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