Ubuntu git backup file

Question

I am learning git, and I am a beginner. I have just finished CodeCademy's Git course ( https://www.codecademy.com/learn/learn-git ), so I wanted to try something on my computer. I initialized a new git repository. Then I changed the a.txt file, but there appeared a new file, 'a.txt~', which I found is a backup file. After adding and committing, the file is still there. I am still a total beginner in GIT. I have no idea what is going on. But I guess this shouldn't be happening. What should I do to prevent this in the future? I don't think deleting it all the time is a good idea.

Answer 1

The backup file is created by the editor, not git. It is just another file. In your figure, you created an empty repository and there are three files in the working directory (a.txt, b.txt, README.txt). You edited a.txt with gedit, and now there are 4 files (a.txt, a.txt~, b.txt, README.txt). You added a.txt and committed it to the repository. The status now says that there are three other files that it doesn't know about, because they haven't been added to the repository.