Download from git file

In this guide, we talk about how to download a single file from GitHub. We walk through two examples to help you learn how to download files from the web browser and the command line. GitHub lets you download one file from a repository. This is a useful feature because it means you do not have to clone or retrieve an entire repository to download a particular file.

You cannot retrieve a single file using the git command line , even if your repository is hosted on GitHub. To download an individual file from a repository, first navigate to the file you want to download on the GitHub website. Now that we are viewing a plain-text version of our file, we can save it like we would with any web resource.

Press Ctrl-S or Cmd-S for Windows and Mac, respectively, and choose where you want to save the file that you are viewing. Get matched to a bootcamp today. The average bootcamp grad spent less than six months in career transition, from starting a bootcamp to finding their first job. We do not need the web interface to view the raw version of a file. We can manually write the URL of the file we want to retrieve.

We can use this format to retrieve any file from our Git archive, such as a HTML file or a markdown file. We could download a file called app. This method works on both plain text and binary files. This approach only works for files that are public. This is because the web interface provides an access token that you need to view a private file.

We can download a single file from the command line using the wget command. This is because we can write the URL for the file we want to retrieve. You can head to www. If the original project owner likes the change — and it works properly — it can be merged into the original codebase as production code.

As you can see, downloading files and whole projects from GitHub is actually quite easy. In just a couple of minutes, you can have an entire project downloaded onto your computer, or even forked to your own GitHub account.

Happy coding! About This Article. Written by:. Darlene Antonelli, MA. Co-authors: 3. Updated: October 21, Categories: Programming. Article Summary X 1. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 18, times. Is this article up to date? Cookies make wikiHow better. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. You Might Also Like How to. Featured Articles How to. Trending Articles How to.

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