add README.txt

This commands add the file to the staging area:

Once a file is in the staging area, you can remove it by typing:

git reset README.txt

But usually what you do once you add a file is commit it.

Once you have one or more changes to the staging area, you can commit them using

git commit -am "Description of the change"

This cleans the status of the staging area:

and permanently stores the edit you made into a record store, which you can inspect by typing git log:

Lessons in this unit: