Git Add Methods

Git Add Lines

`git add -e`

Select lines of changes interactively. This allows you to stage only specific lines of changes in a file.
Pros: More control over what gets staged. Cons: More manual work, you have to edit the patch file yourself, which can be error-prone and time-consuming.

Guidelines:

The editor shows a unified diff patch of working tree changes.
+ lines: additions in the working tree (will be staged if kept).
- lines: deletions in the working tree (will be staged if kept).
Context lines (no prefix): unchanged lines needed for patch context.
To stage a change: keep the + or - line in the patch.
To NOT stage a change: delete the + or - line from the patch.
To keep a line unchanged: leave context lines as-is.
Never change + or - to spaces or vice versa — this breaks the patch format and causes "patch does not apply" errors.
To remove an added line (+) from being staged, delete the entire line.
- If you break the patch, run git checkout -- <file> to undo, then run git add -e again.

Git Add Hunks

`git add -p`

Select hunks of changes interactively. This allows you to stage only parts of the changes in a file.
Pros: Easier to use than the -e method for staging specific parts of changes.
Cons: Sometimes split won't work, which will force you to use the -e method.

Guidelines

Run git add -p <file> or git add -p to go through patch hunks interactively.
For each hunk, choose:
- y to stage this hunk
- n to leave it unstaged
- s to split the hunk into smaller parts
- e to edit the hunk manually
- q to quit and leave remaining hunks unstaged
- a to stage this hunk and all remaining hunks
- d to leave this hunk and all remaining hunks unstaged
If you choose s, Git will attempt to split the hunk into smaller hunks so you can stage a smaller section.
If you choose e, Git opens the patch in a temporary editor; delete + or - lines you do NOT want staged, then save and close.
When finished, run git status to verify which hunks were staged.

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