The git clone
command is used to copy an existing Git repository from a server to the local machine.
For example, to clone a GitHub project:
cd <path where you'd like the clone to create a directory>
git clone <https://github.com/username/projectname.git>
To clone a BitBucket project:
cd <path where you'd like the clone to create a directory>
git clone <https://[email protected]/username/projectname.git>
This creates a directory called projectname
on the local machine, containing all the files in the remote Git repository. This includes source files for the project, as well as a .git
sub-directory which contains the entire history and configuration for the project.
To specify a different name of the directory, e.g. MyFolder
:
git clone <https://github.com/username/projectname.git> MyFolder
Or to clone in the current directory:
git clone <https://github.com/username/projectname.git> .
Note:
ssh
version of the command:git clone [email protected]:username/projectname.git
The https
version and the ssh
version are equivalent. However, some hosting services such as GitHub recommend that you use https
rather than ssh
.