The git status
command in Git is used to display the current state of the working directory and the staging area. It shows you what changes have been made in your project, whether they are staged for commit, not yet staged, or completely untracked.
What git status
Displays:
Untracked Files:
- These are files that exist in your working directory but are not tracked by Git (i.e., they have never been added to the repository).
You can add untracked files using:
git add <filename>
Modified Files:
- These are files that have been modified in the working directory but not yet staged for commit.
Staged Files:
- Files that have been added to the staging area (using
git add
) and are ready to be committed.git commit -m "Your commit message"
- Files that have been added to the staging area (using
Branch Information:
- The current branch you are on.
- Whether your branch is up-to-date, ahead, or behind the remote branch (if you have one).
Other Information:
- If there are files in conflict due to a merge.
- If there are unmerged paths.
- Information about ignored files (files that are excluded using
.gitignore
).
Example Output of git status
:
Here is what the output might look like after running git status
:
On branch main Your branch is up to date with 'origin/main'. Changes not staged for commit: (use "git add <file>..." to update what will be committed) (use "git restore <file>..." to discard changes in working directory) modified: file1.txt modified: file2.txt Untracked files: (use "git add <file>..." to include in what will be committed) newfile.txt no changes added to commit (use "git add" and/or "git commit -a")
Key Parts of the Output:
Branch Info:
"On branch main" – shows you're currently on themain
branch.Changes not staged for commit:
Lists files that have been modified but are not yet staged (e.g.,file1.txt
,file2.txt
).Untracked files:
Lists files that are not tracked by Git (e.g.,newfile.txt
), and Git suggests adding them if you want to track them.