Documentation / git-commit.txton commit cherry-pick: fix docs describing handling of empty commits (f907282)
   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[<key-id>]] [--] [<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`, `scissors` 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.
 189scissors::
 190        Same as `whitespace`, except that everything from (and
 191        including) the line
 192        "`# ------------------------ >8 ------------------------`"
 193        is truncated if the message is to be edited. "`#`" can be
 194        customized with core.commentChar.
 195default::
 196        Same as `strip` if the message is to be edited.
 197        Otherwise `whitespace`.
 198--
 199+
 200The default can be changed by the 'commit.cleanup' configuration
 201variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).
 202
 203-e::
 204--edit::
 205        The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
 206        `-m`, and from commit object with `-C` are usually used as
 207        the commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
 208        further edit the message taken from these sources.
 209
 210--no-edit::
 211        Use the selected commit message without launching an editor.
 212        For example, `git commit --amend --no-edit` amends a commit
 213        without changing its commit message.
 214
 215--amend::
 216        Replace the tip of the current branch by creating a new
 217        commit. The recorded tree is prepared as usual (including
 218        the effect of the `-i` and `-o` options and explicit
 219        pathspec), and the message from the original commit is used
 220        as the starting point, instead of an empty message, when no
 221        other message is specified from the command line via options
 222        such as `-m`, `-F`, `-c`, etc.  The new commit has the same
 223        parents and author as the current one (the `--reset-author`
 224        option can countermand this).
 225+
 226--
 227It is a rough equivalent for:
 228------
 229        $ git reset --soft HEAD^
 230        $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
 231        $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
 232
 233------
 234but can be used to amend a merge commit.
 235--
 236+
 237You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
 238amend a commit that has already been published.  (See the "RECOVERING
 239FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)
 240
 241--no-post-rewrite::
 242        Bypass the post-rewrite hook.
 243
 244-i::
 245--include::
 246        Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
 247        stage the contents of paths given on the command line
 248        as well.  This is usually not what you want unless you
 249        are concluding a conflicted merge.
 250
 251-o::
 252--only::
 253        Make a commit only from the paths specified on the
 254        command line, disregarding any contents that have been
 255        staged so far. This is the default mode of operation of
 256        'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
 257        in which case this option can be omitted.
 258        If this option is specified together with '--amend', then
 259        no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
 260        the last commit without committing changes that have
 261        already been staged.
 262
 263-u[<mode>]::
 264--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
 265        Show untracked files.
 266+
 267The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
 268specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
 269default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
 270+
 271The possible options are:
 272+
 273        - 'no'     - Show no untracked files
 274        - 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
 275        - 'all'    - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
 276+
 277The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
 278configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].
 279
 280-v::
 281--verbose::
 282        Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
 283        would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
 284        template.  Note that this diff output doesn't have its
 285        lines prefixed with '#'.
 286
 287-q::
 288--quiet::
 289        Suppress commit summary message.
 290
 291--dry-run::
 292        Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
 293        to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
 294        uncommitted and paths that are untracked.
 295
 296--status::
 297        Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
 298        message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
 299        message.  Defaults to on, but can be used to override
 300        configuration variable commit.status.
 301
 302--no-status::
 303        Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
 304        commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
 305        default commit message.
 306
 307-S[<keyid>]::
 308--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
 309        GPG-sign commit.
 310
 311--no-gpg-sign::
 312        Countermand `commit.gpgsign` configuration variable that is
 313        set to force each and every commit to be signed.
 314
 315\--::
 316        Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
 317
 318<file>...::
 319        When files are given on the command line, the command
 320        commits the contents of the named files, without
 321        recording the changes already staged.  The contents of
 322        these files are also staged for the next commit on top
 323        of what have been staged before.
 324
 325:git-commit: 1
 326include::date-formats.txt[]
 327
 328EXAMPLES
 329--------
 330When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
 331your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
 332called the "index" with 'git add'.  A file can be
 333reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
 334to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
 335which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
 336this file from participating in the next commit.  After building
 337the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
 338`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
 339has been staged so far.  This is the most basic form of the
 340command.  An example:
 341
 342------------
 343$ edit hello.c
 344$ git rm goodbye.c
 345$ git add hello.c
 346$ git commit
 347------------
 348
 349Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
 350tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
 351contents are tracked in
 352your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
 353for you.  That is, this example does the same as the earlier
 354example if there is no other change in your working tree:
 355
 356------------
 357$ edit hello.c
 358$ rm goodbye.c
 359$ git commit -a
 360------------
 361
 362The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
 363notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
 364and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
 365
 366After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
 367changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
 368When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
 369only records the changes made to the named paths:
 370
 371------------
 372$ edit hello.c hello.h
 373$ git add hello.c hello.h
 374$ edit Makefile
 375$ git commit Makefile
 376------------
 377
 378This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
 379The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
 380in the resulting commit.  However, their changes are not lost --
 381they are still staged and merely held back.  After the above
 382sequence, if you do:
 383
 384------------
 385$ git commit
 386------------
 387
 388this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
 389`hello.h` as expected.
 390
 391After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
 392because of conflicts, cleanly merged
 393paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
 394conflicted are left in unmerged state.  You would have to first
 395check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
 396and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
 397stage the result as usual with 'git add':
 398
 399------------
 400$ git status | grep unmerged
 401unmerged: hello.c
 402$ edit hello.c
 403$ git add hello.c
 404------------
 405
 406After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
 407would stop mentioning the conflicted path.  When you are done,
 408run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
 409
 410------------
 411$ git commit
 412------------
 413
 414As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
 415option to save typing.  One difference is that during a merge
 416resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
 417alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
 418should be recorded as a single commit.  In fact, the command
 419refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
 420
 421
 422DISCUSSION
 423----------
 424
 425Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
 426with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
 427change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
 428The text up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated
 429as the commit title, and that title is used throughout Git.
 430For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a commit into email, and it uses
 431the title on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.
 432
 433include::i18n.txt[]
 434
 435ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
 436---------------------------------------
 437The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
 438GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
 439VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
 440order).  See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.
 441
 442HOOKS
 443-----
 444This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
 445and `post-commit` hooks.  See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
 446information.
 447
 448FILES
 449-----
 450
 451`$GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG`::
 452        This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress.
 453        If `git commit` exits due to an error before creating a commit,
 454        any commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in
 455        an editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
 456        overwritten by the next invocation of `git commit`.
 457
 458SEE ALSO
 459--------
 460linkgit:git-add[1],
 461linkgit:git-rm[1],
 462linkgit:git-mv[1],
 463linkgit:git-merge[1],
 464linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
 465
 466GIT
 467---
 468Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite