Documentation / git-reset.txton commit wt-status.h: drop stdio.h include (7a06fb0)
   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] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...
  12'git reset' (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]
  13'git reset' [--soft | --mixed [-N] | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>]
  14
  15DESCRIPTION
  16-----------
  17In the first and second form, copy entries from `<tree-ish>` to the index.
  18In the third form, set the current branch head (`HEAD`) to `<commit>`,
  19optionally modifying index and working tree to match.
  20The `<tree-ish>`/`<commit>` defaults to `HEAD` in all forms.
  21
  22'git reset' [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <paths>...::
  23        This form resets the index entries for all `<paths>` to their
  24        state at `<tree-ish>`.  (It does not affect the working tree or
  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) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<paths>...]::
  38        Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
  39        and `<tree-ish>` (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>`. If `<mode>` is omitted,
  50        defaults to `--mixed`. The `<mode>` must be one of the following:
  51+
  52--
  53--soft::
  54        Does not touch the index file or 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+
  64If `-N` is specified, removed paths are marked as intent-to-add (see
  65linkgit:git-add[1]).
  66
  67--hard::
  68        Resets the index and working tree. Any changes to tracked files in the
  69        working tree since `<commit>` are discarded.
  70
  71--merge::
  72        Resets the index and updates the files in the working tree that are
  73        different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`, but keeps those which are
  74        different between the index and working tree (i.e. which have changes
  75        which have not been added).
  76        If a file that is different between `<commit>` and the index has
  77        unstaged changes, reset is aborted.
  78+
  79In other words, `--merge` does something like a `git read-tree -u -m <commit>`,
  80but carries forward unmerged index entries.
  81
  82--keep::
  83        Resets index entries and updates files in the working tree that are
  84        different between `<commit>` and `HEAD`.
  85        If a file that is different between `<commit>` and `HEAD` has local
  86        changes, reset is aborted.
  87--
  88
  89If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch,
  90linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend.
  91
  92
  93OPTIONS
  94-------
  95
  96-q::
  97--quiet::
  98--no-quiet::
  99        Be quiet, only report errors. The default behavior is set by the
 100        `reset.quiet` config option. `--quiet` and `--no-quiet` will
 101        override the default behavior.
 102
 103
 104EXAMPLES
 105--------
 106
 107Undo add::
 108+
 109------------
 110$ edit                                     <1>
 111$ git add frotz.c filfre.c
 112$ mailx                                    <2>
 113$ git reset                                <3>
 114$ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol  <4>
 115------------
 116+
 117<1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
 118    in these files are in good order.  You do not want to see them
 119    when you run `git diff`, because you plan to work on other files
 120    and changes with these files are distracting.
 121<2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sound worthy of merging.
 122<3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
 123    not match the `HEAD` commit).  But you know the pull you are going
 124    to make does not affect `frotz.c` or `filfre.c`, so you revert the
 125    index changes for these two files.  Your changes in working tree
 126    remain there.
 127<4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving `frotz.c` and `filfre.c`
 128    changes still in the working tree.
 129
 130Undo a commit and redo::
 131+
 132------------
 133$ git commit ...
 134$ git reset --soft HEAD^      <1>
 135$ edit                        <2>
 136$ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD  <3>
 137------------
 138+
 139<1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
 140    just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
 141    message, or both.  Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
 142<2> Make corrections to working tree files.
 143<3> "reset" copies the old head to `.git/ORIG_HEAD`; redo the
 144    commit by starting with its log message.  If you do not need to
 145    edit the message further, you can give `-C` option instead.
 146+
 147See also the `--amend` option to linkgit:git-commit[1].
 148
 149Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
 150+
 151------------
 152$ git branch topic/wip     <1>
 153$ git reset --hard HEAD~3  <2>
 154$ git checkout topic/wip   <3>
 155------------
 156+
 157<1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
 158    to be in the `master` branch.  You want to continue polishing
 159    them in a topic branch, so create `topic/wip` branch off of the
 160    current `HEAD`.
 161<2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
 162<3> Switch to `topic/wip` branch and keep working.
 163
 164Undo commits permanently::
 165+
 166------------
 167$ git commit ...
 168$ git reset --hard HEAD~3   <1>
 169------------
 170+
 171<1> The last three commits (`HEAD`, `HEAD^`, and `HEAD~2`) were bad
 172    and you do not want to ever see them again.  Do *not* do this if
 173    you have already given these commits to somebody else.  (See the
 174    "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1]
 175    for the implications of doing so.)
 176
 177Undo a merge or pull::
 178+
 179------------
 180$ git pull                         <1>
 181Auto-merging nitfol
 182CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
 183Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
 184$ git reset --hard                 <2>
 185$ git pull . topic/branch          <3>
 186Updating from 41223... to 13134...
 187Fast-forward
 188$ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD       <4>
 189------------
 190+
 191<1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
 192    conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
 193    right now, so you decide to do that later.
 194<2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so `git reset --hard`
 195    which is a synonym for `git reset --hard HEAD` clears the mess
 196    from the index file and the working tree.
 197<3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
 198    in a fast-forward.
 199<4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
 200    consumption yet.  "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
 201    tip of the current branch in `ORIG_HEAD`, so resetting hard to it
 202    brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
 203    and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.
 204
 205Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty working tree::
 206+
 207------------
 208$ git pull                         <1>
 209Auto-merging nitfol
 210Merge made by recursive.
 211 nitfol                |   20 +++++----
 212 ...
 213$ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD      <2>
 214------------
 215+
 216<1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
 217    working tree, you can safely say `git pull` when you know
 218    that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
 219    them.
 220<2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
 221    that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory.  Running
 222    `git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD` will let you go back to where you
 223    were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
 224    want.  `git reset --merge` keeps your local changes.
 225
 226
 227Interrupted workflow::
 228+
 229Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
 230are in the middle of a large change.  The files in your
 231working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
 232need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
 233+
 234------------
 235$ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
 236$ work work work       ;# got interrupted
 237$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP"                 <1>
 238$ git checkout master
 239$ fix fix fix
 240$ git commit ;# commit with real log
 241$ git checkout feature
 242$ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state  <2>
 243$ git reset                                       <3>
 244------------
 245+
 246<1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
 247<2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
 248    your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
 249<3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
 250    committed as 'snapshot WIP'.  This updates the index to show your
 251    WIP files as uncommitted.
 252+
 253See also linkgit:git-stash[1].
 254
 255Reset a single file in the index::
 256+
 257Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
 258want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
 259while keeping your changes with git reset.
 260+
 261------------
 262$ git reset -- frotz.c                      <1>
 263$ git commit -m "Commit files in index"     <2>
 264$ git add frotz.c                           <3>
 265------------
 266+
 267<1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
 268    directory.
 269<2> This commits all other changes in the index.
 270<3> Adds the file to the index again.
 271
 272Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits::
 273+
 274Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then you
 275continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you have in
 276your working tree should be in another branch that has nothing to do
 277with what you committed previously. You can start a new branch and
 278reset it while keeping the changes in your working tree.
 279+
 280------------
 281$ git tag start
 282$ git checkout -b branch1
 283$ edit
 284$ git commit ...                            <1>
 285$ edit
 286$ git checkout -b branch2                   <2>
 287$ git reset --keep start                    <3>
 288------------
 289+
 290<1> This commits your first edits in `branch1`.
 291<2> In the ideal world, you could have realized that the earlier
 292    commit did not belong to the new topic when you created and switched
 293    to `branch2` (i.e. `git checkout -b branch2 start`), but nobody is
 294    perfect.
 295<3> But you can use `reset --keep` to remove the unwanted commit after
 296    you switched to `branch2`.
 297
 298Split a commit apart into a sequence of commits::
 299+
 300Suppose that you have created lots of logically separate changes and committed
 301them together. Then, later you decide that it might be better to have each
 302logical chunk associated with its own commit. You can use git reset to rewind
 303history without changing the contents of your local files, and then successively
 304use `git add -p` to interactively select which hunks to include into each commit,
 305using `git commit -c` to pre-populate the commit message.
 306+
 307------------
 308$ git reset -N HEAD^                        <1>
 309$ git add -p                                <2>
 310$ git diff --cached                         <3>
 311$ git commit -c HEAD@{1}                    <4>
 312...                                         <5>
 313$ git add ...                               <6>
 314$ git diff --cached                         <7>
 315$ git commit ...                            <8>
 316------------
 317+
 318<1> First, reset the history back one commit so that we remove the original
 319    commit, but leave the working tree with all the changes. The -N ensures
 320    that any new files added with `HEAD` are still marked so that `git add -p`
 321    will find them.
 322<2> Next, we interactively select diff hunks to add using the `git add -p`
 323    facility. This will ask you about each diff hunk in sequence and you can
 324    use simple commands such as "yes, include this", "No don't include this"
 325    or even the very powerful "edit" facility.
 326<3> Once satisfied with the hunks you want to include, you should verify what
 327    has been prepared for the first commit by using `git diff --cached`. This
 328    shows all the changes that have been moved into the index and are about
 329    to be committed.
 330<4> Next, commit the changes stored in the index. The `-c` option specifies to
 331    pre-populate the commit message from the original message that you started
 332    with in the first commit. This is helpful to avoid retyping it. The
 333    `HEAD@{1}` is a special notation for the commit that `HEAD` used to be at
 334    prior to the original reset commit (1 change ago).
 335    See linkgit:git-reflog[1] for more details. You may also use any other
 336    valid commit reference.
 337<5> You can repeat steps 2-4 multiple times to break the original code into
 338    any number of commits.
 339<6> Now you've split out many of the changes into their own commits, and might
 340    no longer use the patch mode of `git add`, in order to select all remaining
 341    uncommitted changes.
 342<7> Once again, check to verify that you've included what you want to. You may
 343    also wish to verify that git diff doesn't show any remaining changes to be
 344    committed later.
 345<8> And finally create the final commit.
 346
 347
 348DISCUSSION
 349----------
 350
 351The tables below show what happens when running:
 352
 353----------
 354git reset --option target
 355----------
 356
 357to reset the `HEAD` to another commit (`target`) with the different
 358reset options depending on the state of the files.
 359
 360In these tables, `A`, `B`, `C` and `D` are some different states of a
 361file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a
 362file is in state `A` in the working tree, in state `B` in the index, in
 363state `C` in `HEAD` and in state `D` in the target, then `git reset --soft
 364target` will leave the file in the working tree in state `A` and in the
 365index in state `B`.  It resets (i.e. moves) the `HEAD` (i.e. the tip of
 366the current branch, if you are on one) to `target` (which has the file
 367in state `D`).
 368
 369....
 370working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 371----------------------------------------------------
 372 A       B     C    D     --soft   A       B     D
 373                          --mixed  A       D     D
 374                          --hard   D       D     D
 375                          --merge (disallowed)
 376                          --keep  (disallowed)
 377....
 378
 379....
 380working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 381----------------------------------------------------
 382 A       B     C    C     --soft   A       B     C
 383                          --mixed  A       C     C
 384                          --hard   C       C     C
 385                          --merge (disallowed)
 386                          --keep   A       C     C
 387....
 388
 389....
 390working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 391----------------------------------------------------
 392 B       B     C    D     --soft   B       B     D
 393                          --mixed  B       D     D
 394                          --hard   D       D     D
 395                          --merge  D       D     D
 396                          --keep  (disallowed)
 397....
 398
 399....
 400working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 401----------------------------------------------------
 402 B       B     C    C     --soft   B       B     C
 403                          --mixed  B       C     C
 404                          --hard   C       C     C
 405                          --merge  C       C     C
 406                          --keep   B       C     C
 407....
 408
 409....
 410working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 411----------------------------------------------------
 412 B       C     C    D     --soft   B       C     D
 413                          --mixed  B       D     D
 414                          --hard   D       D     D
 415                          --merge (disallowed)
 416                          --keep  (disallowed)
 417....
 418
 419....
 420working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 421----------------------------------------------------
 422 B       C     C    C     --soft   B       C     C
 423                          --mixed  B       C     C
 424                          --hard   C       C     C
 425                          --merge  B       C     C
 426                          --keep   B       C     C
 427....
 428
 429`reset --merge` is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
 430merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the working tree file that is
 431involved in the merge does not have a local change with respect to the index
 432before it starts, and that it writes the result out to the working tree. So if
 433we see some difference between the index and the target and also
 434between the index and the working tree, then it means that we are not
 435resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing
 436with a conflict. That is why we disallow `--merge` option in this case.
 437
 438`reset --keep` is meant to be used when removing some of the last
 439commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working
 440tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit we
 441want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to keep,
 442the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there are both
 443changes between the working tree and `HEAD`, and between `HEAD` and the
 444target. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are unmerged
 445entries.
 446
 447The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged
 448entries:
 449
 450....
 451working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 452----------------------------------------------------
 453 X       U     A    B     --soft  (disallowed)
 454                          --mixed  X       B     B
 455                          --hard   B       B     B
 456                          --merge  B       B     B
 457                          --keep  (disallowed)
 458....
 459
 460....
 461working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
 462----------------------------------------------------
 463 X       U     A    A     --soft  (disallowed)
 464                          --mixed  X       A     A
 465                          --hard   A       A     A
 466                          --merge  A       A     A
 467                          --keep  (disallowed)
 468....
 469
 470`X` means any state and `U` means an unmerged index.
 471
 472GIT
 473---
 474Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite