GitHub is a code hosting platform for version control and collaboration. It allows you and others to work on tasks together from any location. The world of software or web development is incomplete without mentioning GitHub.
However, GitHub is quite complicated and needs comprehensive knowledge of how to download files from the platform. For this purpose, we have devised this article to take you through all the steps of downloading from GitHub. Let’s get rolling!
1. Downloading a file from GitHub
It is generally observed that the majority of the public repositories are easily downloaded free of cost. Even if you don’t own a user account. The reason is that the public repositories are thought to be codebases that are open source. This is only valid until the owner of the codebase wouldn’t check any boxes. Alternatively, their codebase can be loaded on the computer and bundled into a .zip file.
- Therefore, if you are to visit any public codebase, you’ll have to find a tab that says Click or Download and press it.
- The next step is to tap Download Zip in the dropdown. All the files start transferring to the downloads folder on your pc.
- Look for the .zip file in the folder, right-click and select any of the available options from these three; (1) Extract Al (2) Unzip, and (3) Uncompress.
- Select the destined folder for the task.
- In the end, navigate to the selected folder to see all the files downloaded by GitHub.
2. Downloading GitHub Files Via Commands
As a matter of choice, by using a few basic commands on GitHub you can easily clone a file or repository. However, for this task to function correctly, install Git tools for better performance.
- Type in the URL link by copying from the address bar or via the same menu from where the.zip file was downloaded.
- Click on Git Bash to open the window, find “cd Downloads” by typing in, and press Enter. This will open the downloads folder in the command window. You can also choose your preferred file location to save the file in by typing your selected folder.
- Next, type in this command “git clone https://github.com/bdward16/tip-calculator.git“
- After this, press Enter.
- This way, the files get opened impromptu and downloaded.
3. How to download a repository from GitHub
To download an open-source database, follow these steps:
- Navigate to GitHub’s website and click Explore button given in the top-right corner.
- When the Explore GitHub menu drops down, select “Topics”.
- Select one topic from the list of topics displayed. GitHub will highlight all public repositories matching the selected topic. You may filter out more repositories on the basis of programming language, sort by stars, and so on.
- Then, choose the repository you wish to download.
- Then, press the Code button on the right and you’ll see a dropdown.
- Go to the Clone menu, under the HTTPS tab
- From there, hit Download ZIP.
The repository you choose will download as a .zip file. Once the file is saved successfully, open the README.md file for setup and follow the instructions accordingly.
Conclusion
As you can see, we have broken down the steps and listed them in a way that it becomes easy for programmers and other users to utilize GitHub to the maximum. As you become familiar with the platform, its usage becomes relatively easy.
