So you want to clone a Git repository to an existing directory? You don’t need to look any further. We have got you covered!
One of the required skills that any software developer should be good at is Git. Every software enterprise uses it to collaborate and develop its software products as it is an efficient version control system.
Before we get into the question of how to clone a Git repository, we will first have to understand Git and the Git clone command. So, let us get started!
This article will clear all your doubts, if you still face issues with Glit cone in the existing directory while doing your project, then you can always ask for programming help from CodingZap experts.
Summary Of The Article:
Git is a popular version control system that is used by developers across the globe to manage their codebase and collaborate with other developers.
Cloning a repository is a fundamental step that allows us to create a local copy of the code files and make changes on our local file system.
Once the changes have been made, we can push the latest version of the code back to the repository.
Cloning a repository can be done in two ways – Git clone HTTPS and Git clone SSH.
What Is Git? Read Below
Git is a distributed Version Control System (VCS) that helps developers to manage their codebase. It allows developers to track the changes in the code whenever updates are made and also makes it easier to collaborate with others on the team.
A snapshot of the file is created each time a change is made. This snapshot is called a ‘commit’ and it includes the changes since the previous commit.
Due to its flexibility and robustness, Git has become a widely recognized version control system. You might have also heard about Github, where you can store and manage your codebase. It uses Git for version control.
Now, let us see what we mean by the ‘Git clone command’ and understand how to work with it. Read below!
What Is The Git Clone Command?
Are you wondering, “Can I copy a Git repository to another directory?” Yes, you can do so when you clone the repository. Let’s study more about it!
The cloning process basically creates a copy of a git repository. So where is the git clone saved? It is saved to your local machine. It is similar to downloading a document from cloud storage like Google Drive or iCloud.
What would happen if you clone an existing Git repository? Well, let’s see…
The Git clone command is one of the fundamental commands that is used to manage and update the codebase. By cloning, you create a copy of the Git repo to your local machine. Now, you can edit and make changes to this remote repository and add these changes back to the existing repository on Git.
The following syntax represents the basic git clone command. Check it out!
git clone https://github.com/samragyi/JavaScript_Projects
Here, you can replace the path of the Git repository given above with the path of the repository you want to clone. You can either create a new Git repository or clone an existing Git repository to obtain a Git repository you can clone to your local machine.
In this article, we will discuss this cloning process and understand the syntax for the git clone command in easy steps. Let’s dive into it!
Steps To Git Clone To An Existing Directory
In this section, we will see how we can Git Clone a repository to an existing directory. For this, we will write the syntax โgit cloneโ followed by the repository path.
Let us suppose we want to clone a repository named โJavaScript_Projectsโ hosted on GitHub. So, in the command line, we will have to give the path of the git repo as well as the path of the target directory.
Follow the given steps to understand the cloning process with ease!
Step 1: Navigate To The Existing Directory
In the first step, we will have to change the current working directory to the target directory. In your command line, you can use the following command to do so.
$ cd "path\to\the\existing\directory"
You can replace the destination path after the ‘cd’ command with the path to the existing directory that you want to clone your remote repository. After this, we will have to initialize this directory. Let’s see how!
Step 2: Initialize The Directory As A Git Repository
If this directory is newly created or not already a Git repository, we need to initialize it using Git init. You can use the following command for it.
git init
After you run this command, you will see a message in your terminal indicating that your specified directory is initialized as a git repository. By doing this, a new sub-directory named .git will be created that will contain all the necessary files.
Step 3: Add The Remote Repository To The Existing Folder
Now, to set up a connection between the remote repository on GitHub and the local repository, we need to add the URL to the current directory. Use the git clone command followed by the repository URL and the Git directory.
git clone https://github.com/samragyi/JavaScript_Projects.git CodingZap
In the above line, we have the Git clone command followed by the URL of the Git repository we want to clone and the name or path of the target directory separated by .git Once you press Enter, you will start the process of creating your local clone in your target repo.
You’ll see the following message on your terminal when we clone the repository of our desire.
Faced difficulties in understanding the output? No worries, you can always ask for JavaScript homework help to clear your doubts.
Now, a local copy of all the necessary repository files has been made to the target repository or your local filesystem.
After cloning a repository, we will be able to make local changes to the files in the target repo and later push it to update it to the latest version. For this, we will have to commit the changes and then use the Git push command to update the final changes.
Would you like to understand how this works? Let me tell you about it as well!
Git Commit And Push The Changes From The Cloned Repository
After we clone a repository and make local changes, we need to push these changes back to the remote repository so that we maintain the latest version of the codebase. To do this, we have to commit to these changes first.
Let us use the previous example to understand how this works. The image below shows the files we need to push to the Git repository. The other existing files are untouched and are safely stored.
Use the following command to update these files and push and pull from the remote repositories. Take a look below!
Here, we have a new file to add to the Git repository. It is named as “index.html.” Let us see how to push this with the help of the following commands.
git add index.html
git commit -m "New commit made"
Once you press the Enter key, you will see the following message on the terminal informing you of the new changes made.
Once you get this message, you can use the next command to finally push the changes to the Git repo.
git push
There you go! The changes that you have made are pushed to the Git repo. You’ll receive the following message.
To check the status of the working tree, use the ‘git status’ command. Still not able to clone a repository? Let’s discuss some advanced tips. Read below to know!
Key Tips For Efficiently Cloning A Repository
Sometimes, we are not able to properly clone a repository. It may be because of several reasons like an empty directory, different branches, etc. Let us learn some tips to counter and troubleshoot these issues.
-> Use Additional Options While Cloning A Repository
Git supports various options to make the cloning process more efficient and robust. One of these options is the branch option.
Git clone fetches the default branch of the repo. However, in the scenario where you only need to work on a specific branch, you can clone that particular Git branch from the repo itself. The following can be used for the same.
git clone -b <branch name> <remote repository URL>
Replace the <branch name> and <remote repo URL> with the desired arguments to make it work. Once you execute it, you will see that the specified branch has been cloned to the current folder.
-> Use Git Clone SSH
In the above previous example, we used Git clone HTTPS. Using HTTPS is one of the most common methods. However, if we use SSH protocol(Secure Shell) we can provide better authentication and encryption.
To use this method, first, you need to set up SSH keys and then use the SSH URL for your Git repository. This helps in better security and protects against password-based or similar attacks.
Once the SSH key is generated, you the syntax given below to clone the repository.
git clone <SSH path> <path of the destination folder>
Conclusion:
So, I hope you have gotten the idea about how you can git clone to an existing directory. Knowing Git and version control systems is essential these days. Git is a popular VCS used for developers to maintain their code and collaborate with other fellow developers.
It is flexible and robust. Thus, it offers the developer community with a platform to share, collaborate, and store their code files and folders. Each folder can be called a repository. To know more about such topics, you can read our other blogs as well!
if you are working towards becoming a better JavaScript developer you can readย JavaScript and jQuery.
Takeaways:
The first command a developer should learn about Git is – Git clone.
It enables us to work on local copies of the code and make changes or update them on our system. Not only does allow better management, but also proves to be a platform for collaboration.
Git clone fetches the default branch (origin/master) by default. To clone a specific branch, you can mention its name in the syntax as discussed above.
