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1 git-commit(1)
2 =============
3
4 NAME
5 ----
6 git-commit - Record changes to the repository
7
8 SYNOPSIS
9 --------
10 [verse]
11 'git commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
12 [(-c | -C) <commit>] [-F <file> | -m <msg>]
13 [--allow-empty] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
14 [--cleanup=<mode>] [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
15
16 DESCRIPTION
17 -----------
18 Use 'git commit' to store the current contents of the index in a new
19 commit along with a log message describing the changes you have made.
20
21 The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
22
23 1. by using linkgit:git-add[1] to incrementally "add" changes to the
24 index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
25 files must be "added");
26
27 2. by using linkgit:git-rm[1] to remove files from the working tree
28 and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
29
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;
33
34 4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
35 "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
36 listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
37 that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
38 actual commit;
39
40 5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
41 by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
42 operation. Currently, this is done by invoking `git-add --interactive`.
43
44 The linkgit:git-status[1] command can be used to obtain a
45 summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
46 commit by giving the same set of parameters you would give to
47 this command.
48
49 If you make a commit and then found a mistake immediately after
50 that, you can recover from it with linkgit:git-reset[1].
51
52
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.
60
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.
66
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.
71
72 -F <file>::
73 --file=<file>::
74 Take the commit message from the given file. Use '-' to
75 read the message from the standard input.
76
77 --author=<author>::
78 Override the author name used in the commit. Use
79 `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format.
80
81 -m <msg>::
82 --message=<msg>::
83 Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
84
85 -t <file>::
86 --template=<file>::
87 Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
88 of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
89 make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
90 the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
91 overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
92
93 -s::
94 --signoff::
95 Add Signed-off-by line at the end of the commit message.
96
97 -n::
98 --no-verify::
99 This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
100 See also linkgit:githooks[5].
101
102 --allow-empty::
103 Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
104 sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
105 from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
106 is primarily for use by foreign scm interface scripts.
107
108 --cleanup=<mode>::
109 This option sets how the commit message is cleaned up.
110 The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace', 'strip',
111 and 'default'. The 'default' mode will strip leading and
112 trailing empty lines and #commentary from the commit message
113 only if the message is to be edited. Otherwise only whitespace
114 removed. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at all,
115 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines
116 and 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
117
118 -e::
119 --edit::
120 The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
121 `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
122 commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
123 further edit the message taken from these sources.
124
125 --amend::
126 Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
127 object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
128 (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
129 commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
130 tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
131 current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
132 the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
133 discarded.
134 +
135 --
136 It is a rough equivalent for:
137 ------
138 $ git reset --soft HEAD^
139 $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
140 $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
141
142 ------
143 but can be used to amend a merge commit.
144 --
145
146 -i::
147 --include::
148 Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
149 stage the contents of paths given on the command line
150 as well. This is usually not what you want unless you
151 are concluding a conflicted merge.
152
153 -o::
154 --only::
155 Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
156 command line, disregarding any contents that have been
157 staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
158 'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
159 in which case this option can be omitted.
160 If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
161 no paths need be specified, which can be used to amend
162 the last commit without committing changes that have
163 already been staged.
164
165 -u[<mode>]::
166 --untracked-files[=<mode>]::
167 Show untracked files (Default: 'all').
168 +
169 The mode parameter is optional, and is used to specify
170 the handling of untracked files. The possible options are:
171 +
172 --
173 - 'no' - Show no untracked files
174 - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
175 - 'all' - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
176 --
177 +
178 See linkgit:git-config[1] for configuration variable
179 used to change the default for when the option is not
180 specified.
181
182 -v::
183 --verbose::
184 Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
185 would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
186 template. Note that this diff output doesn't have its
187 lines prefixed with '#'.
188
189 -q::
190 --quiet::
191 Suppress commit summary message.
192
193 \--::
194 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
195
196 <file>...::
197 When files are given on the command line, the command
198 commits the contents of the named files, without
199 recording the changes already staged. The contents of
200 these files are also staged for the next commit on top
201 of what have been staged before.
202
203
204 EXAMPLES
205 --------
206 When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
207 your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
208 called the "index" with linkgit:git-add[1]. A file can be
209 reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
210 to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
211 which effectively reverts `git-add` and prevents the changes to
212 this file from participating in the next commit. After building
213 the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
214 `git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
215 has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
216 command. An example:
217
218 ------------
219 $ edit hello.c
220 $ git rm goodbye.c
221 $ git add hello.c
222 $ git commit
223 ------------
224
225 Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
226 tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
227 contents are tracked in
228 your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
229 for you. That is, this example does the same as the earlier
230 example if there is no other change in your working tree:
231
232 ------------
233 $ edit hello.c
234 $ rm goodbye.c
235 $ git commit -a
236 ------------
237
238 The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
239 notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
240 and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
241
242 After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
243 changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
244 When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
245 only records the changes made to the named paths:
246
247 ------------
248 $ edit hello.c hello.h
249 $ git add hello.c hello.h
250 $ edit Makefile
251 $ git commit Makefile
252 ------------
253
254 This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
255 The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
256 in the resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost --
257 they are still staged and merely held back. After the above
258 sequence, if you do:
259
260 ------------
261 $ git commit
262 ------------
263
264 this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
265 `hello.h` as expected.
266
267 After a merge (initiated by either linkgit:git-merge[1] or
268 linkgit:git-pull[1]) stops because of conflicts, cleanly merged
269 paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
270 conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would have to first
271 check which paths are conflicting with linkgit:git-status[1]
272 and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
273 stage the result as usual with linkgit:git-add[1]:
274
275 ------------
276 $ git status | grep unmerged
277 unmerged: hello.c
278 $ edit hello.c
279 $ git add hello.c
280 ------------
281
282 After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
283 would stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done,
284 run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
285
286 ------------
287 $ git commit
288 ------------
289
290 As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
291 option to save typing. One difference is that during a merge
292 resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
293 alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
294 should be recorded as a single commit. In fact, the command
295 refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
296
297
298 DISCUSSION
299 ----------
300
301 Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
302 with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
303 change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
304 Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use the first line
305 on the Subject: line and the rest of the commit in the body.
306
307 include::i18n.txt[]
308
309 ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
310 ---------------------------------------
311 The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
312 GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
313 VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
314 order).
315
316 HOOKS
317 -----
318 This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
319 and `post-commit` hooks. See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
320 information.
321
322
323 SEE ALSO
324 --------
325 linkgit:git-add[1],
326 linkgit:git-rm[1],
327 linkgit:git-mv[1],
328 linkgit:git-merge[1],
329 linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
330
331 Author
332 ------
333 Written by Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> and
334 Junio C Hamano <junkio@cox.net>
335
336
337 GIT
338 ---
339 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite