Documentation/git-reset.txt

   1 git-reset(1)
   2 ============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git reset' [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
  12 'git reset' [-q] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]] [<tree-ish>]
  13 'git reset' (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
  14 'git reset' [--soft | --mixed [-N] | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>]
  15
  16 DESCRIPTION
  17 -----------
  18 In the first three forms, copy entries from `<tree-ish>` to the index.
  19 In the last form, set the current branch head (`HEAD`) to `<commit>`,
  20 optionally modifying index and working tree to match.
  21 The `<tree-ish>`/`<commit>` defaults to `HEAD` in all forms.
  22
  23 'git reset' [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...::
  24 'git reset' [-q] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]] [<tree-ish>]::
  25         These forms reset the index entries for all paths that match the
  26         `<pathspec>` to their state at `<tree-ish>`.  (It does not affect
  27         the working tree or the current branch.)
  28 +
  29 This means that `git reset <pathspec>` is the opposite of `git add
  30 <pathspec>`. This command is equivalent to
  31 `git restore [--source=<tree-ish>] --staged <pathspec>...`.
  32 +
  33 After running `git reset <pathspec>` to update the index entry, you can
  34 use linkgit:git-restore[1] to check the contents out of the index to
  35 the working tree. Alternatively, using linkgit:git-restore[1]
  36 and specifying a commit with `--source`, you
  37 can copy the contents of a path out of a commit to the index and to the
  38 working tree in one go.
  39
  40 'git reset' (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]::
  41         Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
  42         and `<tree-ish>` (defaults to `HEAD`).  The chosen hunks are applied
  43         in reverse to the index.
  44 +
  45 This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p`, i.e.
  46 you can use it to selectively reset hunks. See the ``Interactive Mode''
  47 section of linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate the `--patch` mode.
  48
  49 'git reset' [<mode>] [<commit>]::
  50         This form resets the current branch head to `<commit>` and
  51         possibly updates the index (resetting it to the tree of `<commit>`) and
  52         the working tree depending on `<mode>`. If `<mode>` is omitted,
  53         defaults to `--mixed`. The `<mode>` must be one of the following:
  54 +
  55 --
  56 --soft::
  57         Does not touch the index file or the working tree at all (but
  58         resets the head to `<commit>`, just like all modes do). This leaves
  59         all your changed files "Changes to be committed", as `git status`
  60         would put it.
  61
  62 --mixed::
  63         Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files
  64         are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not
  65         been updated. This is the default action.
  66 +
  67 If `-N` is specified, removed paths are marked as intent-to-add (see
  68 linkgit:git-add[1]).
  69
  70 --hard::
  71         Resets the index and working tree. Any changes to tracked files in the
  72         working tree since `<commit>` are discarded.
  73
  74 --merge::
  75         Resets the index and updates the files in the working tree that are
  76         different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`, but keeps those which are
  77         different between the index and working tree (i.e. which have changes
  78         which have not been added).
  79         If a file that is different between `<commit>` and the index has
  80         unstaged changes, reset is aborted.
  81 +
  82 In other words, `--merge` does something like a `git read-tree -u -m <commit>`,
  83 but carries forward unmerged index entries.
  84
  85 --keep::
  86         Resets index entries and updates files in the working tree that are
  87         different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`.
  88         If a file that is different between `<commit>` and `HEAD` has local
  89         changes, reset is aborted.
  90
  91 --[no-]recurse-submodules::
  92         When the working tree is updated, using --recurse-submodules will
  93         also recursively reset the working tree of all active submodules
  94         according to the commit recorded in the superproject, also setting
  95         the submodules' HEAD to be detached at that commit.
  96 --
  97
  98 See "Reset, restore and revert" in linkgit:git[1] for the differences
  99 between the three commands.
 100
 101
 102 OPTIONS
 103 -------
 104
 105 -q::
 106 --quiet::
 107 --no-quiet::
 108         Be quiet, only report errors. The default behavior is set by the
 109         `reset.quiet` config option. `--quiet` and `--no-quiet` will
 110         override the default behavior.
 111
 112 --pathspec-from-file=<file>::
 113         Pathspec is passed in `<file>` instead of commandline args. If
 114         `<file>` is exactly `-` then standard input is used. Pathspec
 115         elements are separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be
 116         quoted as explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath`
 117         (see linkgit:git-config[1]). See also `--pathspec-file-nul` and
 118         global `--literal-pathspecs`.
 119
 120 --pathspec-file-nul::
 121         Only meaningful with `--pathspec-from-file`. Pathspec elements are
 122         separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
 123         literally (including newlines and quotes).
 124
 125 \--::
 126         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 127
 128 <pathspec>...::
 129         Limits the paths affected by the operation.
 130 +
 131 For more details, see the 'pathspec' entry in linkgit:gitglossary[7].
 132
 133 EXAMPLES
 134 --------
 135
 136 Undo add::
 137 +
 138 ------------
 139 $ edit                                     <1>
 140 $ git add frotz.c filfre.c
 141 $ mailx                                    <2>
 142 $ git reset                                <3>
 143 $ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol  <4>
 144 ------------
 145 +
 146 <1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
 147     in these files are in good order.  You do not want to see them
 148     when you run `git diff`, because you plan to work on other files
 149     and changes with these files are distracting.
 150 <2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sound worthy of merging.
 151 <3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
 152     not match the `HEAD` commit).  But you know the pull you are going
 153     to make does not affect `frotz.c` or `filfre.c`, so you revert the
 154     index changes for these two files.  Your changes in working tree
 155     remain there.
 156 <4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving `frotz.c` and `filfre.c`
 157     changes still in the working tree.
 158
 159 Undo a commit and redo::
 160 +
 161 ------------
 162 $ git commit ...
 163 $ git reset --soft HEAD^      <1>
 164 $ edit                        <2>
 165 $ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD  <3>
 166 ------------
 167 +
 168 <1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
 169     just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
 170     message, or both.  Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
 171 <2> Make corrections to working tree files.
 172 <3> "reset" copies the old head to `.git/ORIG_HEAD`; redo the
 173     commit by starting with its log message.  If you do not need to
 174     edit the message further, you can give `-C` option instead.
 175 +
 176 See also the `--amend` option to linkgit:git-commit[1].
 177
 178 Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
 179 +
 180 ------------
 181 $ git branch topic/wip          <1>
 182 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3       <2>
 183 $ git switch topic/wip          <3>
 184 ------------
 185 +
 186 <1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
 187     to be in the `master` branch.  You want to continue polishing
 188     them in a topic branch, so create `topic/wip` branch off of the
 189     current `HEAD`.
 190 <2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
 191 <3> Switch to `topic/wip` branch and keep working.
 192
 193 Undo commits permanently::
 194 +
 195 ------------
 196 $ git commit ...
 197 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3   <1>
 198 ------------
 199 +
 200 <1> The last three commits (`HEAD`, `HEAD^`, and `HEAD~2`) were bad
 201     and you do not want to ever see them again.  Do *not* do this if
 202     you have already given these commits to somebody else.  (See the
 203     "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 204     for the implications of doing so.)
 205
 206 Undo a merge or pull::
 207 +
 208 ------------
 209 $ git pull                         <1>
 210 Auto-merging nitfol
 211 CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
 212 Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
 213 $ git reset --hard                 <2>
 214 $ git pull . topic/branch          <3>
 215 Updating from 41223... to 13134...
 216 Fast-forward
 217 $ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD       <4>
 218 ------------
 219 +
 220 <1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
 221     conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
 222     right now, so you decide to do that later.
 223 <2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so `git reset --hard`
 224     which is a synonym for `git reset --hard HEAD` clears the mess
 225     from the index file and the working tree.
 226 <3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
 227     in a fast-forward.
 228 <4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
 229     consumption yet.  "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
 230     tip of the current branch in `ORIG_HEAD`, so resetting hard to it
 231     brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
 232     and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.
 233
 234 Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty working tree::
 235 +
 236 ------------
 237 $ git pull                         <1>
 238 Auto-merging nitfol
 239 Merge made by recursive.
 240  nitfol                |   20 +++++----
 241  ...
 242 $ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD      <2>
 243 ------------
 244 +
 245 <1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
 246     working tree, you can safely say `git pull` when you know
 247     that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
 248     them.
 249 <2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
 250     that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory.  Running
 251     `git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD` will let you go back to where you
 252     were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
 253     want.  `git reset --merge` keeps your local changes.
 254
 255
 256 Interrupted workflow::
 257 +
 258 Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
 259 are in the middle of a large change.  The files in your
 260 working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
 261 need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
 262 +
 263 ------------
 264 $ git switch feature  ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
 265 $ work work work      ;# got interrupted
 266 $ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP"                 <1>
 267 $ git switch master
 268 $ fix fix fix
 269 $ git commit ;# commit with real log
 270 $ git switch feature
 271 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state  <2>
 272 $ git reset                                       <3>
 273 ------------
 274 +
 275 <1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
 276 <2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
 277     your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
 278 <3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
 279     committed as 'snapshot WIP'.  This updates the index to show your
 280     WIP files as uncommitted.
 281 +
 282 See also linkgit:git-stash[1].
 283
 284 Reset a single file in the index::
 285 +
 286 Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
 287 want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
 288 while keeping your changes with git reset.
 289 +
 290 ------------
 291 $ git reset -- frotz.c                      <1>
 292 $ git commit -m "Commit files in index"     <2>
 293 $ git add frotz.c                           <3>
 294 ------------
 295 +
 296 <1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
 297     directory.
 298 <2> This commits all other changes in the index.
 299 <3> Adds the file to the index again.
 300
 301 Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits::
 302 +
 303 Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you
 304 continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in
 305 your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do
 306 with what you committed previously. You can start a new branch and
 307 reset it while keeping the changes in your working tree.
 308 +
 309 ------------
 310 $ git tag start
 311 $ git switch -c branch1
 312 $ edit
 313 $ git commit ...                            <1>
 314 $ edit
 315 $ git switch -c branch2                     <2>
 316 $ git reset --keep start                    <3>
 317 ------------
 318 +
 319 <1> This commits your first edits in `branch1`.
 320 <2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier
 321     commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched
 322     to `branch2` (i.e. `git switch -c branch2 start`), but nobody is
 323     perfect.
 324 <3> But you can use `reset --keep` to remove the unwanted commit after
 325     you switched to `branch2`.
 326
 327 Split a commit apart into a sequence of commits::
 328 +
 329 Suppose that you have created lots of logically separate changes and committed
 330 them together. Then, later you decide that it might be better to have each
 331 logical chunk associated with its own commit. You can use git reset to rewind
 332 history without changing the contents of your local files, and then successively
 333 use `git add -p` to interactively select which hunks to include into each commit,
 334 using `git commit -c` to pre-populate the commit message.
 335 +
 336 ------------
 337 $ git reset -N HEAD^                        <1>
 338 $ git add -p                                <2>
 339 $ git diff --cached                         <3>
 340 $ git commit -c HEAD@{1}                    <4>
 341 ...                                         <5>
 342 $ git add ...                               <6>
 343 $ git diff --cached                         <7>
 344 $ git commit ...                            <8>
 345 ------------
 346 +
 347 <1> First, reset the history back one commit so that we remove the original
 348     commit, but leave the working tree with all the changes. The -N ensures
 349     that any new files added with `HEAD` are still marked so that `git add -p`
 350     will find them.
 351 <2> Next, we interactively select diff hunks to add using the `git add -p`
 352     facility. This will ask you about each diff hunk in sequence and you can
 353     use simple commands such as "yes, include this", "No don't include this"
 354     or even the very powerful "edit" facility.
 355 <3> Once satisfied with the hunks you want to include, you should verify what
 356     has been prepared for the first commit by using `git diff --cached`. This
 357     shows all the changes that have been moved into the index and are about
 358     to be committed.
 359 <4> Next, commit the changes stored in the index. The `-c` option specifies to
 360     pre-populate the commit message from the original message that you started
 361     with in the first commit. This is helpful to avoid retyping it. The
 362     `HEAD@{1}` is a special notation for the commit that `HEAD` used to be at
 363     prior to the original reset commit (1 change ago).
 364     See linkgit:git-reflog[1] for more details. You may also use any other
 365     valid commit reference.
 366 <5> You can repeat steps 2-4 multiple times to break the original code into
 367     any number of commits.
 368 <6> Now you've split out many of the changes into their own commits, and might
 369     no longer use the patch mode of `git add`, in order to select all remaining
 370     uncommitted changes.
 371 <7> Once again, check to verify that you've included what you want to. You may
 372     also wish to verify that git diff doesn't show any remaining changes to be
 373     committed later.
 374 <8> And finally create the final commit.
 375
 376
 377 DISCUSSION
 378 ----------
 379
 380 The tables below show what happens when running:
 381
 382 ----------
 383 git reset --option target
 384 ----------
 385
 386 to reset the `HEAD` to another commit (`target`) with the different
 387 reset options depending on the state of the files.
 388
 389 In these tables, `A`, `B`, `C` and `D` are some different states of a
 390 file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a
 391 file is in state `A` in the working tree, in state `B` in the index, in
 392 state `C` in `HEAD` and in state `D` in the target, then `git reset --soft
 393 target` will leave the file in the working tree in state `A` and in the
 394 index in state `B`.  It resets (i.e. moves) the `HEAD` (i.e. the tip of
 395 the current branch, if you are on one) to `target` (which has the file
 396 in state `D`).
 397
 398 ....
 399 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 400 ----------------------------------------------------
 401  A       B     C    D     --soft   A       B     D
 402                           --mixed  A       D     D
 403                           --hard   D       D     D
 404                           --merge (disallowed)
 405                           --keep  (disallowed)
 406 ....
 407
 408 ....
 409 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 410 ----------------------------------------------------
 411  A       B     C    C     --soft   A       B     C
 412                           --mixed  A       C     C
 413                           --hard   C       C     C
 414                           --merge (disallowed)
 415                           --keep   A       C     C
 416 ....
 417
 418 ....
 419 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 420 ----------------------------------------------------
 421  B       B     C    D     --soft   B       B     D
 422                           --mixed  B       D     D
 423                           --hard   D       D     D
 424                           --merge  D       D     D
 425                           --keep  (disallowed)
 426 ....
 427
 428 ....
 429 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 430 ----------------------------------------------------
 431  B       B     C    C     --soft   B       B     C
 432                           --mixed  B       C     C
 433                           --hard   C       C     C
 434                           --merge  C       C     C
 435                           --keep   B       C     C
 436 ....
 437
 438 ....
 439 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 440 ----------------------------------------------------
 441  B       C     C    D     --soft   B       C     D
 442                           --mixed  B       D     D
 443                           --hard   D       D     D
 444                           --merge (disallowed)
 445                           --keep  (disallowed)
 446 ....
 447
 448 ....
 449 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 450 ----------------------------------------------------
 451  B       C     C    C     --soft   B       C     C
 452                           --mixed  B       C     C
 453                           --hard   C       C     C
 454                           --merge  B       C     C
 455                           --keep   B       C     C
 456 ....
 457
 458 `reset --merge` is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
 459 merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the working tree file that is
 460 involved in the merge does not have a local change with respect to the index
 461 before it starts, and that it writes the result out to the working tree. So if
 462 we see some difference between the index and the target and also
 463 between the index and the working tree, then it means that we are not
 464 resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing
 465 with a conflict. That is why we disallow `--merge` option in this case.
 466
 467 `reset --keep` is meant to be used when removing some of the last
 468 commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working
 469 tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit we
 470 want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to keep,
 471 the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there are both
 472 changes between the working tree and `HEAD`, and between `HEAD` and the
 473 target. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are unmerged
 474 entries.
 475
 476 The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged
 477 entries:
 478
 479 ....
 480 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 481 ----------------------------------------------------
 482  X       U     A    B     --soft  (disallowed)
 483                           --mixed  X       B     B
 484                           --hard   B       B     B
 485                           --merge  B       B     B
 486                           --keep  (disallowed)
 487 ....
 488
 489 ....
 490 working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 491 ----------------------------------------------------
 492  X       U     A    A     --soft  (disallowed)
 493                           --mixed  X       A     A
 494                           --hard   A       A     A
 495                           --merge  A       A     A
 496                           --keep  (disallowed)
 497 ....
 498
 499 `X` means any state and `U` means an unmerged index.
 500
 501 GIT
 502 ---
 503 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite