Automating some git commands with Python

Git is a powerful version control system that developers widely use to manage their code. However, managing Git repositories can be a tedious task, especially when working with multiple branches and commits. Fortunately, Git’s command-line interface can be automated using Python, making it easier to manage your code and automate common tasks.

One popular library for automating Git commands with Python is GitPython. It provides an easy-to-use interface for interacting with Git repositories, allowing you to perform tasks such as creating branches, committing changes, and merging branches.

To start automating Git commands with Python, you will first need to install GitPython by running the following command:

pip install GitPython

 

Automate Git Commands with Python

1. Initialize and open a local repository

• To initialize a new repository

• To Open the Existing local repository

2. Clone a remote Repository

To create a local copy of the repository at the specified local_path directory, using the repository URL repo_url

import git
repo = gitRepo.clone_from('https://github.com/username/repository', '/path/to/local/directory')

Example:

Output:

Repository Cloned at location: /home/hardik/GFG_Temp/Cloned_Repo

Verify: Go to the location where you cloned the repository to verify it.

 

3. Add and Commit files

Add Files: Add the specified files to the index, preparing them to be committed.

repo.index.add(['file1', 'file2'])

Add Commit:  Create a new commit in the local repository with the specified commit message.

repo.index.commit('Your Commit Message')

Example:

Output:

Files Added Successfully
Commited successfully

 

4. Push to a remote Repository

Push the local commits to the remote repository

origin = repo.remote(name='origin')
origin.push()

Example:

Output:

Commited successfully
Pushed changes to origin

Verify:

 

5. Create a new branch

To create a new branch, you can use the create_head() method of the Repo class, which creates a new branch with the specified name

new_branch = repo.create_head('new_branch')

To checkout the new branch

new_branch.checkout()

Example:

Output:

In this example, we first initialize a new repository using git.Repo.init() method. We then create a new branch called new_branch using the create_head() method. We then check out the new branch using the checkout() method.

New Branch Created
Changed the current branch to new_branch

To switch to an existing branch, you can use the heads attribute of the Repo class, which returns a list of branches, and then call the checkout method on the desired branch. 

Output:

Branch Changed to an existing branch

6. Pull from a remote repository

To update the local repository with the latest changes from the remote repository we use git pull command

Example:

Output:

Pulled Changes from the origin

Verify: New file hacktoberfest_tree_cert.pdf got pulled from the origin and got saved to the local machine.

 

hardikkushwaha

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Article Tags :

• Python
• Technical Scripter
• GitHub
• Technical Scripter 2022

Practice Tags :

• python