2.1. Create a new Git repository

Important

The code blocks in this tutorial begin with a $, indicating a non-root or user prompt. Copy the command after the $, not the $ itself. If the command has important output, it will be shown on additional lines, for example, to execute the code block below, you would copy ls -a1:

$ ls -a1
./
../
.git/

2.1.1. Move to a directory on your computer where you have write access

The repository we’re creating doesn’t need to be saved long-term, so we can make it in the temp directory. Feel free to substitute another directory if you prefer.

$ cd /tmp

Note

cd is short for “change directory”. Learn more about the command with cd --help. Some other commands have “manual pages” (“man pages” for short) that are available with man <command>, e.g. man git.

2.1.2. Initialize a repository

$ git init nsidc-tutorial-1

This will initialize a new repository in the directory /tmp/nsidc-tutorial-1!

Note

You can get help for git init (and any other git command) with either git help init or man git-init.

2.1.3. Move into the repository

$ cd nsidc-tutorial-1

Once you’re in the directory, take a look at the contents:

$ ls -a1
./
../
.git/

🎉 The presence of the .git/ directory tells us that we have successfully initialized a repository and that we’re now in the correct directory!