Git New Files

Git Adding New Files

You’ve just created your first local Git repository, but it’s currently empty.

To get started, add some files to the repository or create a new file using your favorite text editor. After creating the file, save it or move it to the folder where you initialized your Git repository.

If you’re interested in learning how to create a new file with a text editor, check out our HTML tutorial on HTML Editors.

For this example, I’ll use a simple HTML file, like this:

Example

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>Hello World!</title>
</head>
<body>

<h1>Hello world!</h1>
<p>This is the first file in my new Git Repo.</p>

</body>
</html>

Save this file to our new folder as index.html.

Now, let’s go back to the terminal and list the files in our current working directory.

Example

[user@localhost] $

ls
index.html

The ls command will display the files in the directory, and you’ll see that index.html is there.

Next, let’s check the Git status to see if the file is part of our repository:

Example

[user@localhost] $

git status

On branch master

No commits yet

Untracked files:

(use “git add …” to include in what will be committed)

index.html

nothing added to commit but untracked files present (use “git add” to track)

Now, Git recognizes the file, but it hasn’t been added to our repository yet!

Files in your Git repository can be in one of two states:

Tracked: Files that Git is aware of and have been added to the repository.
Untracked: Files that are present in your working directory but haven’t been added to the repository.

When you initially add files to an empty repository, they are all untracked. To have Git track these files, you need to stage them by adding them to the staging area.

We’ll discuss the staging area in the next chapter.