{"id":17620,"date":"2020-10-19T01:48:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-19T08:48:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/?p=17620"},"modified":"2023-12-01T04:01:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-01T12:01:37","slug":"git-clone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/careerkarma.com\/blog\/git-clone\/","title":{"rendered":"Git Clone"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The git clone command creates a copy of a remote repository on your local machine. By default, the clone command saves your code in a folder that shares the name of your repository. This can be overwritten by specifying a folder name after the URL of the repository you want to clone.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Creating local copies of a Git repository stored elsewhere is a central part of the Git version control system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The git clone command lets you create a local copy of a repository stored elsewhere. This copy is also referred to as a \u201cclone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this tutorial, we\u2019re going to explore the basics of the git clone command. We’ll discuss how to clone a local and remote repository, and how to clone a bare repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the git clone Command?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The git clone command creates a copy of an existing repository to a working directory on your local computer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloning is a central feature of Git. This is because cloning allows you to create a copy of your code independent of the main version. You can run this copy run and manipulate your code on your local machine without affecting the code in your main version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This means that you don\u2019t have to make changes to a repository until you are ready to do so. After you have made any changes, you can push the code to a remote repository to be stored. Or, you can create a pull request so that other people can review the code you have written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two ways you can set up a repository using Git. You can clone an existing repository using the git clone command, or you can use the git init command<\/a> to create a new repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cloning a repository is typically a one-time action. After you’ve cloned a repository, you\u2019ll have all the code you need on your local machine to work with a Git repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The git clone command clones all the metadata associated with a repository. Once you have cloned a repository, you’ll have a record of the entire history of the project. The clone command also clones all Git branches associated with a project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Use Git Clone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The git clone command creates a clone of an existing repository in a new directory on your local machine. When you clone a repository to your local machine, a new environment will be created where the code for the repo will be stored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s walk through an example of how to use the git clone command to clone a repository. Suppose we are looking to clone a repository from GitHub to our local machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We could use the following command line operation to clone our project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

git clone https:\/\/github.com\/username\/project-name.git\ncd project-name<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In our code, the first command creates a new Git repository based on the one stored at the GitHub URL we specified. The name of the folder in which our code appears is equal to the name of the repository. In this case, Git creates a folder called project-name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then, we use the cd command<\/a> to move into our new Git repository. Now we are viewing our new repository, we can start viewing and editing our files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Custom Clone Operations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The git clone command accepts a few parameters. You can use these parameters to perform custom clone operations. Let\u2019s explore an example of the main custom operations you may want to know about when you\u2019re working with git clone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clone to a Folder<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By default, a folder is created with the same name as the repository we cloned. In our first example, we cloned a repository without specifying a folder name. The resultant copy of our repository was called ck-git. This is because we did not state a folder name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, when you\u2019re cloning a repository, you may want to clone it into a specific folder. You can do so by specifying a directory name in which a Git repository should be cloned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We can run git clone commands with a second argument like so:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
git clone <repo> <folder><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Suppose we want to clone the contents of a hypothetical Git repo to a folder called \u201cmy-project\u201d. We could do so using this code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
git clone https:\/\/github.com\/username\/project-name.git my-project\ncd my-project<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
First, our code clones the GitHub repository we referenced. In our example, we specify a folder name, \u201cmy-project\u201d, which is where the code for our repo will be cloned. Then, we use cd to move into the my-project folder the git clone command created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Create a Shallow Clone<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
By default, when you clone a repository, the history of the repository<\/a> will also be cloned. If your project has hundreds of commits, it will take longer for a local clone to be created.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To skip cloning an entire repository, you can create a shallow clone. Shallow clones only clone the history of commits specified by the \u201cdepth\u201d parameter that is used to create a shallow clone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The syntax for creating a shallow clone is as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
git clone -depth=1 <repo><\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The value of the \u201cdepth\u201d parameter refers to the number of historical commits you want to clone. In this case, we specified 1 as the value of the \u201cdepth\u201d parameter. This means that the clone command will only copy the most recent commit to our local machine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suppose our hypothetical GitHub repository had 10,000 commits, which means it would take quite a while to copy completely to our local machine. We only want to clone a copy of the current code and its 10 last commits, without also cloning the entire repository\u2019s history. We could do so using this code:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
git clone -depth=10 https:\/\/github.com\/username\/project-name.git<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The above command has created a copy of our project in its current state. We can search back 10 commits in the history of the repository. However, our project does not data on any commits further back in the repository\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Read the official Git documentation<\/a> on the git clone command to learn more about advanced configuration options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Git URLs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
There are a number of different URL types that are supported by the git clone command. The git clone command is usually used to clone remote repositories, and so we will explore the main URL types supported by Git below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Git<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The git protocol is used to clone a repository using the Git version control system. The git protocol does not use any methods of authentication. Here\u2019s an example URL that uses the Git version control system:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
git:\/\/host.com\/repo\/path.git<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
The URL starts with \u201cgit:\u201d, which tells the Git client to clone a repository using the git protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SSH<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Secure Shell<\/a>, or SSH, lets you access networked servers remotely. SSH provides authentication, and so SSH URLs are often used for secure Git repositories. Here is an example Git URL that uses the SSH protocol:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ssh:\/\/user@host.com\/repo\/path.git<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In this example, \u201cuser\u201d refers to the name of the user who is trying to access a particular repository. We must sign in over SSH before we can clone a repository.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
HTTP<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
HyperText Transfer Protocol<\/a>, or HTTP, is used for transferring web page data across the internet. HTTP URLs are commonly used for Git repositories, too. Here is an example Git URL that uses HTTP:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/host.com\/repo\/path.git<\/pre><\/div>\n\n\n\n
In this example, our repository uses the HTTPS protocol. Instead of using \u201cgit\u201d or \u201cssh\u201d, we instead specify \u201chttps\u201d at the start of our Git repository URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n