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. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are unmerged 159entries. 160 161The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged 162entries: 163 164 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 165 ---------------------------------------------------- 166 X U A B --soft (disallowed) 167 --mixed X B B 168 --hard B B B 169 --merge B B B 170 --keep (disallowed) 171 172 working index HEAD target working index HEAD 173 ---------------------------------------------------- 174 X U A A --soft (disallowed) 175 --mixed X A A 176 --hard A A A 177 --merge A A A 178 --keep (disallowed) 179 180X means any state and U means an unmerged index. 181 182Examples 183-------- 184 185Undo a commit and redo:: 186+ 187------------ 188$ git commit ... 189$ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1> 190$ edit <2> 191$ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3> 192------------ 193+ 194<1> This is most often done when you remembered what you 195just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit 196message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset". 197<2> Make corrections to working tree files. 198<3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the 199commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to 200edit the message further, you can give -C option instead. 201+ 202See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1]. 203 204Undo commits permanently:: 205+ 206------------ 207$ git commit ... 208$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1> 209------------ 210+ 211<1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad 212and you do not want to ever see them again. Do *not* do this if 213you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the 214"RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for 215the implications of doing so.) 216 217Undo a commit, making it a topic branch:: 218+ 219------------ 220$ git branch topic/wip <1> 221$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2> 222$ git checkout topic/wip <3> 223------------ 224+ 225<1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature 226to be in the "master" branch. You want to continue polishing 227them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the 228current HEAD. 229<2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits. 230<3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working. 231 232Undo add:: 233+ 234------------ 235$ edit <1> 236$ git add frotz.c filfre.c 237$ mailx <2> 238$ git reset <3> 239$ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4> 240------------ 241+ 242<1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes 243in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them 244when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files 245and changes with these files are distracting. 246<2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging. 247<3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does 248not match the HEAD commit). But you know the pull you are going 249to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the 250index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree 251remain there. 252<4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c 253changes still in the working tree. 254 255Undo a merge or pull:: 256+ 257------------ 258$ git pull <1> 259Auto-merging nitfol 260CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol 261Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result. 262$ git reset --hard <2> 263$ git pull . topic/branch <3> 264Updating from 41223... to 13134... 265Fast-forward 266$ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4> 267------------ 268+ 269<1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of 270conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging 271right now, so you decide to do that later. 272<2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard" 273which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess 274from the index file and the working tree. 275<3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted 276in a fast-forward. 277<4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public 278consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original 279tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it 280brings your index file and the working tree back to that state, 281and resets the tip of the branch to that commit. 282 283Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty work tree:: 284+ 285------------ 286$ git pull <1> 287Auto-merging nitfol 288Merge made by recursive. 289 nitfol | 20 +++++---- 290 ... 291$ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2> 292------------ 293+ 294<1> Even if you may have local modifications in your 295working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know 296that the change in the other branch does not overlap with 297them. 298<2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find 299that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running 300"git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you 301were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not 302want. "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes. 303 304 305Interrupted workflow:: 306+ 307Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you 308are in the middle of a large change. The files in your 309working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you 310need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix. 311+ 312------------ 313$ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and 314$ work work work ;# got interrupted 315$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1> 316$ git checkout master 317$ fix fix fix 318$ git commit ;# commit with real log 319$ git checkout feature 320$ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2> 321$ git reset <3> 322------------ 323+ 324<1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK. 325<2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets 326 your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot. 327<3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you 328 committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your 329 WIP files as uncommitted. 330+ 331See also linkgit:git-stash[1]. 332 333Reset a single file in the index:: 334+ 335Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not 336want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index 337while keeping your changes with git reset. 338+ 339------------ 340$ git reset -- frotz.c <1> 341$ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2> 342$ git add frotz.c <3> 343------------ 344+ 345<1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working 346 directory. 347<2> This commits all other changes in the index. 348<3> Adds the file to the index again. 349 350Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits:: 351+ 352Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you 353continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in 354your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do 355with what you commited previously. You can start a new branch and 356reset it while keeping the changes in your work tree. 357+ 358------------ 359$ git tag start 360$ git checkout -b branch1 361$ edit 362$ git commit ... <1> 363$ edit 364$ git checkout -b branch2 <2> 365$ git reset --keep start <3> 366------------ 367+ 368<1> This commits your first edits in branch1. 369<2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier 370 commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched 371 to branch2 (i.e. "git checkout -b branch2 start"), but nobody is 372 perfect. 373<3> But you can use "reset --keep" to remove the unwanted commit after 374 you switched to "branch2". 375 376Author 377------ 378Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> 379 380Documentation 381-------------- 382Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>. 383 384GIT 385--- 386Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite