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