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