Documentation / git-commit.txton commit Merge branch 'ep/doc-check-ref-format-example' into maint (7106584)
   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, in which
  33   case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
  34   record the current content of the listed files (which must already
  35   be known to Git);
  36
  374. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
  38   "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
  39   listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
  40   that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
  41   actual commit;
  42
  435. by using the --interactive or --patch switches with the 'commit' command
  44   to decide one by one which files or hunks should be part of the commit,
  45   before finalizing the operation. See the ``Interactive Mode'' section of
  46   linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate these modes.
  47
  48The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
  49summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
  50commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).
  51
  52If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
  53that, you can recover from it with 'git reset'.
  54
  55
  56OPTIONS
  57-------
  58-a::
  59--all::
  60        Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
  61        been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
  62        told Git about are not affected.
  63
  64-p::
  65--patch::
  66        Use the interactive patch selection interface to chose
  67        which changes to commit. See linkgit:git-add[1] for
  68        details.
  69
  70-C <commit>::
  71--reuse-message=<commit>::
  72        Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
  73        and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
  74        when creating the commit.
  75
  76-c <commit>::
  77--reedit-message=<commit>::
  78        Like '-C', but with `-c` the editor is invoked, so that
  79        the user can further edit the commit message.
  80
  81--fixup=<commit>::
  82        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  83        The commit message will be the subject line from the specified
  84        commit with a prefix of "fixup! ".  See linkgit:git-rebase[1]
  85        for details.
  86
  87--squash=<commit>::
  88        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  89        The commit message subject line is taken from the specified
  90        commit with a prefix of "squash! ".  Can be used with additional
  91        commit message options (`-m`/`-c`/`-C`/`-F`). See
  92        linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
  93
  94--reset-author::
  95        When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
  96        a conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
  97        resulting commit now belongs to the committer. This also renews
  98        the author timestamp.
  99
 100--short::
 101        When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
 102        linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.
 103
 104--branch::
 105        Show the branch and tracking info even in short-format.
 106
 107--porcelain::
 108        When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
 109        format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
 110        `--dry-run`.
 111
 112--long::
 113        When doing a dry-run, give the output in a the long-format.
 114        Implies `--dry-run`.
 115
 116-z::
 117--null::
 118        When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, terminate
 119        entries in the status output with NUL, instead of LF. If no
 120        format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
 121
 122-F <file>::
 123--file=<file>::
 124        Take the commit message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 125        read the message from the standard input.
 126
 127--author=<author>::
 128        Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
 129        standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise <author>
 130        is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
 131        commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
 132        the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
 133
 134--date=<date>::
 135        Override the author date used in the commit.
 136
 137-m <msg>::
 138--message=<msg>::
 139        Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
 140        If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
 141        concatenated as separate paragraphs.
 142
 143-t <file>::
 144--template=<file>::
 145        When editing the commit message, start the editor with the
 146        contents in the given file.  The `commit.template` configuration
 147        variable is often used to give this option implicitly to the
 148        command.  This mechanism can be used by projects that want to
 149        guide participants with some hints on what to write in the message
 150        in what order.  If the user exits the editor without editing the
 151        message, the commit is aborted.  This has no effect when a message
 152        is given by other means, e.g. with the `-m` or `-F` options.
 153
 154-s::
 155--signoff::
 156        Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
 157        log message.  The meaning of a signoff depends on the project,
 158        but it typically certifies that committer has
 159        the rights to submit this work under the same license and
 160        agrees to a Developer Certificate of Origin
 161        (see http://developercertificate.org/ for more information).
 162
 163-n::
 164--no-verify::
 165        This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
 166        See also linkgit:githooks[5].
 167
 168--allow-empty::
 169        Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
 170        sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
 171        from making such a commit.  This option bypasses the safety, and
 172        is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
 173
 174--allow-empty-message::
 175       Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
 176       SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
 177       empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
 178       linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
 179
 180--cleanup=<mode>::
 181        This option determines how the supplied commit message should be
 182        cleaned up before committing.  The '<mode>' can be `strip`,
 183        `whitespace`, `verbatim`, `scissors` or `default`.
 184+
 185--
 186strip::
 187        Strip leading and trailing empty lines, trailing whitespace,
 188        commentary and collapse consecutive empty lines.
 189whitespace::
 190        Same as `strip` except #commentary is not removed.
 191verbatim::
 192        Do not change the message at all.
 193scissors::
 194        Same as `whitespace`, except that everything from (and
 195        including) the line
 196        "`# ------------------------ >8 ------------------------`"
 197        is truncated if the message is to be edited. "`#`" can be
 198        customized with core.commentChar.
 199default::
 200        Same as `strip` if the message is to be edited.
 201        Otherwise `whitespace`.
 202--
 203+
 204The default can be changed by the `commit.cleanup` configuration
 205variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 206
 207-e::
 208--edit::
 209        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
 210        `-m`, and from commit object with `-C` are usually used as
 211        the commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
 212        further edit the message taken from these sources.
 213
 214--no-edit::
 215        Use the selected commit message without launching an editor.
 216        For example, `git commit --amend --no-edit` amends a commit
 217        without changing its commit message.
 218
 219--amend::
 220        Replace the tip of the current branch by creating a new
 221        commit. The recorded tree is prepared as usual (including
 222        the effect of the `-i` and `-o` options and explicit
 223        pathspec), and the message from the original commit is used
 224        as the starting point, instead of an empty message, when no
 225        other message is specified from the command line via options
 226        such as `-m`, `-F`, `-c`, etc.  The new commit has the same
 227        parents and author as the current one (the `--reset-author`
 228        option can countermand this).
 229+
 230--
 231It is a rough equivalent for:
 232------
 233        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
 234        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
 235        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
 236
 237------
 238but can be used to amend a merge commit.
 239--
 240+
 241You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
 242amend a commit that has already been published.  (See the "RECOVERING
 243FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
 244
 245--no-post-rewrite::
 246        Bypass the post-rewrite hook.
 247
 248-i::
 249--include::
 250        Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
 251        stage the contents of paths given on the command line
 252        as well.  This is usually not what you want unless you
 253        are concluding a conflicted merge.
 254
 255-o::
 256--only::
 257        Make a commit by taking the updated working tree contents
 258        of the paths specified on the
 259        command line, disregarding any contents that have been
 260        staged for other paths. This is the default mode of operation of
 261        'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
 262        in which case this option can be omitted.
 263        If this option is specified together with `--amend`, then
 264        no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
 265        the last commit without committing changes that have
 266        already been staged.
 267
 268-u[<mode>]::
 269--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
 270        Show untracked files.
 271+
 272The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
 273specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
 274default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
 275+
 276The possible options are:
 277+
 278        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
 279        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
 280        - 'all'    - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
 281+
 282The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
 283configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 284
 285-v::
 286--verbose::
 287        Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
 288        would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
 289        template to help the user describe the commit by reminding
 290        what changes the commit has.
 291        Note that this diff output doesn't have its
 292        lines prefixed with '#'. This diff will not be a part
 293        of the commit message. See the `commit.verbose` configuration
 294        variable in linkgit:git-config[1].
 295+
 296If specified twice, show in addition the unified diff between
 297what would be committed and the worktree files, i.e. the unstaged
 298changes to tracked files.
 299
 300-q::
 301--quiet::
 302        Suppress commit summary message.
 303
 304--dry-run::
 305        Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
 306        to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 307        uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 308
 309--status::
 310        Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
 311        message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
 312        message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
 313        configuration variable commit.status.
 314
 315--no-status::
 316        Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
 317        commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
 318        default commit message.
 319
 320-S[<keyid>]::
 321--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
 322        GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
 323        defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
 324        stuck to the option without a space.
 325
 326--no-gpg-sign::
 327        Countermand `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable that is
 328        set to force each and every commit to be signed.
 329
 330\--::
 331        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 332
 333<file>...::
 334        When files are given on the command line, the command
 335        commits the contents of the named files, without
 336        recording the changes already staged.  The contents of
 337        these files are also staged for the next commit on top
 338        of what have been staged before.
 339
 340:git-commit: 1
 341include::date-formats.txt[]
 342
 343EXAMPLES
 344--------
 345When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
 346your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
 347called the "index" with 'git add'.  A file can be
 348reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
 349to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
 350which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
 351this file from participating in the next commit.  After building
 352the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
 353`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
 354has been staged so far.  This is the most basic form of the
 355command.  An example:
 356
 357------------
 358$ edit hello.c
 359$ git rm goodbye.c
 360$ git add hello.c
 361$ git commit
 362------------
 363
 364Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
 365tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
 366contents are tracked in
 367your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
 368for you.  That is, this example does the same as the earlier
 369example if there is no other change in your working tree:
 370
 371------------
 372$ edit hello.c
 373$ rm goodbye.c
 374$ git commit -a
 375------------
 376
 377The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
 378notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
 379and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
 380
 381After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
 382changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
 383When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
 384only records the changes made to the named paths:
 385
 386------------
 387$ edit hello.c hello.h
 388$ git add hello.c hello.h
 389$ edit Makefile
 390$ git commit Makefile
 391------------
 392
 393This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
 394The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
 395in the resulting commit.  However, their changes are not lost --
 396they are still staged and merely held back.  After the above
 397sequence, if you do:
 398
 399------------
 400$ git commit
 401------------
 402
 403this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
 404`hello.h` as expected.
 405
 406After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
 407because of conflicts, cleanly merged
 408paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
 409conflicted are left in unmerged state.  You would have to first
 410check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
 411and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
 412stage the result as usual with 'git add':
 413
 414------------
 415$ git status | grep unmerged
 416unmerged: hello.c
 417$ edit hello.c
 418$ git add hello.c
 419------------
 420
 421After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
 422would stop mentioning the conflicted path.  When you are done,
 423run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
 424
 425------------
 426$ git commit
 427------------
 428
 429As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
 430option to save typing.  One difference is that during a merge
 431resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
 432alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
 433should be recorded as a single commit.  In fact, the command
 434refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
 435
 436
 437DISCUSSION
 438----------
 439
 440Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
 441with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
 442change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
 443The text up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated
 444as the commit title, and that title is used throughout Git.
 445For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a commit into email, and it uses
 446the title on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.
 447
 448include::i18n.txt[]
 449
 450ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 451---------------------------------------
 452The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
 453`GIT_EDITOR` environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
 454`VISUAL` environment variable, or the `EDITOR` environment variable (in that
 455order).  See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
 456
 457HOOKS
 458-----
 459This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
 460and `post-commit` hooks.  See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
 461information.
 462
 463FILES
 464-----
 465
 466`$GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG`::
 467        This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress.
 468        If `git commit` exits due to an error before creating a commit,
 469        any commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in
 470        an editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
 471        overwritten by the next invocation of `git commit`.
 472
 473SEE ALSO
 474--------
 475linkgit:git-add[1],
 476linkgit:git-rm[1],
 477linkgit:git-mv[1],
 478linkgit:git-merge[1],
 479linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
 480
 481GIT
 482---
 483Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite