Documentation / git-commit.txton commit submodule add: clean up duplicated code (f22a17e)
   1git-commit(1)
   2=============
   3
   4NAME
   5----
   6git-commit - Record changes to the repository
   7
   8SYNOPSIS
   9--------
  10[verse]
  11'git commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend] [--dry-run]
  12           [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>] [-F <file> | -m <msg>]
  13           [--reset-author] [--allow-empty] [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify]
  14           [-e] [--author=<author>] [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>]
  15           [--status | --no-status] [-i | -o] [--] [<file>...]
  16
  17DESCRIPTION
  18-----------
  19Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along
  20with a log message from the user describing the changes.
  21
  22The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
  23
  241. by using 'git add' to incrementally "add" changes to the
  25   index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
  26   files must be "added");
  27
  282. by using 'git rm' to remove files from the working tree
  29   and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
  30
  313. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
  32   case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
  33   record the current content of the listed files (which must already
  34   be known to git);
  35
  364. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
  37   "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
  38   listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
  39   that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
  40   actual commit;
  41
  425. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
  43   by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
  44   operation.  Currently, this is done by invoking 'git add --interactive'.
  45
  46The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
  47summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
  48commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).
  49
  50If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
  51that, you can recover from it with 'git reset'.
  52
  53
  54OPTIONS
  55-------
  56-a::
  57--all::
  58        Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
  59        been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
  60        told git about are not affected.
  61
  62-C <commit>::
  63--reuse-message=<commit>::
  64        Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
  65        and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
  66        when creating the commit.
  67
  68-c <commit>::
  69--reedit-message=<commit>::
  70        Like '-C', but with '-c' the editor is invoked, so that
  71        the user can further edit the commit message.
  72
  73--fixup=<commit>::
  74        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  75        The commit message will be the subject line from the specified
  76        commit with a prefix of "fixup! ".  See linkgit:git-rebase[1]
  77        for details.
  78
  79--squash=<commit>::
  80        Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
  81        The commit message subject line is taken from the specified
  82        commit with a prefix of "squash! ".  Can be used with additional
  83        commit message options (`-m`/`-c`/`-C`/`-F`). See
  84        linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.
  85
  86--reset-author::
  87        When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
  88        a conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
  89        resulting commit now belongs of the committer. This also renews
  90        the author timestamp.
  91
  92--short::
  93        When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
  94        linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.
  95
  96--porcelain::
  97        When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
  98        format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
  99        `--dry-run`.
 100
 101-z::
 102        When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, terminate
 103        entries in the status output with NUL, instead of LF. If no
 104        format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
 105
 106-F <file>::
 107--file=<file>::
 108        Take the commit message from the given file.  Use '-' to
 109        read the message from the standard input.
 110
 111--author=<author>::
 112        Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
 113        standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise <author>
 114        is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
 115        commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
 116        the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
 117
 118--date=<date>::
 119        Override the author date used in the commit.
 120
 121-m <msg>::
 122--message=<msg>::
 123        Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
 124
 125-t <file>::
 126--template=<file>::
 127        Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
 128        of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
 129        make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
 130        the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
 131        overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
 132
 133-s::
 134--signoff::
 135        Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
 136        log message.
 137
 138-n::
 139--no-verify::
 140        This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
 141        See also linkgit:githooks[5].
 142
 143--allow-empty::
 144        Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
 145        sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
 146        from making such a commit.  This option bypasses the safety, and
 147        is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
 148
 149--allow-empty-message::
 150       Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
 151       SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
 152       empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
 153       linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].
 154
 155--cleanup=<mode>::
 156        This option sets how the commit message is cleaned up.
 157        The  '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace', 'strip',
 158        and 'default'. The 'default' mode will strip leading and
 159        trailing empty lines and #commentary from the commit message
 160        only if the message is to be edited. Otherwise only whitespace
 161        removed. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at all,
 162        'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines
 163        and 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
 164
 165-e::
 166--edit::
 167        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
 168        `-m`, and from file with `-C` are usually used as the
 169        commit log message unmodified.  This option lets you
 170        further edit the message taken from these sources.
 171
 172--amend::
 173        Used to amend the tip of the current branch. Prepare the tree
 174        object you would want to replace the latest commit as usual
 175        (this includes the usual -i/-o and explicit paths), and the
 176        commit log editor is seeded with the commit message from the
 177        tip of the current branch. The commit you create replaces the
 178        current tip -- if it was a merge, it will have the parents of
 179        the current tip as parents -- so the current top commit is
 180        discarded.
 181+
 182--
 183It is a rough equivalent for:
 184------
 185        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
 186        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
 187        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
 188
 189------
 190but can be used to amend a merge commit.
 191--
 192+
 193You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
 194amend a commit that has already been published.  (See the "RECOVERING
 195FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
 196
 197-i::
 198--include::
 199        Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
 200        stage the contents of paths given on the command line
 201        as well.  This is usually not what you want unless you
 202        are concluding a conflicted merge.
 203
 204-o::
 205--only::
 206        Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
 207        command line, disregarding any contents that have been
 208        staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
 209        'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
 210        in which case this option can be omitted.
 211        If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
 212        no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
 213        the last commit without committing changes that have
 214        already been staged.
 215
 216-u[<mode>]::
 217--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
 218        Show untracked files.
 219+
 220The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
 221specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
 222default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
 223+
 224The possible options are:
 225+
 226        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
 227        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
 228        - 'all'    - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
 229+
 230The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
 231configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 232
 233-v::
 234--verbose::
 235        Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
 236        would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
 237        template.  Note that this diff output doesn't have its
 238        lines prefixed with '#'.
 239
 240-q::
 241--quiet::
 242        Suppress commit summary message.
 243
 244--dry-run::
 245        Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
 246        to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 247        uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 248
 249--status::
 250        Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
 251        message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
 252        message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
 253        configuration variable commit.status.
 254
 255--no-status::
 256        Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
 257        commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
 258        default commit message.
 259
 260\--::
 261        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 262
 263<file>...::
 264        When files are given on the command line, the command
 265        commits the contents of the named files, without
 266        recording the changes already staged.  The contents of
 267        these files are also staged for the next commit on top
 268        of what have been staged before.
 269
 270:git-commit: 1
 271include::date-formats.txt[]
 272
 273EXAMPLES
 274--------
 275When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
 276your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
 277called the "index" with 'git add'.  A file can be
 278reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
 279to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
 280which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
 281this file from participating in the next commit.  After building
 282the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
 283`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
 284has been staged so far.  This is the most basic form of the
 285command.  An example:
 286
 287------------
 288$ edit hello.c
 289$ git rm goodbye.c
 290$ git add hello.c
 291$ git commit
 292------------
 293
 294Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
 295tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
 296contents are tracked in
 297your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
 298for you.  That is, this example does the same as the earlier
 299example if there is no other change in your working tree:
 300
 301------------
 302$ edit hello.c
 303$ rm goodbye.c
 304$ git commit -a
 305------------
 306
 307The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
 308notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
 309and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
 310
 311After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
 312changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
 313When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
 314only records the changes made to the named paths:
 315
 316------------
 317$ edit hello.c hello.h
 318$ git add hello.c hello.h
 319$ edit Makefile
 320$ git commit Makefile
 321------------
 322
 323This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
 324The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
 325in the resulting commit.  However, their changes are not lost --
 326they are still staged and merely held back.  After the above
 327sequence, if you do:
 328
 329------------
 330$ git commit
 331------------
 332
 333this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
 334`hello.h` as expected.
 335
 336After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
 337because of conflicts, cleanly merged
 338paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
 339conflicted are left in unmerged state.  You would have to first
 340check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
 341and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
 342stage the result as usual with 'git add':
 343
 344------------
 345$ git status | grep unmerged
 346unmerged: hello.c
 347$ edit hello.c
 348$ git add hello.c
 349------------
 350
 351After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
 352would stop mentioning the conflicted path.  When you are done,
 353run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
 354
 355------------
 356$ git commit
 357------------
 358
 359As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
 360option to save typing.  One difference is that during a merge
 361resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
 362alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
 363should be recorded as a single commit.  In fact, the command
 364refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
 365
 366
 367DISCUSSION
 368----------
 369
 370Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
 371with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
 372change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
 373Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use the first line
 374on the Subject: line and the rest of the commit in the body.
 375
 376include::i18n.txt[]
 377
 378ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 379---------------------------------------
 380The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
 381GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
 382VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
 383order).  See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
 384
 385HOOKS
 386-----
 387This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
 388and `post-commit` hooks.  See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
 389information.
 390
 391
 392SEE ALSO
 393--------
 394linkgit:git-add[1],
 395linkgit:git-rm[1],
 396linkgit:git-mv[1],
 397linkgit:git-merge[1],
 398linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
 399
 400GIT
 401---
 402Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite