"what you use to prepare the contents for the next commit" sounds good to me, will make those changes. On Thu, Aug 21, 2025, at 4:08 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote: > "Julia Evans via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@xxxxxxxxx> writes: > >> DESCRIPTION >> ----------- >> -This command updates the index using the current content found in >> -the working tree, to prepare the content staged for the next commit. >> -It typically adds the current content of existing paths as a whole, >> -but with some options it can also be used to add content with >> -only part of the changes made to the working tree files applied, or >> -remove paths that do not exist in the working tree anymore. >> - >> -The "index" holds a snapshot of the content of the working tree, and it >> -is this snapshot that is taken as the contents of the next commit. Thus >> -after making any changes to the working tree, and before running >> -the commit command, you must use the `add` command to add any new or >> -modified files to the index. >> +Add contents of new or changed files to the index. The "index" (also >> +known as "staging area") is where Git stores the contents of the next >> +commit. > > Much nicer than the preimage text that is quite awkwardly phrased. > > I however would not say "Git stores the contents", as it is you the > user who does the storing. I may phrase it more like "... is what > you use to prepare the contents for the next commit." probably. > >> +When you run `git commit` without any other arguments, it will only >> +commit staged changes. For example, if you've edited `file.c` and want >> +to commit your changes to that file, you can run: >> + >> + git add file.c >> + git commit >> + >> +You can also add only part of your changes to a file with `git add -p`. > > Great.
