# Probably typographic error in tutorial 2

3 messages from 2025-04-27 to 2025-04-28. Participants: el24614, Eric Sunshine, Junio C Hamano.
Thread: https://gitlist.dev/t/63358

## el24614, 2025-04-27 21:02

Subject: Probably typographic error in tutorial 2
Message-ID: <15509dd701ace6793f0ae19368e4c0c3@mail.ntua.gr>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/15509dd701ace6793f0ae19368e4c0c3%40mail.ntua.gr

```
Hello,

I think in tutorial  2 (https://git.scm.com/docs/gittutorial-2) in the 
first code box the second time that file.txt is edited ($ echo 'hello 
world!' >file.txt) there should be an additional ">" because a single 
one will overwrite the contents. As far as i understand from what 
follows bellow, the text should be appended.

Kind Regards,
N.Antonetsis

```

## Eric Sunshine, 2025-04-27 21:54

Subject: Re: Probably typographic error in tutorial 2
Message-ID: <CAPig+cSfbW9zG0Jv_t8QLFz6SPHFk=2g-eDirEpX8D0ytNWpXA@mail.gmail.com>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/CAPig%2BcSfbW9zG0Jv_t8QLFz6SPHFk%3D2g-eDirEpX8D0ytNWpXA%40mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To: <15509dd701ace6793f0ae19368e4c0c3@mail.ntua.gr>

```
On Sun, Apr 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM el24614 <el24614@mail.ntua.gr> wrote:
> I think in tutorial  2 (https://git.scm.com/docs/gittutorial-2) in the
> first code box the second time that file.txt is edited ($ echo 'hello
> world!' >file.txt) there should be an additional ">" because a single
> one will overwrite the contents. As far as i understand from what
> follows bellow, the text should be appended.

Presumably you're talking about this example?

    $ echo 'hello world' > file.txt
    $ git add .
    $ git commit -a -m "initial commit"
    ...
    $ echo 'hello world!' >file.txt
    $ git commit -a -m "add emphasis"

Note that the initial content of `file.txt` is "hello world", whereas
the updated content is "hello world!" with trailing exclamation point,
so the content of the file does change (indeed, the commit message
"add emphasis" hints at the way in which it changes). As such, the
example appears to be fine as-is and does not need to be changed to
use ">>" instead of ">".

That's not to say the example is ideal since the difference of "!" is
potentially difficult to spot. Had it instead been:

    $ echo 'HELLO WORLD' >file.txt

or some other more obvious change, it probably would have been better.
Please feel free to submit a patch to improve the documentation if you
think such a change would help.

```

## Junio C Hamano, 2025-04-28 18:37

Subject: Re: Probably typographic error in tutorial 2
Message-ID: <xmqqzfg0ceum.fsf@gitster.g>
URL: https://gitlist.dev/e/xmqqzfg0ceum.fsf%40gitster.g
In-Reply-To: <CAPig+cSfbW9zG0Jv_t8QLFz6SPHFk=2g-eDirEpX8D0ytNWpXA@mail.gmail.com>

```
Eric Sunshine <sunshine@sunshineco.com> writes:

> On Sun, Apr 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM el24614 <el24614@mail.ntua.gr> wrote:
>> I think in tutorial  2 (https://git.scm.com/docs/gittutorial-2) in the
>> first code box the second time that file.txt is edited ($ echo 'hello
>> world!' >file.txt) there should be an additional ">" because a single
>> one will overwrite the contents. As far as i understand from what
>> follows bellow, the text should be appended.
>
> Presumably you're talking about this example?
>
>     $ echo 'hello world' > file.txt
>     $ git add .
>     $ git commit -a -m "initial commit"
>     ...
>     $ echo 'hello world!' >file.txt
>     $ git commit -a -m "add emphasis"
>
> Note that the initial content of `file.txt` is "hello world", whereas
> the updated content is "hello world!" with trailing exclamation point,
> so the content of the file does change (indeed, the commit message
> "add emphasis" hints at the way in which it changes). As such, the
> example appears to be fine as-is and does not need to be changed to
> use ">>" instead of ">".
>
> That's not to say the example is ideal since the difference of "!" is
> potentially difficult to spot. Had it instead been:
>
>     $ echo 'HELLO WORLD' >file.txt
>
> or some other more obvious change, it probably would have been better.
> Please feel free to submit a patch to improve the documentation if you
> think such a change would help.

Or append "Goodbye world" to pair well with the first sentence?

By the way, I noticed that the URL given in the original post gives
a log-in page.  IT IS *NOT* the git-scm.com that is associated with
this project, but is somebody else.

The URL the original poster meant is probably

    https://git-scm.com/docs/gittutorial-2

I do not think the typo is malicious, though, and scm.com itself is
run by folks who have valid reasons to own the domain.


```