1git-reset(1) 2============ 3 4NAME 5---- 6git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state 7 8SYNOPSIS 9-------- 10[verse] 11'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>... 12'git reset' --patch [<commit>] [--] [<paths>...] 13'git reset' [--soft | --mixed | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>] 14 15DESCRIPTION 16----------- 17In the first and second form, copy entries from <commit> to the index. 18In the third form, set the current branch head (HEAD) to <commit>, optionally 19modifying index and working tree to match. The <commit> defaults to HEAD 20in all forms. 21 22'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>...:: 23 This form resets the index entries for all <paths> to their 24 state at <commit>. (It does not affect the working tree, nor 25 the current branch.) 26+ 27This means that `git reset <paths>` is the opposite of `git add 28<paths>`. 29+ 30After running `git reset <paths>` to update the index entry, you can 31use linkgit:git-checkout[1] to check the contents out of the index to 32the working tree. 33Alternatively, using linkgit:git-checkout[1] and specifying a commit, you 34can copy the contents of a path out of a commit to the index and to the 35working tree in one go. 36 37'git reset' --patch|-p [<commit>] [--] [<paths>...]:: 38 Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index 39 and <commit> (defaults to HEAD). The chosen hunks are applied 40 in reverse to the index. 41+ 42This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p` (see 43linkgit:git-add[1]). 44 45'git reset' [--<mode>] [<commit>]:: 46 This form resets the current branch head to <commit> and 47 possibly updates the index (resetting it to the tree of <commit>) and 48 the working tree depending on <mode>, which 49 must be one of the following: 50+ 51-- 52--soft:: 53 Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all (but 54 resets the head to <commit>, just like all modes do). This leaves 55 all your changed files "Changes to be committed", as 'git status' 56 would put it. 57 58--mixed:: 59 Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files 60 are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not 61 been updated. This is the default action. 62 63--hard:: 64 Resets the index and working tree. Any changes to tracked files in the 65 working tree since <commit> are discarded. 66 67--merge:: 68 Resets the index and updates the files in the working tree that are 69 different between <commit> and HEAD, but keeps those which are 70 different between the index and working tree (i.e. which have changes 71 which have not been added). 72 If a file that is different between <commit> and the index has unstaged 73 changes, reset is aborted. 74+ 75In other words, --merge does something like a 'git read-tree -u -m <commit>', 76but carries forward unmerged index entries. 77 78--keep:: 79 Resets the index, updates files in the working tree that are 80 different between <commit> and HEAD, but keeps those 81 which are different between HEAD and the working tree (i.e. 82 which have local changes). 83 If a file that is different between <commit> and HEAD has local changes, 84 reset is aborted. 85+ 86In other words, --keep does a 2-way merge between <commit> and HEAD followed by 87'git reset --mixed <commit>'. 88-- 89 90If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch, 91linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend. 92 93 94OPTIONS 95------- 96 97-q:: 98--quiet:: 99 Be quiet, only report errors. 100 101 102EXAMPLES 103-------- 104 105Undo add:: 106+ 107------------ 108$ edit <1> 109$ git add frotz.c filfre.c 110$ mailx <2> 111$ git reset <3> 112$ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4> 113------------ 114+ 115<1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes 116in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them 117when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files 118and changes with these files are distracting. 119<2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging. 120<3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does 121not match the HEAD commit). But you know the pull you are going 122to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the 123index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree 124remain there. 125<4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c 126changes still in the working tree. 127 128Undo a commit and redo:: 129+ 130------------ 131$ git commit ... 132$ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1> 133$ edit <2> 134$ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3> 135------------ 136+ 137<1> This is most often done when you remembered what you 138just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit 139message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset". 140<2> Make corrections to working tree files. 141<3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the 142commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to 143edit the message further, you can give -C option instead. 144+ 145See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1]. 146 147Undo a commit, making it a topic branch:: 148+ 149------------ 150$ git branch topic/wip <1> 151$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2> 152$ git checkout topic/wip <3> 153------------ 154+ 155<1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature 156to be in the "master" branch. You want to continue polishing 157them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the 158current HEAD. 159<2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits. 160<3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working. 161 162Undo commits permanently:: 163+ 164------------ 165$ git commit ... 166$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1> 167------------ 168+ 169<1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad 170and you do not want to ever see them again. Do *not* do this if 171you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the 172"RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for 173the implications of doing so.) 174 175Undo a merge or pull:: 176+ 177------------ 178$ git pull <1> 179Auto-merging nitfol 180CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol 181Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result. 182$ git reset --hard <2> 183$ git pull . topic/branch <3> 184Updating from 41223... to 13134... 185Fast-forward 186$ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4> 187------------ 188+ 189<1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of 190conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging 191right now, so you decide to do that later. 192<2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard" 193which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess 194from the index file and the working tree. 195<3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted 196in a fast-forward. 197<4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public 198consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original 199tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it 200brings your index file and the working tree back to that state, 201and resets the tip of the branch to that commit. 202 203Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty working tree:: 204+ 205------------ 206$ git pull <1> 207Auto-merging nitfol 208Merge made by recursive. 209 nitfol | 20 +++++---- 210 ... 211$ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2> 212------------ 213+ 214<1> Even if you may have local modifications in your 215working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know 216that the change in the other branch does not overlap with 217them. 218<2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find 219that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running 220"git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you 221were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not 222want. "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes. 223 224 225Interrupted workflow:: 226+ 227Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you 228are in the middle of a large change. The files in your 229working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you 230need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix. 231+ 232------------ 233$ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and 234$ work work work ;# got interrupted 235$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1> 236$ git checkout master 237$ fix fix fix 238$ git commit ;# commit with real log 239$ git checkout feature 240$ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2> 241$ git reset <3> 242------------ 243+ 244<1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK. 245<2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets 246 your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot. 247<3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you 248 committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your 249 WIP files as uncommitted. 250+ 251See also linkgit:git-stash[1]. 252 253Reset a single file in the index:: 254+ 255Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not 256want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index 257while keeping your changes with git reset. 258+ 259------------ 260$ git reset -- frotz.c <1> 261$ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2> 262$ git add frotz.c <3> 263------------ 264+ 265<1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working 266 directory. 267<2> This commits all other changes in the index. 268<3> Adds the file to the index again. 269 270Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits:: 271+ 272Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you 273continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in 274your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do 275with what you committed previously. You can start a new branch and 276reset it while keeping the changes in your working tree. 277+ 278------------ 279$ git tag start 280$ git checkout -b branch1 281$ edit 282$ git commit ... <1> 283$ edit 284$ git checkout -b branch2 <2> 285$ git reset --keep start <3> 286------------ 287+ 288<1> This commits your first edits in branch1. 289<2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier 290 commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched 291 to branch2 (i.e. "git checkout -b branch2 start"), but nobody is 292 perfect. 293<3> But you can use "reset --keep" to remove the unwanted commit after 294 you switched to "branch2". 295 296 297DISCUSSION 298---------- 299 300The tables below show what happens when running: 301 302---------- 303git reset --option target 304---------- 305 306to reset the HEAD to another commit (`target`) with the different 307reset options depending on the state of the files. 308 309In these tables, A, B, C and D are some different states of a 310file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a 311file is in state A in the working tree, in state B in the index, in 312state C in HEAD and in state D in the target, then "git reset --soft 313target" will leave the file in the working tree in state A and in the 314index in state B. It resets (i.e. moves) the HEAD (i.e. the tip of 315the current branch, if you are on one) to "target" (which has the file 316in state D). 317 318 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 319 ---------------------------------------------------- 320 A B C D --soft A B D 321 --mixed A D D 322 --hard D D D 323 --merge (disallowed) 324 --keep (disallowed) 325 326 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 327 ---------------------------------------------------- 328 A B C C --soft A B C 329 --mixed A C C 330 --hard C C C 331 --merge (disallowed) 332 --keep A C C 333 334 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 335 ---------------------------------------------------- 336 B B C D --soft B B D 337 --mixed B D D 338 --hard D D D 339 --merge D D D 340 --keep (disallowed) 341 342 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 343 ---------------------------------------------------- 344 B B C C --soft B B C 345 --mixed B C C 346 --hard C C C 347 --merge C C C 348 --keep B C C 349 350 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 351 ---------------------------------------------------- 352 B C C D --soft B C D 353 --mixed B D D 354 --hard D D D 355 --merge (disallowed) 356 --keep (disallowed) 357 358 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 359 ---------------------------------------------------- 360 B C C C --soft B C C 361 --mixed B C C 362 --hard C C C 363 --merge B C C 364 --keep B C C 365 366"reset --merge" is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted 367merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the working tree file that is 368involved in the merge does not have local change wrt the index before 369it starts, and that it writes the result out to the working tree. So if 370we see some difference between the index and the target and also 371between the index and the working tree, then it means that we are not 372resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing 373with a conflict. That is why we disallow --merge option in this case. 374 375"reset --keep" is meant to be used when removing some of the last 376commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working 377tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit we 378want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to keep, 379the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there are both 380changes between the working tree and HEAD, and between HEAD and the 381target. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are unmerged 382entries. 383 384The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged 385entries: 386 387 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 388 ---------------------------------------------------- 389 X U A B --soft (disallowed) 390 --mixed X B B 391 --hard B B B 392 --merge B B B 393 --keep (disallowed) 394 395 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 396 ---------------------------------------------------- 397 X U A A --soft (disallowed) 398 --mixed X A A 399 --hard A A A 400 --merge A A A 401 --keep (disallowed) 402 403X means any state and U means an unmerged index. 404 405 406Author 407------ 408Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 409 410Documentation 411-------------- 412Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 413 414GIT 415--- 416Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite