Git Interview Questions and Answers
Git skills are widely sought after in a wide range of tech professions since they are crucial for software development, team collaboration, and many other roles including data scientists, DevOps engineers, and data engineers. Enhance your career prospects with these top 40 Git interview questions and answers for job seekers. Explore our Git course syllabus.
Git Interview Questions for Freshers
Here are the basic interview questions on Git.
1. Define Git.
Git is a distributed version control system that manages work among several contributors and keeps track of modifications made to computer files.
2. What benefits does utilizing Git offer?
Some of the advantages of Git are,
Distributed: The repository is faster and more dependable because each developer has a full copy.
Branching & Merging: Branch creation and merging is simple, enabling concurrent experimentation and development.
Open Source: A vast array of tools, a vibrant and sizable community, and first-rate documentation.
Robust Community Support: A sizable and vibrant community, first-rate documentation, and an extensive toolkit.
3. What makes GitHub different from Git?
The version control system itself is called Git. GitHub is a well-known Git repository hosting service that offers collaboration tools, code reviews, and bug tracking.
4. Explain the Git workflow.
Here is the Git workflow:
Clone: Make a duplicate of the remote repository locally.
Work: Modify the local repository’s contents.
Stage: Decide which modifications to include in your commit.
Commit: Take a screenshot of your modifications and include a brief explanation.
Push: Send the remote repository your local commits.
5. What is a repository in Git?
The files, folders, and revision history of a project are all stored virtually in a Git repository. A repository serves as a central location for tracking and managing file and directory changes.
It is an essential part of Git’s version control system, which allows several developers to collaborate on a project at once.
Features of Git Repositories:
Store code versions and group commits into branches.
Keep track of versions and modifications
Control branches by renaming, removing, and restoring them.
Set up PR merges, such as rebasing, squashing, and commit merging.
Types of Git Repositories:
Git repositories come in two varieties:
Remote: Shared by several team members and hosted on a distant server, like the internet.
Local: For a single user, hosted on a local computer
In software development, repositories are frequently used to enable effective and regulated code management.
6. What is a branch in Git?
An autonomous line of development is called a branch. It enables you to experiment or work on new features without compromising the main codebase.
7. What is the difference between a local branch and a remote branch?
A local branch and a remote branch differ mostly in where they are located:
Local Branch: It is a branch in your system’s local repository. It is possible to add, modify, and remove local branches without affecting the remote repository.
Remote Branch: A mention of a branch’s current status in a remote repository, like GitHub. Communicating over a network causes remote branches to be automatically shifted.
8. What is the purpose of the master (or main) branch?
In Git, the default branch for a project’s codebase is called the main (or master) branch, and it serves the following functions.
Source of truth: For the majority of projects, the main branch is regarded as the source of truth since it contains the code that is prepared for production.
Base branch: Usually, the main branch is the source of all other branches, which then merge back into it.
Default branch: The main branch is the one that is checked out and sent to the user’s computer when a project is cloned or forked.
9. What is the use of the head pointer in git?
HEAD in Git refers to the current check-out commit in your repository. In essence, it serves as a symbolic reference or pointer to the most recent commit in your branch. HEAD changes to point to the appropriate commit each time you check out a particular commit or switch branches.
10. What Git command is used to establish a new branch?
To create a new branch in Git, use the command – git checkout -b [new_branch_name] -. [new_branch_name] is replaced with the name of the new branch you want to establish.
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11. How do you switch between branches in Git?
To create a new branch, use “git branch” command. To begin a new feature, use git branch new_branch to establish a new branch off main. To switch to that branch after it has been created, use git checkout new_branch.
git checkout <branch-name>
12. How can you simultaneously build a new branch and switch to it?
Git checkout and git branch go hand in hand. To create a new branch, we can use the git branch command. To begin a new feature, use git branch new_branch to establish a new branch off main. To switch to that branch after it has been created, use git checkout new_branch.
git checkout -b <branch-name>
13. How do you merge two branches in Git?
To merge branches locally, switch to the desired branch using git checkout. Usually, this branch is the primary branch. The other branch should then be included into this branch by using git merge and providing its name.
git merge <branch-name>
14. Describe a merge conflict and explain how you resolve it.
When two branches in a merge request make different changes to the same lines of code, this is known as a merge conflict. Normally, Git can merge changes automatically, but you have to choose which changes to keep when conflicts occur.
Here are some ways to resolve a merge conflict:
Make a merging commit.
Use a rebase to end the dispute.
To resolve the conflicting changes, edit the files.
To stage the resolved files, use git add.
To commit the resolved merge, use git commit.
15. What is the purpose of the .gitignore file?
To guarantee that some files that Git does not track stay untracked, .gitignore files are used. If a file is being monitored, use git rm –cached to remove it from the index and cease tracking it. The file name can be updated to the.gitignore file to prevent its reintroduction in subsequent contributions.
16. What is the command to stage changes in Git?
The git add command adds a change in the working directory to the staging area. It notifies Git that you wish to edit a certain file in the next commit.
git add <file-name> or git add . (to stage all changes)
17. What is the command to unstage changes in Git?
You can use git restore –staged to unstage every file that has been staged. All changes will be unstaged by these commands, leaving your working directory unchanged.
git reset HEAD <file-name>
18. What is the command to discard uncommitted changes in Git?
You can use ‘git reset 2f5451f’ or ‘git reset –hard 2f5451f’ on your terminal to reset local changes that have been committed but not yet pushed. ‘git reset –hard’ undoes the commits and discards the changes, whereas ‘git reset’ removes the commits but leaves the changes as uncommitted.
git checkout — <file-name>
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19. In Git, how do you reverse the most recent commit?
The command “git revert ” generates a new commit that undoes the modifications made in the previous commit.
To move the HEAD pointer back one commit without erasing changes, use git reset –soft HEAD^.
20. How do you view the commit history in Git?
You can use the git log command with the branch name to display commits as a history view of the branch. The commit history for the branch that is presently checked out is displayed in the git log. This will display the repository’s commit history if you haven’t checked out any branches.
Git Interview Questions and Answers for Experienced
Here are the advanced Git and Github interview questions and answers:
21. Explain remote repositories in Git.
Remote Repository: A server-hosted version of a project that is shared by several team members is called a remote repository. It is possible to host remote repositories on an off-site server, the internet, or even the same computer as a local repository, but on a different path.
Remote Repositories: Colleagues can share work using remote repositories.
By pushing and retrieving data to and from remote repositories, team members may manage them.
Adding remote repositories, deleting remote repositories that are no longer valid, and managing remote branches are a few of the duties associated with managing remote repositories. (e.g., GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket).
22. In Git, how may a remote repository be added?
The git remote add command in the terminal can be used to add a remote repository in Git:
Open the terminal or command prompt.
From the project’s root directory, run the command git remote add.
Enter the remote URL and a unique remote name.
To confirm that the remote was successfully added, run the git remote -v command.
Your Git repository’s Source sub-tab has the external URL. Any name you want can be used for your remote connections, however “origin” is the standard name for the primary remote connection.
By giving each new remote a unique shortname, you can add multiple remotes to the same Git repository. For instance, you can use the command git remote add second your-remote-url to add a Bitbucket remote to your repository.
git remote add <remote-name> <url>
(e.g., git remote add origin [email protected]:username/repository.git)
23. How can modifications be retrieved from a remote repository?
To get fresh work created by others, use git fetch. Without incorporating the modifications into your own branches, fetching from a repository captures all the new remote-tracking branches and tags.
git fetch <remote-name>
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24. How do you pull changes from a remote repository?
To get fresh work created by others, use git fetch. Without incorporating the modifications into your own branches, fetching from a repository captures all the new remote-tracking branches and tags. If not, you may always fetch after adding a new remote.
git pull <remote-name> <branch-name> (or simply git pull if pulling from the current branch)
25. How do you push changes to a remote repository?
Run git push -u remote-name branch-name to push the commit from the local repository to your remote repositories. Here, branch-name is the name of the branch to be pushed to the repository, and remote-name is the nickname the local repository uses for the remote repositories.
git push <remote-name> <branch-name>
26. What is a fork in Git?
When a developer is unhappy or disillusioned with the direction of a project and wishes to separate their work from that of the original project, they frequently fork the repository, which is essentially a copy of an existing repository in which the new owner disconnects the codebase from previous committers.
27. Explain Pull Request.
In Git, a pull request (PR) is a suggestion to combine modifications from one branch into the main codebase of a project.
Purpose: Before changes are merged into the main codebase, pull requests give collaborators a chance to examine and debate them. This preserves the project’s integrity and enhances the user experience by ensuring that only code that has been suitably examined and authorized is merged.
How it works: The differences between the source branch—the branch with the changes—and the target branch—the branch into which the changes are being merged—are shown in a pull request. The pull request is where collaborators can directly submit comments and make changes.
Advantages: Pull requests streamline the workflow and promote cooperation and candid communication.
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28. What are Git tags?
Tags are references to particular moments in Git history. Generally speaking, tagging is used to record a historical moment associated with a marked version release (i.e. v1. 0.1). A tag is similar to an immutable branch. In contrast to branches, tags don’t have any commit history after they are formed.
29. How do you create a tag in Git?
Use the command git tag TAG_NAME to create a lightweight tag, changing TAG_NAME to the name you choose for the tag. Use git push origin –tags to push your tags upstream.
git tag <tag-name>
30. How do you delete a branch in Git?
In Git, you may use the following commands to remove a branch:
Delete a local branch: The command git branch -d branch_name can be used to remove a local branch that has already been merged.
git branch -d <branch-name> (deletes a local branch)
Force delete a local branch: Use the command git branch -D branch_name to remove a local branch that contains unmerged changes.
Delete a remote branch: Use the command git push origin –delete branch_name to remove a remote branch. The shorter command git push origin :branch_name is another option.
Delete multiple remote branches: Use the command git push origin –delete branch_name1 branch_name2 to remove many remote branches.
git push origin –delete <branch-name> (deletes a remote branch)
31. What is the purpose of the .git directory?
Git keeps your project’s object database and metadata in the Git directory. When you clone a repository from another machine, this crucial component of Git is replicated.
32. What is a stash in Git?
Changes you’ve made to your working copy are temporarily stored in a git stash so you can work on other projects and then return to reapply them later.
33. How do you stash changes in Git?
Stash is quite easy to use. You can save your modifications using git stash and retrieve them later with git stash apply or git stash pop. Keep in mind that developers utilizing the same git repository won’t be aware of these stash changes because git stash is only applied to locally versioned files.
git stash
34. How do you apply stashed changes in Git?
Combine branches.
Rebase branches.
Pick and choose individual commits.
Apply distinct modifications from a commit.
Add a particular file to a branch.
git stash pop
35. What is rebasing in Git?
Moving or merging a series of commits into a new base commit is known as rebasing. The most practical and straightforward way to view rebasing is within a feature branching procedure.
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36. What is the difference between merging and rebasing?
How they incorporate changes from one branch to another is the primary distinction between merging and rebasing in Git:
Merging: It creates a new merge commit that maintains the repository’s complete history by combining changes from one branch into another.
This leads to a diamond-shaped non-linear history and a branch structure like a chain.
When a lot of people are working on a project at once, merging is a safe solution.
Rebasing: It creates a fresh set of commits that rewrites the history and establishes a linear branch structure by moving changes between branches.
Rebasing can be used to include upstream commits from another branch and is comparable to a local cleanup.
For projects where the target branch is private and appropriate for small workgroups, rebasing is typically utilized.
37. What is Git bisect?
A useful tool that rapidly examines a commit midway between a known good state and a known bad state and then prompts you to mark the commit as either good or bad is the git bisect command. The process then continues until you locate the precise commit that introduced the problematic code.
38. What is Git submodule?
A Git repository that is part of another Git repository is called a Git submodule. It resembles a subset of a primary repository or a child repository.
Users can incorporate foreign repositories into a project using Git submodules and still enjoy the advantages of having their own repository. Instead of combining all the code into a single repository, this enables users to manage dependencies as part of their project.
GitHub users can build a submodule by:
The parent or top-level repository should be cloned.
Run a “git submodule add” command in the parent’s root and enter the URL of the GitHub repository.
Run the command “git status.”
Reload the server using the GitHub submodule add commit.
39 List some benefits of Git submodule.
Using Git submodules has several advantages, such as:
Dependency management: Users have the ability to strictly control the versions of their external dependencies.
Enhancing code organization: Users have the ability to make their code more organized.
Simplifying cooperation: Users can make their project’s collaboration more efficient.
Building a modular codebase: Users have the ability to construct a codebase that is more maintainable and modular.
40. How can you improve your Git workflow?
You can enhance your Git workflow in the following ways:
Employ a branching strategy: You can streamline your development and lessen merge conflicts by using a branching method. The Gitflow approach, for instance, designates branches for various phases of development, such as feature branches for continuous improvement and main branches for code that is ready for production.
Make little, gradual adjustments: Write concise commit messages and make tiny, atomic commits.
Pull frequently: Pull updates to your branch from the master branch to avoid conflicts later and facilitate merging.
Review the code: Participate in code reviews to get feedback and enhance your work.
Configure your local environment: Before modifying your code, set up some fundamental configuration parameters.
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Conclusion
Employers in a variety of tech roles strongly value Git skills. Gaining a solid understanding of Git can greatly improve your chances of landing a job and increase your value to any development team. We hope these top 40 git interview questions and answers will be helpful. Gain expertise in DevOps process with our Git training in Chennai.
