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Git: Clone a Repository

The git clone command is used to create a copy of a specific repository. It allows you to obtain a full-fledged local copy of the repository, including all its history and branches.

Basic Usage

The basic syntax for cloning a repository is:

git clone <repository-url>

Replace <repository-url> with the URL of the repository you want to clone. This URL can be an HTTPS link, an SSH link, or a Git protocol link.

Cloning into a specific directory

You can specify a directory name for the cloned repository by adding it as an argument to the git clone command:

git clone <repository-url> <directory-name>

Replace <directory-name> with the desired name for the local directory.

Initialize and update submodules

If the repository contains submodules, you can initialize and update them after cloning by using the following commands:

git submodule init

Initializes the submodules in the cloned repository by registering them in .git/config.

git submodule update

Fetches and checks out the correct commit for each submodule.

Initialize and update submodules with nested submodules

If the repository contains nested submodules, you can initialize and update them after cloning by using the following command:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Initializes and updates all submodules, including nested ones, in the cloned repository.