Change name of folder when cloning from GitHub?

Question

When I clone something from Github, it creates a folder with the same name as the app on my computer. Is there a way to change the name?

For example, doing this clone creates a long "sign-in-with-twitter" folder:

git clone https://github.com/sferik/sign-in-with-twitter.git

I know I can rename the folder after, but I'm wondering if there's a way to rename it as it comes in by adding an option at the end of the statement. For example,

git clone https://github.com/sferik/sign-in-with-twitter.git  as 'signin'

the problem is that I'm cloning some apps multiple times in order to tweak some of the settings to get it to work, and if there's a problem, I delete the folder. But, I'm worried that some of the gems remain installed even though I've deleted the folder.

@Milan probably ruby gems: https://www.ruby-lang.org/en/libraries/ — riQQ, Feb 04 '21 at 18:51

score 1308 · Accepted Answer · edited May 11 '21 at 19:52

1308

You can do this.

git clone https://github.com/sferik/sign-in-with-twitter.git signin

# or

git clone git@github.com:sferik/sign-in-with-twitter.git signin

refer the manual here

edited May 11 '21 at 19:52

random-forest-cat

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answered Dec 20 '11 at 04:04

MLN

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If you want to avoid an additional folder layer you can replace `signin` with `.` – Marged Jul 09 '18 at 11:37
@Marged that should be its own answer by freng. Hope the Homer doing good by the way. – lopezdp May 02 '19 at 00:19
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I tried the RTFM approach and failed (hence why I'm here), but if you run `git clone --help` it will give you something like this: `git clone [--very-many-options...] []`, so we see that `git clone repo_url my_directory` should work, as the above answer correctly shows. – Purplejacket Sep 26 '19 at 18:46
@Marged, u should add your comment as one of the answer – Bhawna Jain May 13 '20 at 17:32
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@Marged what did you mean by *"If you want to avoid an additional folder layer... ?"* – Milan Feb 10 '21 at 01:37
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@Milan Usually all files go into a folder with the name of the repo. You can leave this folder out and store the files in the current folder – Marged Feb 10 '21 at 16:22
1

@Marged Oh, now, I got it. So, basically, it will download the contents of the repo in the current directory without creating a new directory (having the same name as the name of the repo). Thanks a lot! – Milan Feb 12 '21 at 20:15

score 78 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '14 at 09:36

78

git clone <Repo> <DestinationDirectory>

Clone the repository located at Repo into the folder called DestinationDirectory on the local machine.

answered Mar 06 '14 at 09:36

Michael Leiss

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score 17 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 09 '19 at 00:08

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In case you want to clone a specific branch only, then,

git clone -b <branch-name> <repo-url> <destination-folder-name>

for example,

git clone -b dev https://github.com/sferik/sign-in-with-twitter.git signin

answered Dec 09 '19 at 00:08

gprathour

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score 13 · Answer 4 · edited May 19 '20 at 19:00

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Here is one more answer from @Marged in comments

Create a folder with the name you want
Run the command below from the folder you created
```
git clone <path to your online repo> .
```

edited May 19 '20 at 19:00

double-beep

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answered May 13 '20 at 17:36

Bhawna Jain

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score 8 · Answer 5 · answered Nov 13 '19 at 17:37

8

Arrived here because my source repo had %20 in it which was creating local folders with %20 in them when using simplistic git clone <url>.

Easy solution:

git clone https://teamname.visualstudio.com/Project%20Name/_git/Repo%20Name "Repo Name"

answered Nov 13 '19 at 17:37

Josh

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Change name of folder when cloning from GitHub?

5 Answers5