Git allows you to work more easily with other developers. Because you want to know who worked on a file and how to contact them, you need to tell Git your name and email.
Tell Git Your Name & Email
1. To access the command line, do the following instructions for your platform:
- Mac: Go to Applications > Utilities and open Terminal.app.
- Windows: If you're already familiar with the Windows Command Prompt and prefer it, launch that app. Otherwise, launch Git Bash, which may be an icon on your Desktop, or in the Windows Start menu (possibly in a Git folder).
2. Enter the following command, replacing Your Name with your actual first and last name (but keep the quotes around it):
git config --global user.name "Your Name"
3. Enter the following command, replacing you@example.com with your actual email (but keep the quotes around it):
git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
Keep in mind that changing the name and email will only affect future work.
Checking Your Git Setup (Name & Email)
To check the name or email currently set in git, you can run the same commands, but without the value in quotes. So you'd use these commands:
git config --global user.name
git config --global user.email
Go Beyond Git
Git is an essential tool for collaborating with other programmers. Learn Git and more through our coding classes & bootcamps:
