How To Update Your Local Repo With The Latest Changes

Usecase : When your local repo is behind the remote repo , and you want to update it with the latest commits before continuing your work. Example :

• Remote repo (origin/master) = 8 commits
• Local repo (master) = 5 commits
  • ➡️ Local is behind by 3 commits.

Now if you try to continue work locally without updating, you risk:

• Missing bug fixes/features others pushed.
• Merge conflicts later when you push.

Two Ways To Update It

🔹1. Git Fetch + Merge

git fetch origin

Downloads new data (commits, branches, tags) from the remote repo (origin) into your local .git database, but does not change your working directory or current branch.

After running git fetch, you can compare differences:

git log master..origin/master

It shows commits in remote main that you don’t have locally.

git merge origin/master

It merges the commits from remote’s master branch (origin/master) into your current local branch.

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🔹2. Git Pull

git pull origin master

It is actually a shortcut for two commands (fetch + merge). It fetches updates and then merges them automatically into your current branch.

Note:

• In a real-world scenario, developers often prefer to run
  git fetch origin (to see what’s new without touching their branch).

• After inspecting the differences (git log or git diff), they then decide
  when and how to merge (git merge or git rebase).

• This gives more control than a blind git pull.

Difficulty: ⭐ Beginner