+hello world, again
------------------------------------------------
-So `git-diff` is comparing against something other than the head.
+So 'git-diff' is comparing against something other than the head.
The thing that it's comparing against is actually the index file,
which is stored in .git/index in a binary format, but whose contents
we can examine with ls-files:
hello world, again
------------------------------------------------
-So what our `git-add` did was store a new blob and then put
+So what our 'git-add' did was store a new blob and then put
a reference to it in the index file. If we modify the file again,
-we'll see that the new modifications are reflected in the `git-diff`
+we'll see that the new modifications are reflected in the 'git-diff'
output:
------------------------------------------------
+again?
------------------------------------------------
-With the right arguments, `git-diff` can also show us the difference
+With the right arguments, 'git-diff' can also show us the difference
between the working directory and the last commit, or between the
index and the last commit:
+hello world, again
------------------------------------------------
-At any time, we can create a new commit using `git-commit` (without
+At any time, we can create a new commit using 'git-commit' (without
the "-a" option), and verify that the state committed only includes the
changes stored in the index file, not the additional change that is
still only in our working tree:
+again?
------------------------------------------------
-So by default `git-commit` uses the index to create the commit, not
+So by default 'git-commit' uses the index to create the commit, not
the working tree; the "-a" option to commit tells it to first update
the index with all changes in the working tree.
-Finally, it's worth looking at the effect of `git-add` on the index
+Finally, it's worth looking at the effect of 'git-add' on the index
file:
------------------------------------------------
$ git add closing.txt
------------------------------------------------
-The effect of the `git-add` was to add one entry to the index file:
+The effect of the 'git-add' was to add one entry to the index file:
------------------------------------------------
$ git ls-files --stage