Documentation/git-commit.txt

   1 git-commit(1)
   2 =============
   3
   4 NAME
   5 ----
   6 git-commit - Record your changes
   7
   8 SYNOPSIS
   9 --------
  10 [verse]
  11 'git-commit' [-a] [-s] [-v] [(-c | -C) <commit> | -F <file> | -m <msg>]
  12            [--no-verify] [--amend] [-e] [--author <author>]
  13            [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
  14
  15 DESCRIPTION
  16 -----------
  17 Updates the index file for given paths, or all modified files if
  18 '-a' is specified, and makes a commit object.  The command
  19 VISUAL and EDITOR environment variables to edit the commit log
  20 message.
  21
  22 Several environment variable are used during commits.  They are
  23 documented in gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
  24
  25
  26 This command can run `commit-msg`, `pre-commit`, and
  27 `post-commit` hooks.  See link:hooks.html[hooks] for more
  28 information.
  29
  30 OPTIONS
  31 -------
  32 -a|--all::
  33         Update all paths in the index file.  This flag notices
  34         files that have been modified and deleted, but new files
  35         you have not told git about are not affected.
  36
  37 -c or -C <commit>::
  38         Take existing commit object, and reuse the log message
  39         and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
  40         when creating the commit.  With '-C', the editor is not
  41         invoked; with '-c' the user can further edit the commit
  42         message.
  43
  44 -F <file>::
  45         Take the commit message from the given file.  Use '-' to
  46         read the message from the standard input.
  47
  48 --author <author>::
  49         Override the author name used in the commit.  Use
  50         `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format.
  51
  52 -m <msg>::
  53         Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
  54
  55 -s|--signoff::
  56         Add Signed-off-by line at the end of the commit message.
  57
  58 -v|--verify::
  59         Look for suspicious lines the commit introduces, and
  60         abort committing if there is one.  The definition of
  61         'suspicious lines' is currently the lines that has
  62         trailing whitespaces, and the lines whose indentation
  63         has a SP character immediately followed by a TAB
  64         character.  This is the default.
  65
  66 -n|--no-verify::
  67         The opposite of `--verify`.
  68
  69 -e|--edit::
  70         The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
  71         `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
  72         commit log message unmodified.  This option lets you
  73         further edit the message taken from these sources.
  74
  75 --amend::
  76
  77         Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
  78         object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
  79         (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
  80         commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
  81         tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
  82         current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
  83         the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
  84         discarded.
  85 +
  86 --
  87 It is a rough equivalent for:
  88 ------
  89         $ git reset --soft HEAD^
  90         $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
  91         $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
  92
  93 ------
  94 but can be used to amend a merge commit.
  95 --
  96
  97 -i|--include::
  98         Instead of committing only the files specified on the
  99         command line, update them in the index file and then
 100         commit the whole index.  This is the traditional
 101         behavior.
 102
 103 -o|--only::
 104         Commit only the files specified on the command line.
 105         This format cannot be used during a merge, nor when the
 106         index and the latest commit does not match on the
 107         specified paths to avoid confusion.
 108
 109 \--::
 110         Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 111
 112 <file>...::
 113         Files to be committed.  The meaning of these is
 114         different between `--include` and `--only`.  Without
 115         either, it defaults `--only` semantics.
 116
 117 If you make a commit and then found a mistake immediately after
 118 that, you can recover from it with gitlink:git-reset[1].
 119
 120
 121 Discussion
 122 ----------
 123
 124 `git commit` without _any_ parameter commits the tree structure
 125 recorded by the current index file.  This is a whole-tree commit
 126 even the command is invoked from a subdirectory.
 127
 128 `git commit --include paths...` is equivalent to
 129
 130         git update-index --remove paths...
 131         git commit
 132
 133 That is, update the specified paths to the index and then commit
 134 the whole tree.
 135
 136 `git commit paths...` largely bypasses the index file and
 137 commits only the changes made to the specified paths.  It has
 138 however several safety valves to prevent confusion.
 139
 140 . It refuses to run during a merge (i.e. when
 141   `$GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD` exists), and reminds trained git users
 142   that the traditional semantics now needs -i flag.
 143
 144 . It refuses to run if named `paths...` are different in HEAD
 145   and the index (ditto about reminding).  Added paths are OK.
 146   This is because an earlier `git diff` (not `git diff HEAD`)
 147   would have shown the differences since the last `git
 148   update-index paths...` to the user, and an inexperienced user
 149   may mistakenly think that the changes between the index and
 150   the HEAD (i.e. earlier changes made before the last `git
 151   update-index paths...` was done) are not being committed.
 152
 153 . It reads HEAD commit into a temporary index file, updates the
 154   specified `paths...` and makes a commit.  At the same time,
 155   the real index file is also updated with the same `paths...`.
 156
 157 `git commit --all` updates the index file with _all_ changes to
 158 the working tree, and makes a whole-tree commit, regardless of
 159 which subdirectory the command is invoked in.
 160
 161
 162 Author
 163 ------
 164 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
 165 Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
 166
 167
 168 GIT
 169 ---
 170 Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite