git config

Set up git: the author name and email, the editor and other settings

What it does

git config reads and changes git settings. The first thing to set after installing is your name and email: they go into every commit and show who did what.

With --global a setting is saved for all your repositories, in ~/.gitconfig. Without it the setting applies to the current repository only and wins over the global one: that is how you use your work email in a work project. git config --list shows every setting in effect.

Syntax

git config --global <key> <value>
git config <key> <value>
git config --list

Examples

• Set the name Anna for all commits on this computer

  git config --global user.name "Anna"

  same as: git config --global user.name 'Anna', git config --global user.name Anna

  • config — git settings
  • --global — for all of the user’s repositories
  • user.name "Anna" — key and value

• Set the email anna@example.com for all commits

  git config --global user.email anna@example.com

  same as: git config --global user.email "anna@example.com"

  • --global — for all of the user’s repositories
  • user.email — commit author’s email

Related commands

• git init — Create a new repository in the current folder
• git commit — Save the staged changes to history as a new commit

Practise · All commands