Documentation / git-commit.txton commit Update draft release notes to 1.8.3 (961c512)
   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>] [--status | --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 of 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.
 158
 159-n::
 160--no-verify::
 161        This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
 162        See also linkgit:githooks[5].
 163
 164--allow-empty::
 165        Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
 166        sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
 167        from making such a commit.  This option bypasses the safety, and
 168        is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
 169
 170--allow-empty-message::
 171       Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
 172       SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
 173       empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
 174       linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
 175
 176--cleanup=<mode>::
 177        This option determines how the supplied commit message should be
 178        cleaned up before committing.  The '<mode>' can be `strip`,
 179        `whitespace`, `verbatim`, or `default`.
 180+
 181--
 182strip::
 183        Strip leading and trailing empty lines, trailing whitespace, and
 184        #commentary and collapse consecutive empty lines.
 185whitespace::
 186        Same as `strip` except #commentary is not removed.
 187verbatim::
 188        Do not change the message at all.
 189default::
 190        Same as `strip` if the message is to be edited.
 191        Otherwise `whitespace`.
 192--
 193+
 194The default can be changed by the 'commit.cleanup' configuration
 195variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 196
 197-e::
 198--edit::
 199        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
 200        `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
 201        commit log message unmodified.  This option lets you
 202        further edit the message taken from these sources.
 203
 204--no-edit::
 205        Use the selected commit message without launching an editor.
 206        For example, `git commit --amend --no-edit` amends a commit
 207        without changing its commit message.
 208
 209--amend::
 210        Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
 211        object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
 212        (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
 213        commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
 214        tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
 215        current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
 216        the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
 217        discarded.
 218+
 219--
 220It is a rough equivalent for:
 221------
 222        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
 223        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
 224        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
 225
 226------
 227but can be used to amend a merge commit.
 228--
 229+
 230You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
 231amend a commit that has already been published.  (See the "RECOVERING
 232FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
 233
 234--no-post-rewrite::
 235        Bypass the post-rewrite hook.
 236
 237-i::
 238--include::
 239        Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
 240        stage the contents of paths given on the command line
 241        as well.  This is usually not what you want unless you
 242        are concluding a conflicted merge.
 243
 244-o::
 245--only::
 246        Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
 247        command line, disregarding any contents that have been
 248        staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
 249        'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
 250        in which case this option can be omitted.
 251        If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
 252        no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
 253        the last commit without committing changes that have
 254        already been staged.
 255
 256-u[<mode>]::
 257--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
 258        Show untracked files.
 259+
 260The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
 261specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
 262default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
 263+
 264The possible options are:
 265+
 266        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
 267        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
 268        - 'all'    - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
 269+
 270The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
 271configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 272
 273-v::
 274--verbose::
 275        Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
 276        would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
 277        template.  Note that this diff output doesn't have its
 278        lines prefixed with '#'.
 279
 280-q::
 281--quiet::
 282        Suppress commit summary message.
 283
 284--dry-run::
 285        Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
 286        to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 287        uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 288
 289--status::
 290        Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
 291        message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
 292        message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
 293        configuration variable commit.status.
 294
 295--no-status::
 296        Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
 297        commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
 298        default commit message.
 299
 300-S[<keyid>]::
 301--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
 302        GPG-sign commit.
 303
 304\--::
 305        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 306
 307<file>...::
 308        When files are given on the command line, the command
 309        commits the contents of the named files, without
 310        recording the changes already staged.  The contents of
 311        these files are also staged for the next commit on top
 312        of what have been staged before.
 313
 314:git-commit: 1
 315include::date-formats.txt[]
 316
 317EXAMPLES
 318--------
 319When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
 320your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
 321called the "index" with 'git add'.  A file can be
 322reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
 323to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
 324which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
 325this file from participating in the next commit.  After building
 326the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
 327`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
 328has been staged so far.  This is the most basic form of the
 329command.  An example:
 330
 331------------
 332$ edit hello.c
 333$ git rm goodbye.c
 334$ git add hello.c
 335$ git commit
 336------------
 337
 338Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
 339tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
 340contents are tracked in
 341your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
 342for you.  That is, this example does the same as the earlier
 343example if there is no other change in your working tree:
 344
 345------------
 346$ edit hello.c
 347$ rm goodbye.c
 348$ git commit -a
 349------------
 350
 351The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
 352notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
 353and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
 354
 355After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
 356changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
 357When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
 358only records the changes made to the named paths:
 359
 360------------
 361$ edit hello.c hello.h
 362$ git add hello.c hello.h
 363$ edit Makefile
 364$ git commit Makefile
 365------------
 366
 367This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
 368The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
 369in the resulting commit.  However, their changes are not lost --
 370they are still staged and merely held back.  After the above
 371sequence, if you do:
 372
 373------------
 374$ git commit
 375------------
 376
 377this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
 378`hello.h` as expected.
 379
 380After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
 381because of conflicts, cleanly merged
 382paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
 383conflicted are left in unmerged state.  You would have to first
 384check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
 385and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
 386stage the result as usual with 'git add':
 387
 388------------
 389$ git status | grep unmerged
 390unmerged: hello.c
 391$ edit hello.c
 392$ git add hello.c
 393------------
 394
 395After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
 396would stop mentioning the conflicted path.  When you are done,
 397run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
 398
 399------------
 400$ git commit
 401------------
 402
 403As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
 404option to save typing.  One difference is that during a merge
 405resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
 406alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
 407should be recorded as a single commit.  In fact, the command
 408refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
 409
 410
 411DISCUSSION
 412----------
 413
 414Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
 415with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
 416change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
 417The text up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated
 418as the commit title, and that title is used throughout Git.
 419For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a commit into email, and it uses
 420the title on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.
 421
 422include::i18n.txt[]
 423
 424ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 425---------------------------------------
 426The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
 427GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
 428VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
 429order).  See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
 430
 431HOOKS
 432-----
 433This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
 434and `post-commit` hooks.  See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
 435information.
 436
 437FILES
 438-----
 439
 440`$GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG`::
 441        This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress.
 442        If `git commit` exits due to an error before creating a commit,
 443        any commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in
 444        an editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
 445        overwritten by the next invocation of `git commit`.
 446
 447SEE ALSO
 448--------
 449linkgit:git-add[1],
 450linkgit:git-rm[1],
 451linkgit:git-mv[1],
 452linkgit:git-merge[1],
 453linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
 454
 455GIT
 456---
 457Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite