GitHub HowTo: Basic Functions

The following outlines basic GitHub function to push and pull from your repository. It also includes information on creating a new branch and deleting a branch. These commands should be used in line with guidance on GitHub Repo Management.

Pushing local changes to remote

Check which files have been changed.

git status

Stage files that need to be pushed

git add <thisfile>
git add <thatfile>

Push changes to branch named new_feature

git push origin new_feature

Pulling remote changes to local

Pull changes from branch new_feature into your branch old_feature

git checkout old_feature
git pull new_feature

If you have non-compatible changes in the old_feature branch, there are two options: 1) ignore local changes and pull remote anyways. This will delete the changes you’ve made to your remote respository.

git reset --hard
git pull
  1. temporarily stash changes away, pull and reapply changes after.
git stash
git pull
git stash pop

Creating a new branch

This is a two step process.

  • Create the branch locally
git checkout -b <newbranch>
  • Push the branch to remote
git push -u origin <newbranch>

OR

git push -u origin HEAD

This is a shortcut to push the current branch to a branch of the same name on origin and track it so that you don’t need to specify origin HEAD in the future.

Deleting branches

Locally

git branch -d <BranchName>

on GitHub

git push origin --delete <BranchName>