1 git-commit(1)
2 =============
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-commit - Record changes to the repository
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 [verse]
11 'git commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend] [--dry-run]
12 [(-c | -C) <commit>] [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--dry-run]
13 [--allow-empty] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
14 [--cleanup=<mode>] [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
16 DESCRIPTION
17 -----------
18 Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along
19 with a log message from the user describing the changes.
21 The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
23 1. by using 'git-add' to incrementally "add" changes to the
24 index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
25 files must be "added");
27 2. by using 'git-rm' to remove files from the working tree
28 and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
30 3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
31 case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
32 record the current content of the listed files (which must already
33 be known to git);
35 4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
36 "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
37 listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
38 that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
39 actual commit;
41 5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
42 by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
43 operation. Currently, this is done by invoking 'git-add --interactive'.
45 The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
46 summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
47 commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).
49 If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
50 that, you can recover from it with 'git-reset'.
53 OPTIONS
54 -------
55 -a::
56 --all::
57 Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
58 been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
59 told git about are not affected.
61 -C <commit>::
62 --reuse-message=<commit>::
63 Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
64 and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
65 when creating the commit.
67 -c <commit>::
68 --reedit-message=<commit>::
69 Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
70 the user can further edit the commit message.
72 --dry-run::
73 Do not actually make a commit, but show the list of paths
74 with updates in the index, paths with changes in the work tree,
75 and paths that are untracked, similar to the one that is given
76 in the commit log editor.
78 --short::
79 When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
80 linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.
82 --porcelain::
83 When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
84 format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
85 `--dry-run`.
87 -z::
88 When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, terminate
89 entries in the status output with NUL, instead of LF. If no
90 format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
92 -F <file>::
93 --file=<file>::
94 Take the commit message from the given file. Use '-' to
95 read the message from the standard input.
97 --author=<author>::
98 Override the author name used in the commit. You can use the
99 standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise,
100 an existing commit that matches the given string and its author
101 name is used.
103 -m <msg>::
104 --message=<msg>::
105 Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
107 -t <file>::
108 --template=<file>::
109 Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
110 of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
111 make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
112 the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
113 overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
115 -s::
116 --signoff::
117 Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
118 log message.
120 -n::
121 --no-verify::
122 This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
123 See also linkgit:githooks[5].
125 --allow-empty::
126 Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
127 sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
128 from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
129 is primarily for use by foreign scm interface scripts.
131 --cleanup=<mode>::
132 This option sets how the commit message is cleaned up.
133 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace', 'strip',
134 and 'default'. The 'default' mode will strip leading and
135 trailing empty lines and #commentary from the commit message
136 only if the message is to be edited. Otherwise only whitespace
137 removed. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at all,
138 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines
139 and 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
141 -e::
142 --edit::
143 The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
144 `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
145 commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
146 further edit the message taken from these sources.
148 --amend::
149 Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
150 object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
151 (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
152 commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
153 tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
154 current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
155 the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
156 discarded.
157 +
158 --
159 It is a rough equivalent for:
160 ------
161 $ git reset --soft HEAD^
162 $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
163 $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
165 ------
166 but can be used to amend a merge commit.
167 --
168 +
169 You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
170 amend a commit that has already been published. (See the "RECOVERING
171 FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
173 -i::
174 --include::
175 Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
176 stage the contents of paths given on the command line
177 as well. This is usually not what you want unless you
178 are concluding a conflicted merge.
180 -o::
181 --only::
182 Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
183 command line, disregarding any contents that have been
184 staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
185 'git-commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
186 in which case this option can be omitted.
187 If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
188 no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
189 the last commit without committing changes that have
190 already been staged.
192 -u[<mode>]::
193 --untracked-files[=<mode>]::
194 Show untracked files (Default: 'all').
195 +
196 The mode parameter is optional, and is used to specify
197 the handling of untracked files. The possible options are:
198 +
199 --
200 - 'no' - Show no untracked files
201 - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
202 - 'all' - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
203 --
204 +
205 See linkgit:git-config[1] for configuration variable
206 used to change the default for when the option is not
207 specified.
209 -v::
210 --verbose::
211 Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
212 would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
213 template. Note that this diff output doesn't have its
214 lines prefixed with '#'.
216 -q::
217 --quiet::
218 Suppress commit summary message.
220 --dry-run::
221 Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
222 to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
223 uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
225 \--::
226 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
228 <file>...::
229 When files are given on the command line, the command
230 commits the contents of the named files, without
231 recording the changes already staged. The contents of
232 these files are also staged for the next commit on top
233 of what have been staged before.
236 EXAMPLES
237 --------
238 When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
239 your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
240 called the "index" with 'git-add'. A file can be
241 reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
242 to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
243 which effectively reverts 'git-add' and prevents the changes to
244 this file from participating in the next commit. After building
245 the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
246 `git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
247 has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
248 command. An example:
250 ------------
251 $ edit hello.c
252 $ git rm goodbye.c
253 $ git add hello.c
254 $ git commit
255 ------------
257 Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
258 tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
259 contents are tracked in
260 your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
261 for you. That is, this example does the same as the earlier
262 example if there is no other change in your working tree:
264 ------------
265 $ edit hello.c
266 $ rm goodbye.c
267 $ git commit -a
268 ------------
270 The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
271 notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
272 and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
274 After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
275 changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
276 When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
277 only records the changes made to the named paths:
279 ------------
280 $ edit hello.c hello.h
281 $ git add hello.c hello.h
282 $ edit Makefile
283 $ git commit Makefile
284 ------------
286 This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
287 The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
288 in the resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost --
289 they are still staged and merely held back. After the above
290 sequence, if you do:
292 ------------
293 $ git commit
294 ------------
296 this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
297 `hello.h` as expected.
299 After a merge (initiated by 'git-merge' or 'git-pull') stops
300 because of conflicts, cleanly merged
301 paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
302 conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would have to first
303 check which paths are conflicting with 'git-status'
304 and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
305 stage the result as usual with 'git-add':
307 ------------
308 $ git status | grep unmerged
309 unmerged: hello.c
310 $ edit hello.c
311 $ git add hello.c
312 ------------
314 After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
315 would stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done,
316 run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
318 ------------
319 $ git commit
320 ------------
322 As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
323 option to save typing. One difference is that during a merge
324 resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
325 alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
326 should be recorded as a single commit. In fact, the command
327 refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
330 DISCUSSION
331 ----------
333 Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
334 with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
335 change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
336 Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use the first line
337 on the Subject: line and the rest of the commit in the body.
339 include::i18n.txt[]
341 ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
342 ---------------------------------------
343 The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
344 GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
345 VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
346 order).
348 HOOKS
349 -----
350 This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
351 and `post-commit` hooks. See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
352 information.
355 SEE ALSO
356 --------
357 linkgit:git-add[1],
358 linkgit:git-rm[1],
359 linkgit:git-mv[1],
360 linkgit:git-merge[1],
361 linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
363 Author
364 ------
365 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
366 Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com>
369 GIT
370 ---
371 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite