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How to Create and Push Files to a Remote Repository

Overview

This how-to article covers instructions for creating and pushing new files to a remote repository using the command line.

Before you start

Before you start, make sure you meet these prerequisites:

  • Have a GitHub account
  • Have Git installed and configured on your local computer
  • Have a repository created and cloned to your local computer
  • Have a text editor downloaded on your local computer (e.g., VS Code, Atom, etc.)

Step-by-step guide

Step 1: Open your terminal

Open your local computer's terminal or use your text editor's built-in terminal to run commands.

Step 2: Open your cloned repository

Perform the following steps to locate and open your cloned repository:

  1. See your current local path on your computer by running the pwd command.
  2. Run ls to see your cloned repository listed.
  3. To go open your cloned repository, run cd followed by the name of the cloned repository.
>:$ cd <cloned_repo_name>
  1. Re-run pwd to validate that you have opened your cloned repository.

Step 3: Validate your Git configuration settings

Check your Git configuration settings on your local computer by running the git config -l command. The output should list your Git username, email, along with other details.

>:$ git config -l
credential.helper=osxkeychain
user.name=<gitusername>
user.email=<gitemail>
core.editor=vs code --wait
core.excludesfile=/Users/kaylamorales/.gitignore_global
color.ui=true
difftool.sourcetree.cmd=opendiff "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE"
difftool.sourcetree.path=
mergetool.sourcetree.cmd=/Users/<computername>/Applications/Sourcetree.app/Contents/Resources/opendiff-w.sh "$LOCAL" "$REMOTE" -ancestor "$BASE" -merge "$MERGED"
mergetool.sourcetree.trustexitcode=true
commit.template=/Users/<computername>/.stCommitMsg
filter.lfs.process=git-lfs filter-process
filter.lfs.required=true

🚩 NOTE: Your output may not exactly replicate the example shown above.

Step 4: Create a new file

To create a new file in your cloned repository, run the touch command followed by the filename you're giving it.

>:$ git touch hello_world.md

Step 5: Stage your file

Upon creating the file and making changes (if applicable), it's time to stage it by running the git add . command.

>:$ git add .

You will not see an output after running the command.

Step 6: Commit your file

Next, save your file and its changes by running git commit -m "<message>". Within the quotation marks, enter a brief description of your file.

>:$ git commit -m "Initial commit"

Afterward, you should see a similar output:

[main a50f2b4] Initial commit.
 1 file changed, 104 insertions(+), 31 deletions(-)
 rewrite How-to-Guides/hello_world.md (87%)

Step 6: Push the file to your remote repository

Now that you've committed your file run git push to publish your changes to your remote repository (GitHub.com).

See also