1git-reset(1) 2============ 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git reset' [--mixed | --soft | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>] 12'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>... 13'git reset' --patch [<commit>] [--] [<paths>...] 14 15DESCRIPTION 16----------- 17Sets the current head to the specified commit and optionally resets the 18index and working tree to match. 19 20This command is useful if you notice some small error in a recent 21commit (or set of commits) and want to redo that part without showing 22the undo in the history. 23 24If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch, 25linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend. 26 27The second and third forms with 'paths' and/or --patch are used to 28revert selected paths in the index from a given commit, without moving 29HEAD. 30 31 32OPTIONS 33------- 34--mixed:: 35 Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files 36 are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not 37 been updated. This is the default action. 38 39--soft:: 40 Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all, but 41 requires them to be in a good order. This leaves all your changed 42 files "Changes to be committed", as 'git status' would 43 put it. 44 45--hard:: 46 Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being 47 switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree 48 since <commit> are lost. 49 50--merge:: 51 Resets the index to match the tree recorded by the named commit, 52 and updates the files that are different between the named commit 53 and the current commit in the working tree. 54 55--keep:: 56 Resets the index to match the tree recorded by the named commit, 57 but keep changes in the working tree. Aborts if the reset would 58 change files that are already modified in the working tree. 59 60-p:: 61--patch:: 62 Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index 63 and <commit> (defaults to HEAD). The chosen hunks are applied 64 in reverse to the index. 65+ 66This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p` (see 67linkgit:git-add[1]). 68 69-q:: 70--quiet:: 71 Be quiet, only report errors. 72 73<commit>:: 74 Commit to make the current HEAD. If not given defaults to HEAD. 75 76DISCUSSION 77---------- 78 79The tables below show what happens when running: 80 81---------- 82git reset --option target 83---------- 84 85to reset the HEAD to another commit (`target`) with the different 86reset options depending on the state of the files. 87 88In these tables, A, B, C and D are some different states of a 89file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a 90file is in state A in the working tree, in state B in the index, in 91state C in HEAD and in state D in the target, then "git reset --soft 92target" will put the file in state A in the working tree, in state B 93in the index and in state D in HEAD. 94 95 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 96 ---------------------------------------------------- 97 A B C D --soft A B D 98 --mixed A D D 99 --hard D D D 100 --merge (disallowed) 101 --keep (disallowed) 102 103 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 104 ---------------------------------------------------- 105 A B C C --soft A B C 106 --mixed A C C 107 --hard C C C 108 --merge (disallowed) 109 --keep A C C 110 111 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 112 ---------------------------------------------------- 113 B B C D --soft B B D 114 --mixed B D D 115 --hard D D D 116 --merge D D D 117 --keep (disallowed) 118 119 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 120 ---------------------------------------------------- 121 B B C C --soft B B C 122 --mixed B C C 123 --hard C C C 124 --merge C C C 125 --keep B C C 126 127 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 128 ---------------------------------------------------- 129 B C C D --soft B C D 130 --mixed B D D 131 --hard D D D 132 --merge (disallowed) 133 --keep (disallowed) 134 135 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 136 ---------------------------------------------------- 137 B C C C --soft B C C 138 --mixed B C C 139 --hard C C C 140 --merge B C C 141 --keep B C C 142 143"reset --merge" is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted 144merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the work tree file that is 145involved in the merge does not have local change wrt the index before 146it starts, and that it writes the result out to the work tree. So if 147we see some difference between the index and the target and also 148between the index and the work tree, then it means that we are not 149resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing 150with a conflict. That is why we disallow --merge option in this case. 151 152"reset --keep" is meant to be used when removing some of the last 153commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working 154tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit we 155want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to keep, 156the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there are both 157changes between the working tree and HEAD, and between HEAD and the 158target. 159 160The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged 161entries: 162 163 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 164 ---------------------------------------------------- 165 X U A B --soft (disallowed) 166 --mixed X B B 167 --hard B B B 168 --merge B B B 169 --keep (disallowed) 170 171 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 172 ---------------------------------------------------- 173 X U A A --soft (disallowed) 174 --mixed X A A 175 --hard A A A 176 --merge A A A 177 --keep X A A 178 179X means any state and U means an unmerged index. 180 181Examples 182-------- 183 184Undo a commit and redo:: 185+ 186------------ 187$ git commit ... 188$ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1> 189$ edit <2> 190$ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3> 191------------ 192+ 193<1> This is most often done when you remembered what you 194just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit 195message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset". 196<2> Make corrections to working tree files. 197<3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the 198commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to 199edit the message further, you can give -C option instead. 200+ 201See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1]. 202 203Undo commits permanently:: 204+ 205------------ 206$ git commit ... 207$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1> 208------------ 209+ 210<1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad 211and you do not want to ever see them again. Do *not* do this if 212you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the 213"RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for 214the implications of doing so.) 215 216Undo a commit, making it a topic branch:: 217+ 218------------ 219$ git branch topic/wip <1> 220$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2> 221$ git checkout topic/wip <3> 222------------ 223+ 224<1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature 225to be in the "master" branch. You want to continue polishing 226them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the 227current HEAD. 228<2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits. 229<3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working. 230 231Undo add:: 232+ 233------------ 234$ edit <1> 235$ git add frotz.c filfre.c 236$ mailx <2> 237$ git reset <3> 238$ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4> 239------------ 240+ 241<1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes 242in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them 243when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files 244and changes with these files are distracting. 245<2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging. 246<3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does 247not match the HEAD commit). But you know the pull you are going 248to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the 249index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree 250remain there. 251<4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c 252changes still in the working tree. 253 254Undo a merge or pull:: 255+ 256------------ 257$ git pull <1> 258Auto-merging nitfol 259CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol 260Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result. 261$ git reset --hard <2> 262$ git pull . topic/branch <3> 263Updating from 41223... to 13134... 264Fast-forward 265$ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4> 266------------ 267+ 268<1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of 269conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging 270right now, so you decide to do that later. 271<2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard" 272which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess 273from the index file and the working tree. 274<3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted 275in a fast-forward. 276<4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public 277consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original 278tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it 279brings your index file and the working tree back to that state, 280and resets the tip of the branch to that commit. 281 282Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty work tree:: 283+ 284------------ 285$ git pull <1> 286Auto-merging nitfol 287Merge made by recursive. 288 nitfol | 20 +++++---- 289 ... 290$ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2> 291------------ 292+ 293<1> Even if you may have local modifications in your 294working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know 295that the change in the other branch does not overlap with 296them. 297<2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find 298that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running 299"git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you 300were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not 301want. "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes. 302 303 304Interrupted workflow:: 305+ 306Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you 307are in the middle of a large change. The files in your 308working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you 309need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix. 310+ 311------------ 312$ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and 313$ work work work ;# got interrupted 314$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1> 315$ git checkout master 316$ fix fix fix 317$ git commit ;# commit with real log 318$ git checkout feature 319$ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2> 320$ git reset <3> 321------------ 322+ 323<1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK. 324<2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets 325 your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot. 326<3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you 327 committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your 328 WIP files as uncommitted. 329+ 330See also linkgit:git-stash[1]. 331 332Reset a single file in the index:: 333+ 334Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not 335want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index 336while keeping your changes with git reset. 337+ 338------------ 339$ git reset -- frotz.c <1> 340$ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2> 341$ git add frotz.c <3> 342------------ 343+ 344<1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working 345 directory. 346<2> This commits all other changes in the index. 347<3> Adds the file to the index again. 348 349Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits:: 350+ 351Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you 352continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in 353your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do 354with what you commited previously. You can start a new branch and 355reset it while keeping the changes in your work tree. 356+ 357------------ 358$ git tag start 359$ git checkout -b branch1 360$ edit 361$ git commit ... <1> 362$ edit 363$ git checkout -b branch2 <2> 364$ git reset --keep start <3> 365------------ 366+ 367<1> This commits your first edits in branch1. 368<2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier 369 commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched 370 to branch2 (i.e. "git checkout -b branch2 start"), but nobody is 371 perfect. 372<3> But you can use "reset --keep" to remove the unwanted commit after 373 you switched to "branch2". 374 375Author 376------ 377Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 378 379Documentation 380-------------- 381Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 382 383GIT 384--- 385Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite