Git Practical Exercises

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Table of contents

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1. Exercise 1: Complete workflow
2. Exercise 2: Branch management
3. Exercise 3: Conflict resolution
4. Exercise 4: Interactive rebase
5. Exercise 5: Realistic scenario
6. Solutions

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1 - Exercise 1: Complete workflow

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Goal

Create a project, push it to GitHub, and make several commits.

Instructions

1. Create a new folder git-exercice-1
2. Initialize Git
3. Create the following files:
   • index.html with a basic HTML structure
   • style.css with a few styles
   • README.md with a project description
4. Make 3 separate commits (one for each file)
5. Create a repository on GitHub
6. Push your code

Verification

# Vous devez voir 3 commits
git log --oneline
# abc1234 docs: add README
# def5678 style: add CSS
# ghi9012 feat: add HTML structure

💡 Hints

mkdir git-exercice-1
cd git-exercice-1
git init
# Créer les fichiers...
git add index.html
git commit -m "feat: add HTML structure"
# etc.

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2 - Exercise 2: Branch management

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Goal

Work with several branches and merge them.

Instructions

1. Start from the project in exercise 1
2. Create a branch feature/contact-page
3. On this branch, create contact.html
4. Make a commit
5. Return to main
6. Create a branch feature/about-page
7. On this branch, create about.html
8. Make a commit
9. Return to main
10. Merge both branches into main
11. Delete the feature branches

Verification

git log --oneline --graph --all
# Doit montrer les merges ou un historique linéaire

Bonus questions

• What is the difference if you use --no-ff for the merge?
• How do you do a squash merge?

💡 Hints

git checkout -b feature/contact-page
# Créer contact.html
git add contact.html
git commit -m "feat: add contact page"
git checkout main
# Répéter pour about
git merge feature/contact-page
git merge feature/about-page
git branch -d feature/contact-page
git branch -d feature/about-page

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3 - Exercise 3: Conflict resolution

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Goal

Create and resolve a merge conflict.

Setup

mkdir git-exercice-3
cd git-exercice-3
git init

# Fichier initial
echo "Ligne 1" > file.txt
echo "Ligne 2" >> file.txt
echo "Ligne 3" >> file.txt
git add file.txt
git commit -m "Initial commit"

Instructions

1. Create a branch feature/modification-a
2. Modify line 2 of file.txt: "Ligne 2 - Version A"
3. Commit
4. Return to main
5. Create a branch feature/modification-b
6. Modify line 2 of file.txt: "Ligne 2 - Version B"
7. Commit
8. Return to main
9. Merge feature/modification-a
10. Merge feature/modification-b (conflict!)
11. Resolve the conflict by keeping both versions

Expected result

file.txt after resolution:

Ligne 1
Ligne 2 - Version A et Version B
Ligne 3

💡 Hints

To resolve the conflict:

1. Open the file
2. You will see <<<<<<, =======, >>>>>>>
3. Edit it to keep what you want
4. git add file.txt
5. git commit

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4 - Exercise 4: Interactive rebase

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Goal

Clean up the history with interactive rebase.

Setup

mkdir git-exercice-4
cd git-exercice-4
git init

echo "v1" > file.txt && git add . && git commit -m "Initial"
echo "v2" >> file.txt && git commit -am "wip"
echo "v3" >> file.txt && git commit -am "more wip"
echo "v4" >> file.txt && git commit -am "almost done"
echo "v5" >> file.txt && git commit -am "fix typo"
echo "v6" >> file.txt && git commit -am "final"

Instructions

Use git rebase -i HEAD~5 to:

1. Squash "wip", "more wip", "almost done" into a single commit "feat: implement feature"
2. Squash "fix typo" with "final" into "feat: finalize feature"

Expected result

git log --oneline
# abc1234 feat: finalize feature
# def5678 feat: implement feature
# ghi9012 Initial

💡 Hints

In the interactive rebase editor:

pick ghi9012 wip
squash xxx more wip
squash xxx almost done
pick xxx fix typo
squash xxx final

Then edit the messages.

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5 - Exercise 5: Realistic scenario

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Context

You are working on a website with a team. Simulate the complete workflow.

Instructions

Part A: Setup

1. Create a repository website-team
2. Create a project structure:

website-team/
├── index.html
├── css/
│   └── style.css
├── js/
│   └── app.js
└── README.md

3. Commit and push to GitHub

Part B: Feature development

1. Create a branch feature/navbar
2. Add a navbar in index.html
3. Add the corresponding styles
4. Make 2-3 commits
5. Push the branch

Part C: Hotfix

Meanwhile, an urgent bug:

1. From main, create hotfix/critical-bug
2. "Fix" the bug (modify a file)
3. Merge into main
4. Push

Part D: Update and finalization

1. Return to feature/navbar
2. Rebase onto the new main
3. Resolve any conflicts
4. Squash your commits into a single one
5. Merge into main with --no-ff
6. Create a tag v1.0.0
7. Push everything

Final verification

git log --oneline --graph --all

Should show:

• The merged hotfix
• The feature merged with a merge commit
• The v1.0.0 tag

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6 - Solutions

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Exercise 1 Solution

mkdir git-exercice-1
cd git-exercice-1
git init

cat > index.html << 'EOF'
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head><title>Mon Site</title></head>
<body><h1>Hello</h1></body>
</html>
EOF
git add index.html
git commit -m "feat: add HTML structure"

cat > style.css << 'EOF'
body { font-family: Arial; }
h1 { color: blue; }
EOF
git add style.css
git commit -m "style: add CSS"

echo "# Mon Projet" > README.md
git add README.md
git commit -m "docs: add README"

# Sur GitHub, créez le repo puis :
git remote add origin [email protected]:user/git-exercice-1.git
git push -u origin main

Exercise 3 Solution

# Après le conflit
# file.txt contient :
<<<<<<< HEAD
Ligne 2 - Version A
=======
Ligne 2 - Version B
>>>>>>> feature/modification-b

# Éditer pour :
Ligne 2 - Version A et Version B

git add file.txt
git commit -m "merge: combine modifications A and B"

Exercise 4 Solution

In the interactive rebase, set up:

pick abc Initial
pick def wip
squash xxx more wip
squash xxx almost done
reword xxx fix typo
squash xxx final

Key takeaways

Concept	Key command
Basic workflow	add → commit → push
Branches	checkout -b, merge, branch -d
Conflicts	Edit, add, commit
Cleanup	rebase -i, squash
Versioning	tag -a v1.0.0

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🎉 Congratulations!

You have completed the Git course! You now know:

• ✅ The basic commands
• ✅ The Git workflow
• ✅ Branches and merging
• ✅ Rebase and squash
• ✅ Conflict resolution
• ✅ Synchronization with GitHub
• ✅ Tags and versions

Next steps

1. Practice daily
2. Contribute to open source projects
3. Explore advanced features (hooks, submodules, etc.)

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