Using git init in my terminal on mac creates a hidden a folder. I used command shift . to show folder, but it appears faded and can't be detected for further functions. enter image description here

Code: cd "desired folder"
git init .

when i cd .git, it works; however, i cannot ls into .git. I can also add and remove in code but the changes appear as changes to be committed. When I open the .git folder my files aren't saved there.

Could someone please assist?

Thanks

CodePudding user response：

Git stores its data within the .git directory, and that directory is created by running git init (or as a part of running git clone). On macOS, like other Unix systems, files that start with a dot are hidden, which is normal, and it's intended that this folder should be that way.

Once you've committed data, that data will be stored in the .git directory in an internal format, so it will not be readily visible. If you want to access it, you'll need to do so using the git command or a library, such as one based on libgit2.

You should, unless you know what you are doing, not modify the contents of the .git folder, possibly with the exception of the files in .git/info and .git/hooks (after reading the documentation thoroughly). Also, the history of your project is stored there, so if you delete the directory or its contents and haven't pushed the changes elsewhere, you'll lose data.

So it appears everything is working as expected in this case and you can just ignore the .git directory and its contents, using the git command as normal.