Documentation / git-commit.txton commit Merge branch 'bw/pathspec-sans-the-index' (3c5a782)
   1git-commit(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-commit - Record changes to the repository
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git commit' [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
  12           [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>]
  13           [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
  14           [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
  15           [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
  16           [-i | -o] [-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<file>...]
  17
  18DESCRIPTION
  19-----------
  20Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along
  21with a log message from the user describing the changes.
  22
  23The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
  24
  251. by using 'git add' to incrementally "add" changes to the
  26   index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
  27   files must be "added");
  28
  292. by using 'git rm' to remove files from the working tree
  30   and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
  31
  323. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command
  33   (without --interactive or --patch switch), in which
  34   case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
  35   record the current content of the listed files (which must already
  36   be known to Git);
  37
  384. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
  39   "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
  40   listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
  41   that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
  42   actual commit;
  43
  445. by using the --interactive or --patch switches with the 'commit' command
  45   to decide one by one which files or hunks should be part of the commit
  46   in addition to contents in the index,
  47   before finalizing the operation. See the ``Interactive Mode'' section of
  48   linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate these modes.
  49
  50The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
  51summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
  52commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).
  53
  54If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
  55that, you can recover from it with 'git reset'.
  56
  57
  58OPTIONS
  59-------
  60-a::
  61--all::
  62        Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
  63        been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
  64        told Git about are not affected.
  65
  66-p::
  67--patch::
  68        Use the interactive patch selection interface to chose
  69        which changes to commit. See linkgit:git-add[1] for
  70        details.
  71
  72-C <commit>::
  73--reuse-message=<commit>::
  74        Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
  75        and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
  76        when creating the commit.
  77
  78-c <commit>::
  79--reedit-message=<commit>::
  80        Like '-C', but with `-c` the editor is invoked, so that
  81        the user can further edit the commit message.
  82
  83--fixup=<commit>::
  84        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  85        The commit message will be the subject line from the specified
  86        commit with a prefix of "fixup! ".  See linkgit:git-rebase[1]
  87        for details.
  88
  89--squash=<commit>::
  90        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  91        The commit message subject line is taken from the specified
  92        commit with a prefix of "squash! ".  Can be used with additional
  93        commit message options (`-m`/`-c`/`-C`/`-F`). See
  94        linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
  95
  96--reset-author::
  97        When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
  98        conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
  99        resulting commit now belongs to the committer. This also renews
 100        the author timestamp.
 101
 102--short::
 103        When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
 104        linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.
 105
 106--branch::
 107        Show the branch and tracking info even in short-format.
 108
 109--porcelain::
 110        When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
 111        format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
 112        `--dry-run`.
 113
 114--long::
 115        When doing a dry-run, give the output in the long-format.
 116        Implies `--dry-run`.
 117
 118-z::
 119--null::
 120        When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, print the
 121        filename verbatim and terminate the entries with NUL, instead of LF.
 122        If no format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
 123        Without the `-z` option, filenames with "unusual" characters are
 124        quoted as explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath`
 125        (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 126
 127-F <file>::
 128--file=<file>::
 129        Take the commit message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 130        read the message from the standard input.
 131
 132--author=<author>::
 133        Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
 134        standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise <author>
 135        is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
 136        commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
 137        the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
 138
 139--date=<date>::
 140        Override the author date used in the commit.
 141
 142-m <msg>::
 143--message=<msg>::
 144        Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
 145        If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
 146        concatenated as separate paragraphs.
 147
 148-t <file>::
 149--template=<file>::
 150        When editing the commit message, start the editor with the
 151        contents in the given file.  The `commit.template` configuration
 152        variable is often used to give this option implicitly to the
 153        command.  This mechanism can be used by projects that want to
 154        guide participants with some hints on what to write in the message
 155        in what order.  If the user exits the editor without editing the
 156        message, the commit is aborted.  This has no effect when a message
 157        is given by other means, e.g. with the `-m` or `-F` options.
 158
 159-s::
 160--signoff::
 161        Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
 162        log message.  The meaning of a signoff depends on the project,
 163        but it typically certifies that committer has
 164        the rights to submit this work under the same license and
 165        agrees to a Developer Certificate of Origin
 166        (see http://developercertificate.org/ for more information).
 167
 168-n::
 169--no-verify::
 170        This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
 171        See also linkgit:githooks[5].
 172
 173--allow-empty::
 174        Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
 175        sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
 176        from making such a commit.  This option bypasses the safety, and
 177        is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
 178
 179--allow-empty-message::
 180       Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
 181       SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
 182       empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
 183       linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
 184
 185--cleanup=<mode>::
 186        This option determines how the supplied commit message should be
 187        cleaned up before committing.  The '<mode>' can be `strip`,
 188        `whitespace`, `verbatim`, `scissors` or `default`.
 189+
 190--
 191strip::
 192        Strip leading and trailing empty lines, trailing whitespace,
 193        commentary and collapse consecutive empty lines.
 194whitespace::
 195        Same as `strip` except #commentary is not removed.
 196verbatim::
 197        Do not change the message at all.
 198scissors::
 199        Same as `whitespace`, except that everything from (and
 200        including) the line
 201        "`# ------------------------ >8 ------------------------`"
 202        is truncated if the message is to be edited. "`#`" can be
 203        customized with core.commentChar.
 204default::
 205        Same as `strip` if the message is to be edited.
 206        Otherwise `whitespace`.
 207--
 208+
 209The default can be changed by the `commit.cleanup` configuration
 210variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 211
 212-e::
 213--edit::
 214        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
 215        `-m`, and from commit object with `-C` are usually used as
 216        the commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
 217        further edit the message taken from these sources.
 218
 219--no-edit::
 220        Use the selected commit message without launching an editor.
 221        For example, `git commit --amend --no-edit` amends a commit
 222        without changing its commit message.
 223
 224--amend::
 225        Replace the tip of the current branch by creating a new
 226        commit. The recorded tree is prepared as usual (including
 227        the effect of the `-i` and `-o` options and explicit
 228        pathspec), and the message from the original commit is used
 229        as the starting point, instead of an empty message, when no
 230        other message is specified from the command line via options
 231        such as `-m`, `-F`, `-c`, etc.  The new commit has the same
 232        parents and author as the current one (the `--reset-author`
 233        option can countermand this).
 234+
 235--
 236It is a rough equivalent for:
 237------
 238        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
 239        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
 240        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
 241
 242------
 243but can be used to amend a merge commit.
 244--
 245+
 246You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
 247amend a commit that has already been published.  (See the "RECOVERING
 248FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
 249
 250--no-post-rewrite::
 251        Bypass the post-rewrite hook.
 252
 253-i::
 254--include::
 255        Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
 256        stage the contents of paths given on the command line
 257        as well.  This is usually not what you want unless you
 258        are concluding a conflicted merge.
 259
 260-o::
 261--only::
 262        Make a commit by taking the updated working tree contents
 263        of the paths specified on the
 264        command line, disregarding any contents that have been
 265        staged for other paths. This is the default mode of operation of
 266        'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
 267        in which case this option can be omitted.
 268        If this option is specified together with `--amend`, then
 269        no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
 270        the last commit without committing changes that have
 271        already been staged. If used together with `--allow-empty`
 272        paths are also not required, and an empty commit will be created.
 273
 274-u[<mode>]::
 275--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
 276        Show untracked files.
 277+
 278The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
 279specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
 280default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
 281+
 282The possible options are:
 283+
 284        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
 285        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
 286        - 'all'    - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
 287+
 288The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
 289configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 290
 291-v::
 292--verbose::
 293        Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
 294        would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
 295        template to help the user describe the commit by reminding
 296        what changes the commit has.
 297        Note that this diff output doesn't have its
 298        lines prefixed with '#'. This diff will not be a part
 299        of the commit message. See the `commit.verbose` configuration
 300        variable in linkgit:git-config[1].
 301+
 302If specified twice, show in addition the unified diff between
 303what would be committed and the worktree files, i.e. the unstaged
 304changes to tracked files.
 305
 306-q::
 307--quiet::
 308        Suppress commit summary message.
 309
 310--dry-run::
 311        Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
 312        to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 313        uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 314
 315--status::
 316        Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
 317        message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
 318        message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
 319        configuration variable commit.status.
 320
 321--no-status::
 322        Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
 323        commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
 324        default commit message.
 325
 326-S[<keyid>]::
 327--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
 328        GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
 329        defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
 330        stuck to the option without a space.
 331
 332--no-gpg-sign::
 333        Countermand `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable that is
 334        set to force each and every commit to be signed.
 335
 336\--::
 337        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 338
 339<file>...::
 340        When files are given on the command line, the command
 341        commits the contents of the named files, without
 342        recording the changes already staged.  The contents of
 343        these files are also staged for the next commit on top
 344        of what have been staged before.
 345
 346:git-commit: 1
 347include::date-formats.txt[]
 348
 349EXAMPLES
 350--------
 351When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
 352your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
 353called the "index" with 'git add'.  A file can be
 354reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
 355to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
 356which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
 357this file from participating in the next commit.  After building
 358the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
 359`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
 360has been staged so far.  This is the most basic form of the
 361command.  An example:
 362
 363------------
 364$ edit hello.c
 365$ git rm goodbye.c
 366$ git add hello.c
 367$ git commit
 368------------
 369
 370Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
 371tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
 372contents are tracked in
 373your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
 374for you.  That is, this example does the same as the earlier
 375example if there is no other change in your working tree:
 376
 377------------
 378$ edit hello.c
 379$ rm goodbye.c
 380$ git commit -a
 381------------
 382
 383The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
 384notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
 385and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
 386
 387After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
 388changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
 389When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
 390only records the changes made to the named paths:
 391
 392------------
 393$ edit hello.c hello.h
 394$ git add hello.c hello.h
 395$ edit Makefile
 396$ git commit Makefile
 397------------
 398
 399This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
 400The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
 401in the resulting commit.  However, their changes are not lost --
 402they are still staged and merely held back.  After the above
 403sequence, if you do:
 404
 405------------
 406$ git commit
 407------------
 408
 409this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
 410`hello.h` as expected.
 411
 412After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
 413because of conflicts, cleanly merged
 414paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
 415conflicted are left in unmerged state.  You would have to first
 416check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
 417and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
 418stage the result as usual with 'git add':
 419
 420------------
 421$ git status | grep unmerged
 422unmerged: hello.c
 423$ edit hello.c
 424$ git add hello.c
 425------------
 426
 427After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
 428would stop mentioning the conflicted path.  When you are done,
 429run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
 430
 431------------
 432$ git commit
 433------------
 434
 435As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
 436option to save typing.  One difference is that during a merge
 437resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
 438alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
 439should be recorded as a single commit.  In fact, the command
 440refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
 441
 442
 443DISCUSSION
 444----------
 445
 446Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
 447with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
 448change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
 449The text up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated
 450as the commit title, and that title is used throughout Git.
 451For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a commit into email, and it uses
 452the title on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.
 453
 454include::i18n.txt[]
 455
 456ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 457---------------------------------------
 458The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
 459`GIT_EDITOR` environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
 460`VISUAL` environment variable, or the `EDITOR` environment variable (in that
 461order).  See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
 462
 463HOOKS
 464-----
 465This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
 466`post-commit` and `post-rewrite` hooks.  See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
 467information.
 468
 469FILES
 470-----
 471
 472`$GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG`::
 473        This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress.
 474        If `git commit` exits due to an error before creating a commit,
 475        any commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in
 476        an editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
 477        overwritten by the next invocation of `git commit`.
 478
 479SEE ALSO
 480--------
 481linkgit:git-add[1],
 482linkgit:git-rm[1],
 483linkgit:git-mv[1],
 484linkgit:git-merge[1],
 485linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
 486
 487GIT
 488---
 489Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite