git - github locks up mac terminal when using pull command

Question

I'm in the process of learning github on mac (command-line) and whenever I do git pull origin master i get this

# Please enter a commit message to explain why this merge is necessary,
# especially if it merges an updated upstream into a topic branch.
#
# Lines starting with '#' will be ignored, and an empty message aborts
# the commit.
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".git/MERGE_MSG" 7L, 293C

the terminal seems to lock up and doesn't allow me to enter anything immediately, then when it finally does allow me to enter text it seems like it doesn't recognize git commands.

Is this a bug in git or am i missing something?

Answer 1

You're in the text editor, vim! It's a modal text editor, so you would need to:

1. Press i to enter insert mode.
2. Now you can type your message, as if you were in a normal (non-modal) text editor.
3. Press esc to go back to command mode.
4. Then type :w followed by enter to save.
5. Finally :q followed by enter to quit.