Pull from GitHub

Pull from GitHub

git pull brings new commits from the remote down to your local repository.

The pull command

git pull

This downloads the latest changes from origin and merges them into your current branch.

What pull really does

git pull is actually two steps combined:

git fetch
git merge

• fetch downloads the remote commits.
• merge joins them into your branch.

Pull before you push

Before pushing, it is good practice to pull first. If someone else pushed changes, pulling makes sure you are up to date, which avoids conflicts.

A conflict warning

If you and someone else changed the same lines, a pull can create a merge conflict that you need to fix manually.

Pull a specific branch

git pull origin main

TL;DR

• git pull downloads and merges remote commits.
• It combines git fetch and git merge.
• Pull before pushing to stay up to date.
• Pulls can trigger merge conflicts to resolve.