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lessons/git/configuring-git.md

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+![ESPIn logo](../../media/ESPIn.png)
+
+# Configuring git
+
+When using `git` for the first time on a computer,
+some setup is required.
+Start by opening a terminal
+(your preferred terminal app on Linux or macOS;
+the Git Bash Shell on Windows).
+
+Make sure `git` is installed and in the application search path:
+```
+$ git --version
+```
+
+Configure `git` on your machine with the following commands:
+```
+$ git config --global user.name "[your name]"
+$ git config --global user.email "[your email address]"
+```
+Substitute your name and email address in the brackets above.
+This information is used by `git`,
+as well as GitHub and other `git`-based services.
+(A quick reminder,
+if you haven't already done so,
+please [sign up](https://github.com/signup) for an account on GitHub.)
+
+You can also set the default editor used with `git`:
+```
+$ git config --global core.editor "nano -w"
+```
+We'll use `nano` by default,
+but if you prefer a different editor,
+the Software Carpentry [lesson](https://swcarpentry.github.io/git-novice/02-setup/index.html)
+on version control has a summary table
+with configuration commands for various editors.
+
+Check the configuration you set:
+```
+$ git config --list
+```
+
+
+## Command structure
+
+Note that the syntax for using `git` is slightly different than what we saw
+for the commands in the [shell lesson](../shell/index.md).
+`git` uses *subcommands*.
+All calls to `git` look like `git [subcommand] [options]`.
+This is a not uncommon syntax for shell commands.
+We'll see other software (e.g., `conda`) that uses a similar subcommand syntax.
+
+
+## Getting help with git
+
+`git` provides several ways to get help.
+Get help on the `git` command itself:
+```
+$ git --help
+```
+The output from this command shows the most common subcommands.
+Get help on a specfic subcommand with:
+```
+git [subcommand] --help
+```
+replacing the brackets with the subcommand;
+e.g., `git config --help` will provide detailed information
+on all of the options for the `config` subcommand.
+
+`git` also has a (very long) `man` page:
+```
+man git 
+```
+
+Finally,
+the full [git documentation](https://git-scm.com/docs) is available online.
+
+
+## Summary
+
+`git`:
+
+* needs to be configured on a computer before it's used
+* uses subcommands
+* provides several ways to get help
+
+___
+
+[Introduction to version control with git and GitHub](./index.md) |
+Previous: [index](./index.md) |
+Next: [Version control in a personal project](./git-personal-project.md)