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 | --fixup | --squash) <commit>] [-F <file> | -m <msg>]
13 [--reset-author] [--allow-empty] [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify]
14 [-e] [--author=<author>] [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>]
15 [--status | --no-status] [-i | -o] [--] [<file>...]
17 DESCRIPTION
18 -----------
19 Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along
20 with a log message from the user describing the changes.
22 The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
24 1. by using 'git add' to incrementally "add" changes to the
25 index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
26 files must be "added");
28 2. by using 'git rm' to remove files from the working tree
29 and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
31 3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
32 case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
33 record the current content of the listed files (which must already
34 be known to git);
36 4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
37 "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
38 listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
39 that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
40 actual commit;
42 5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
43 by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
44 operation. Currently, this is done by invoking 'git add --interactive'.
46 The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
47 summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
48 commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).
50 If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
51 that, you can recover from it with 'git reset'.
54 OPTIONS
55 -------
56 -a::
57 --all::
58 Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
59 been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
60 told git about are not affected.
62 -C <commit>::
63 --reuse-message=<commit>::
64 Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
65 and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
66 when creating the commit.
68 -c <commit>::
69 --reedit-message=<commit>::
70 Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
71 the user can further edit the commit message.
73 --fixup=<commit>::
74 Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
75 The commit message will be the subject line from the specified
76 commit with a prefix of "fixup! ". See linkgit:git-rebase[1]
77 for details.
79 --squash=<commit>::
80 Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
81 The commit message subject line is taken from the specified
82 commit with a prefix of "squash! ". Can be used with additional
83 commit message options (`-m`/`-c`/`-C`/`-F`). See
84 linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
86 --reset-author::
87 When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
88 a conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
89 resulting commit now belongs of the committer. This also renews
90 the author timestamp.
92 --short::
93 When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
94 linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.
96 --porcelain::
97 When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
98 format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
99 `--dry-run`.
101 -z::
102 When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, terminate
103 entries in the status output with NUL, instead of LF. If no
104 format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
106 -F <file>::
107 --file=<file>::
108 Take the commit message from the given file. Use '-' to
109 read the message from the standard input.
111 --author=<author>::
112 Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
113 standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise <author>
114 is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
115 commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
116 the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
118 --date=<date>::
119 Override the author date used in the commit.
121 -m <msg>::
122 --message=<msg>::
123 Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
125 -t <file>::
126 --template=<file>::
127 Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
128 of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
129 make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
130 the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
131 overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
133 -s::
134 --signoff::
135 Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
136 log message.
138 -n::
139 --no-verify::
140 This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
141 See also linkgit:githooks[5].
143 --allow-empty::
144 Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
145 sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
146 from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
147 is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
149 --allow-empty-message::
150 Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
151 SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
152 empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
153 linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
155 --cleanup=<mode>::
156 This option sets how the commit message is cleaned up.
157 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace', 'strip',
158 and 'default'. The 'default' mode will strip leading and
159 trailing empty lines and #commentary from the commit message
160 only if the message is to be edited. Otherwise only whitespace
161 removed. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at all,
162 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines
163 and 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
165 -e::
166 --edit::
167 The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
168 `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
169 commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
170 further edit the message taken from these sources.
172 --amend::
173 Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
174 object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
175 (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
176 commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
177 tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
178 current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
179 the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
180 discarded.
181 +
182 --
183 It is a rough equivalent for:
184 ------
185 $ git reset --soft HEAD^
186 $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
187 $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
189 ------
190 but can be used to amend a merge commit.
191 --
192 +
193 You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
194 amend a commit that has already been published. (See the "RECOVERING
195 FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
197 -i::
198 --include::
199 Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
200 stage the contents of paths given on the command line
201 as well. This is usually not what you want unless you
202 are concluding a conflicted merge.
204 -o::
205 --only::
206 Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
207 command line, disregarding any contents that have been
208 staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
209 'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
210 in which case this option can be omitted.
211 If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
212 no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
213 the last commit without committing changes that have
214 already been staged.
216 -u[<mode>]::
217 --untracked-files[=<mode>]::
218 Show untracked files.
219 +
220 The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
221 specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
222 default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
223 +
224 The possible options are:
225 +
226 - 'no' - Show no untracked files
227 - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
228 - 'all' - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
229 +
230 The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
231 configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
233 -v::
234 --verbose::
235 Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
236 would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
237 template. Note that this diff output doesn't have its
238 lines prefixed with '#'.
240 -q::
241 --quiet::
242 Suppress commit summary message.
244 --dry-run::
245 Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
246 to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
247 uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
249 --status::
250 Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
251 message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
252 message. Defaults to on, but can be used to override
253 configuration variable commit.status.
255 --no-status::
256 Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
257 commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
258 default commit message.
260 \--::
261 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
263 <file>...::
264 When files are given on the command line, the command
265 commits the contents of the named files, without
266 recording the changes already staged. The contents of
267 these files are also staged for the next commit on top
268 of what have been staged before.
270 :git-commit: 1
271 include::date-formats.txt[]
273 EXAMPLES
274 --------
275 When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
276 your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
277 called the "index" with 'git add'. A file can be
278 reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
279 to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
280 which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
281 this file from participating in the next commit. After building
282 the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
283 `git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
284 has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
285 command. An example:
287 ------------
288 $ edit hello.c
289 $ git rm goodbye.c
290 $ git add hello.c
291 $ git commit
292 ------------
294 Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
295 tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
296 contents are tracked in
297 your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
298 for you. That is, this example does the same as the earlier
299 example if there is no other change in your working tree:
301 ------------
302 $ edit hello.c
303 $ rm goodbye.c
304 $ git commit -a
305 ------------
307 The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
308 notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
309 and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
311 After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
312 changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
313 When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
314 only records the changes made to the named paths:
316 ------------
317 $ edit hello.c hello.h
318 $ git add hello.c hello.h
319 $ edit Makefile
320 $ git commit Makefile
321 ------------
323 This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
324 The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
325 in the resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost --
326 they are still staged and merely held back. After the above
327 sequence, if you do:
329 ------------
330 $ git commit
331 ------------
333 this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
334 `hello.h` as expected.
336 After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
337 because of conflicts, cleanly merged
338 paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
339 conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would have to first
340 check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
341 and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
342 stage the result as usual with 'git add':
344 ------------
345 $ git status | grep unmerged
346 unmerged: hello.c
347 $ edit hello.c
348 $ git add hello.c
349 ------------
351 After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
352 would stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done,
353 run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
355 ------------
356 $ git commit
357 ------------
359 As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
360 option to save typing. One difference is that during a merge
361 resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
362 alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
363 should be recorded as a single commit. In fact, the command
364 refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
367 DISCUSSION
368 ----------
370 Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
371 with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
372 change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
373 Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use the first line
374 on the Subject: line and the rest of the commit in the body.
376 include::i18n.txt[]
378 ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
379 ---------------------------------------
380 The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
381 GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
382 VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
383 order). See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
385 HOOKS
386 -----
387 This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
388 and `post-commit` hooks. See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
389 information.
392 SEE ALSO
393 --------
394 linkgit:git-add[1],
395 linkgit:git-rm[1],
396 linkgit:git-mv[1],
397 linkgit:git-merge[1],
398 linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
400 GIT
401 ---
402 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite