6 git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state
11 'git reset' [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
12 'git reset' (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
13 'git reset' [--soft | --mixed [-N] | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>]
17 In the first and second form, copy entries from `<tree-ish>` to the index.
18 In the third form, set the current branch head (`HEAD`) to `<commit>`,
19 optionally modifying index and working tree to match.
20 The `<tree-ish>`/`<commit>` defaults to `HEAD` in all forms.
22 'git reset' [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...::
23 This form resets the index entries for all `<paths>` to their
24 state at `<tree-ish>`. (It does not affect the working tree or
27 This means that `git reset <paths>` is the opposite of `git add
30 After running `git reset <paths>` to update the index entry, you can
31 use linkgit:git-checkout[1] to check the contents out of the index to
33 Alternatively, using linkgit:git-checkout[1] and specifying a commit, you
34 can copy the contents of a path out of a commit to the index and to the
35 working tree in one go.
37 'git reset' (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]::
38 Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
39 and `<tree-ish>` (defaults to `HEAD`). The chosen hunks are applied
40 in reverse to the index.
42 This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p`, i.e.
43 you can use it to selectively reset hunks. See the ``Interactive Mode''
44 section of linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate the `--patch` mode.
46 'git reset' [<mode>] [<commit>]::
47 This form resets the current branch head to `<commit>` and
48 possibly updates the index (resetting it to the tree of `<commit>`) and
49 the working tree depending on `<mode>`. If `<mode>` is omitted,
50 defaults to `--mixed`. The `<mode>` must be one of the following:
54 Does not touch the index file or the working tree at all (but
55 resets the head to `<commit>`, just like all modes do). This leaves
56 all your changed files "Changes to be committed", as `git status`
60 Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files
61 are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not
62 been updated. This is the default action.
64 If `-N` is specified, removed paths are marked as intent-to-add (see
68 Resets the index and working tree. Any changes to tracked files in the
69 working tree since `<commit>` are discarded.
72 Resets the index and updates the files in the working tree that are
73 different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`, but keeps those which are
74 different between the index and working tree (i.e. which have changes
75 which have not been added).
76 If a file that is different between `<commit>` and the index has
77 unstaged changes, reset is aborted.
79 In other words, `--merge` does something like a `git read-tree -u -m <commit>`,
80 but carries forward unmerged index entries.
83 Resets index entries and updates files in the working tree that are
84 different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`.
85 If a file that is different between `<commit>` and `HEAD` has local
86 changes, reset is aborted.
89 If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch,
90 linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend.
98 Be quiet, only report errors.
108 $ git add frotz.c filfre.c
111 $ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4>
114 <1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
115 in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them
116 when you run `git diff`, because you plan to work on other files
117 and changes with these files are distracting.
118 <2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sound worthy of merging.
119 <3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
120 not match the `HEAD` commit). But you know the pull you are going
121 to make does not affect `frotz.c` or `filfre.c`, so you revert the
122 index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree
124 <4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving `frotz.c` and `filfre.c`
125 changes still in the working tree.
127 Undo a commit and redo::
131 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1>
133 $ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3>
136 <1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
137 just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
138 message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
139 <2> Make corrections to working tree files.
140 <3> "reset" copies the old head to `.git/ORIG_HEAD`; redo the
141 commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to
142 edit the message further, you can give `-C` option instead.
144 See also the `--amend` option to linkgit:git-commit[1].
146 Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
149 $ git branch topic/wip <1>
150 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2>
151 $ git checkout topic/wip <3>
154 <1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
155 to be in the `master` branch. You want to continue polishing
156 them in a topic branch, so create `topic/wip` branch off of the
158 <2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
159 <3> Switch to `topic/wip` branch and keep working.
161 Undo commits permanently::
165 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1>
168 <1> The last three commits (`HEAD`, `HEAD^`, and `HEAD~2`) were bad
169 and you do not want to ever see them again. Do *not* do this if
170 you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the
171 "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for
172 the implications of doing so.)
174 Undo a merge or pull::
179 CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
180 Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
181 $ git reset --hard <2>
182 $ git pull . topic/branch <3>
183 Updating from 41223... to 13134...
185 $ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4>
188 <1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
189 conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
190 right now, so you decide to do that later.
191 <2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so `git reset --hard`
192 which is a synonym for `git reset --hard HEAD` clears the mess
193 from the index file and the working tree.
194 <3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
196 <4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
197 consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
198 tip of the current branch in `ORIG_HEAD`, so resetting hard to it
199 brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
200 and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.
202 Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty working tree::
207 Merge made by recursive.
208 nitfol | 20 +++++----
210 $ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2>
213 <1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
214 working tree, you can safely say `git pull` when you know
215 that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
217 <2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
218 that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running
219 `git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD` will let you go back to where you
220 were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
221 want. `git reset --merge` keeps your local changes.
224 Interrupted workflow::
226 Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
227 are in the middle of a large change. The files in your
228 working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
229 need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
232 $ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
233 $ work work work ;# got interrupted
234 $ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1>
235 $ git checkout master
237 $ git commit ;# commit with real log
238 $ git checkout feature
239 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2>
243 <1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
244 <2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
245 your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
246 <3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
247 committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your
248 WIP files as uncommitted.
250 See also linkgit:git-stash[1].
252 Reset a single file in the index::
254 Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
255 want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
256 while keeping your changes with git reset.
259 $ git reset -- frotz.c <1>
260 $ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2>
261 $ git add frotz.c <3>
264 <1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
266 <2> This commits all other changes in the index.
267 <3> Adds the file to the index again.
269 Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits::
271 Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you
272 continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in
273 your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do
274 with what you committed previously. You can start a new branch and
275 reset it while keeping the changes in your working tree.
279 $ git checkout -b branch1
283 $ git checkout -b branch2 <2>
284 $ git reset --keep start <3>
287 <1> This commits your first edits in `branch1`.
288 <2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier
289 commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched
290 to `branch2` (i.e. `git checkout -b branch2 start`), but nobody is
292 <3> But you can use `reset --keep` to remove the unwanted commit after
293 you switched to `branch2`.
295 Split a commit apart into a sequence of commits::
297 Suppose that you have created lots of logically separate changes and committed
298 them together. Then, later you decide that it might be better to have each
299 logical chunk associated with its own commit. You can use git reset to rewind
300 history without changing the contents of your local files, and then successively
301 use `git add -p` to interactively select which hunks to include into each commit,
302 using `git commit -c` to pre-populate the commit message.
305 $ git reset -N HEAD^ <1>
307 $ git diff --cached <3>
308 $ git commit -c HEAD@{1} <4>
311 $ git diff --cached <7>
315 <1> First, reset the history back one commit so that we remove the original
316 commit, but leave the working tree with all the changes. The -N ensures
317 that any new files added with `HEAD` are still marked so that `git add -p`
319 <2> Next, we interactively select diff hunks to add using the `git add -p`
320 facility. This will ask you about each diff hunk in sequence and you can
321 use simple commands such as "yes, include this", "No don't include this"
322 or even the very powerful "edit" facility.
323 <3> Once satisfied with the hunks you want to include, you should verify what
324 has been prepared for the first commit by using `git diff --cached`. This
325 shows all the changes that have been moved into the index and are about
327 <4> Next, commit the changes stored in the index. The `-c` option specifies to
328 pre-populate the commit message from the original message that you started
329 with in the first commit. This is helpful to avoid retyping it. The
330 `HEAD@{1}` is a special notation for the commit that `HEAD` used to be at
331 prior to the original reset commit (1 change ago).
332 See linkgit:git-reflog[1] for more details. You may also use any other
333 valid commit reference.
334 <5> You can repeat steps 2-4 multiple times to break the original code into
335 any number of commits.
336 <6> Now you've split out many of the changes into their own commits, and might
337 no longer use the patch mode of `git add`, in order to select all remaining
339 <7> Once again, check to verify that you've included what you want to. You may
340 also wish to verify that git diff doesn't show any remaining changes to be
342 <8> And finally create the final commit.
348 The tables below show what happens when running:
351 git reset --option target
354 to reset the `HEAD` to another commit (`target`) with the different
355 reset options depending on the state of the files.
357 In these tables, `A`, `B`, `C` and `D` are some different states of a
358 file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a
359 file is in state `A` in the working tree, in state `B` in the index, in
360 state `C` in `HEAD` and in state `D` in the target, then `git reset --soft
361 target` will leave the file in the working tree in state `A` and in the
362 index in state `B`. It resets (i.e. moves) the `HEAD` (i.e. the tip of
363 the current branch, if you are on one) to `target` (which has the file
367 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
368 ----------------------------------------------------
377 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
378 ----------------------------------------------------
387 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
388 ----------------------------------------------------
397 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
398 ----------------------------------------------------
407 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
408 ----------------------------------------------------
417 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
418 ----------------------------------------------------
426 `reset --merge` is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
427 merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the working tree file that is
428 involved in the merge does not have local change wrt the index before
429 it starts, and that it writes the result out to the working tree. So if
430 we see some difference between the index and the target and also
431 between the index and the working tree, then it means that we are not
432 resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing
433 with a conflict. That is why we disallow `--merge` option in this case.
435 `reset --keep` is meant to be used when removing some of the last
436 commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working
437 tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit we
438 want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to keep,
439 the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there are both
440 changes between the working tree and `HEAD`, and between `HEAD` and the
441 target. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are unmerged
444 The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged
448 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
449 ----------------------------------------------------
450 X U A B --soft (disallowed)
458 working index HEAD target working index HEAD
459 ----------------------------------------------------
460 X U A A --soft (disallowed)
467 `X` means any state and `U` means an unmerged index.
471 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite