1 git-reset(1)
2 ============
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 [verse]
11 'git reset' [--mixed | --soft | --hard | --merge] [-q] [<commit>]
12 'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>...
14 DESCRIPTION
15 -----------
16 Sets the current head to the specified commit and optionally resets the
17 index and working tree to match.
19 This command is useful if you notice some small error in a recent
20 commit (or set of commits) and want to redo that part without showing
21 the undo in the history.
23 If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch,
24 linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend.
26 The second form with 'paths' is used to revert selected paths in
27 the index from a given commit, without moving HEAD.
30 OPTIONS
31 -------
32 --mixed::
33 Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files
34 are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not
35 been updated. This is the default action.
37 --soft::
38 Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all, but
39 requires them to be in a good order. This leaves all your changed
40 files "Changes to be committed", as 'git-status' would
41 put it.
43 --hard::
44 Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being
45 switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree
46 since <commit> are lost.
48 --merge::
49 Resets the index to match the tree recorded by the named commit,
50 and updates the files that are different between the named commit
51 and the current commit in the working tree.
53 -q::
54 Be quiet, only report errors.
56 <commit>::
57 Commit to make the current HEAD. If not given defaults to HEAD.
59 Examples
60 --------
62 Undo a commit and redo::
63 +
64 ------------
65 $ git commit ...
66 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1>
67 $ edit <2>
68 $ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3>
69 ------------
70 +
71 <1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
72 just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
73 message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
74 <2> Make corrections to working tree files.
75 <3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the
76 commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to
77 edit the message further, you can give -C option instead.
78 +
79 See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1].
81 Undo commits permanently::
82 +
83 ------------
84 $ git commit ...
85 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1>
86 ------------
87 +
88 <1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad
89 and you do not want to ever see them again. Do *not* do this if
90 you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the
91 "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for
92 the implications of doing so.)
94 Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
95 +
96 ------------
97 $ git branch topic/wip <1>
98 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2>
99 $ git checkout topic/wip <3>
100 ------------
101 +
102 <1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
103 to be in the "master" branch. You want to continue polishing
104 them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the
105 current HEAD.
106 <2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
107 <3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working.
109 Undo add::
110 +
111 ------------
112 $ edit <1>
113 $ git add frotz.c filfre.c
114 $ mailx <2>
115 $ git reset <3>
116 $ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4>
117 ------------
118 +
119 <1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
120 in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them
121 when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files
122 and changes with these files are distracting.
123 <2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging.
124 <3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
125 not match the HEAD commit). But you know the pull you are going
126 to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the
127 index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree
128 remain there.
129 <4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c
130 changes still in the working tree.
132 Undo a merge or pull::
133 +
134 ------------
135 $ git pull <1>
136 Auto-merging nitfol
137 CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
138 Automatic merge failed/prevented; fix up by hand
139 $ git reset --hard <2>
140 $ git pull . topic/branch <3>
141 Updating from 41223... to 13134...
142 Fast forward
143 $ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4>
144 ------------
145 +
146 <1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
147 conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
148 right now, so you decide to do that later.
149 <2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard"
150 which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess
151 from the index file and the working tree.
152 <3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
153 in a fast forward.
154 <4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
155 consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
156 tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it
157 brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
158 and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.
160 Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty work tree::
161 +
162 ------------
163 $ git pull <1>
164 Auto-merging nitfol
165 Merge made by recursive.
166 nitfol | 20 +++++----
167 ...
168 $ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2>
169 ------------
170 +
171 <1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
172 working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know
173 that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
174 them.
175 <2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
176 that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running
177 "git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you
178 were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
179 want. "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes.
182 Interrupted workflow::
183 +
184 Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
185 are in the middle of a large change. The files in your
186 working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
187 need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
188 +
189 ------------
190 $ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
191 $ work work work ;# got interrupted
192 $ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1>
193 $ git checkout master
194 $ fix fix fix
195 $ git commit ;# commit with real log
196 $ git checkout feature
197 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2>
198 $ git reset <3>
199 ------------
200 +
201 <1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
202 <2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
203 your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
204 <3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
205 committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your
206 WIP files as uncommitted.
208 Reset a single file in the index::
209 +
210 Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
211 want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
212 while keeping your changes with git reset.
213 +
214 ------------
215 $ git reset -- frotz.c <1>
216 $ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2>
217 $ git add frotz.c <3>
218 ------------
219 +
220 <1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
221 directory.
222 <2> This commits all other changes in the index.
223 <3> Adds the file to the index again.
225 Author
226 ------
227 Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
229 Documentation
230 --------------
231 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.
233 GIT
234 ---
235 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite