NAME
----
-git-commit - Record your changes
+git-commit - Record changes to the repository
SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
-'git-commit' [-a] [-s] [-v] [(-c | -C) <commit> | -F <file> | -m <msg>]
- [--no-verify] [--amend] [-e] [--author <author>]
- [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
+'git-commit' [-a | --interactive] [-s] [-v] [-u]
+ [(-c | -C) <commit> | -F <file> | -m <msg> | --amend]
+ [--allow-empty] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author <author>]
+ [--cleanup=<mode>] [--] [[-i | -o ]<file>...]
DESCRIPTION
-----------
-Updates the index file for given paths, or all modified files if
-'-a' is specified, and makes a commit object. The command specified
-by either the VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables are used to edit
-the commit log message.
+Use 'git commit' to store the current contents of the index in a new
+commit along with a log message describing the changes you have made.
-Several environment variable are used during commits. They are
-documented in gitlink:git-commit-tree[1].
+The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
+1. by using linkgit:git-add[1] to incrementally "add" changes to the
+ index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
+ files must be "added");
+
+2. by using linkgit:git-rm[1] to remove files from the working tree
+ and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;
+
+3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command, in which
+ case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
+ record the current content of the listed files;
+
+4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
+ "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
+ listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
+ that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
+ actual commit;
+
+5. by using the --interactive switch with the 'commit' command to decide one
+ by one which files should be part of the commit, before finalizing the
+ operation. Currently, this is done by invoking `git-add --interactive`.
+
+The linkgit:git-status[1] command can be used to obtain a
+summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
+commit by giving the same set of parameters you would give to
+this command.
+
+If you make a commit and then found a mistake immediately after
+that, you can recover from it with linkgit:git-reset[1].
-This command can run `commit-msg`, `pre-commit`, and
-`post-commit` hooks. See link:hooks.html[hooks] for more
-information.
OPTIONS
-------
-a|--all::
- Update all paths in the index file. This flag notices
- files that have been modified and deleted, but new files
- you have not told git about are not affected.
+ Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
+ been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
+ told git about are not affected.
-c or -C <commit>::
Take existing commit object, and reuse the log message
Override the author name used in the commit. Use
`A U Thor <author@example.com>` format.
--m <msg>::
+-m <msg>|--message=<msg>::
Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
+-t <file>|--template=<file>::
+ Use the contents of the given file as the initial version
+ of the commit message. The editor is invoked and you can
+ make subsequent changes. If a message is specified using
+ the `-m` or `-F` options, this option has no effect. This
+ overrides the `commit.template` configuration variable.
+
-s|--signoff::
Add Signed-off-by line at the end of the commit message.
--v|--verify::
- Look for suspicious lines the commit introduces, and
- abort committing if there is one. The definition of
- 'suspicious lines' is currently the lines that has
- trailing whitespaces, and the lines whose indentation
- has a SP character immediately followed by a TAB
- character. This is the default.
-
--n|--no-verify::
- The opposite of `--verify`.
+--no-verify::
+ This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
+ See also link:hooks.html[hooks].
+
+--allow-empty::
+ Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
+ sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
+ from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
+ is primarily for use by foreign scm interface scripts.
+
+--cleanup=<mode>::
+ This option sets how the commit message is cleaned up.
+ The '<mode>' can be one of 'verbatim', 'whitespace', 'strip',
+ and 'default'. The 'default' mode will strip leading and
+ trailing empty lines and #commentary from the commit message
+ only if the message is to be edited. Otherwise only whitespace
+ removed. The 'verbatim' mode does not change message at all,
+ 'whitespace' removes just leading/trailing whitespace lines
+ and 'strip' removes both whitespace and commentary.
-e|--edit::
The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
--
-i|--include::
- Instead of committing only the files specified on the
- command line, update them in the index file and then
- commit the whole index. This is the traditional
- behavior.
-
--o|--only::
- Commit only the files specified on the command line.
- This format cannot be used during a merge, nor when the
- index and the latest commit does not match on the
- specified paths to avoid confusion.
+ Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
+ stage the contents of paths given on the command line
+ as well. This is usually not what you want unless you
+ are concluding a conflicted merge.
+
+-u|--untracked-files::
+ Show all untracked files, also those in uninteresting
+ directories, in the "Untracked files:" section of commit
+ message template. Without this option only its name and
+ a trailing slash are displayed for each untracked
+ directory.
+
+-v|--verbose::
+ Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
+ would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
+ template. Note that this diff output doesn't have its
+ lines prefixed with '#'.
+
+-q|--quiet::
+ Suppress commit summary message.
\--::
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
<file>...::
- Files to be committed. The meaning of these is
- different between `--include` and `--only`. Without
- either, it defaults `--only` semantics.
+ When files are given on the command line, the command
+ commits the contents of the named files, without
+ recording the changes already staged. The contents of
+ these files are also staged for the next commit on top
+ of what have been staged before.
-If you make a commit and then found a mistake immediately after
-that, you can recover from it with gitlink:git-reset[1].
-
-Discussion
+EXAMPLES
+--------
+When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
+your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
+called the "index" with linkgit:git-add[1]. A file can be
+reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
+to that of the last commit with `git-reset HEAD -- <file>`,
+which effectively reverts `git-add` and prevents the changes to
+this file from participating in the next commit. After building
+the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
+`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
+has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
+command. An example:
+
+------------
+$ edit hello.c
+$ git rm goodbye.c
+$ git add hello.c
+$ git commit
+------------
+
+Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
+tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
+contents are tracked in
+your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
+for you. That is, this example does the same as the earlier
+example if there is no other change in your working tree:
+
+------------
+$ edit hello.c
+$ rm goodbye.c
+$ git commit -a
+------------
+
+The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
+notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
+and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.
+
+After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
+changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
+When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
+only records the changes made to the named paths:
+
+------------
+$ edit hello.c hello.h
+$ git add hello.c hello.h
+$ edit Makefile
+$ git commit Makefile
+------------
+
+This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
+The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
+in the resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost --
+they are still staged and merely held back. After the above
+sequence, if you do:
+
+------------
+$ git commit
+------------
+
+this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
+`hello.h` as expected.
+
+After a merge (initiated by either linkgit:git-merge[1] or
+linkgit:git-pull[1]) stops because of conflicts, cleanly merged
+paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
+conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would have to first
+check which paths are conflicting with linkgit:git-status[1]
+and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
+stage the result as usual with linkgit:git-add[1]:
+
+------------
+$ git status | grep unmerged
+unmerged: hello.c
+$ edit hello.c
+$ git add hello.c
+------------
+
+After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
+would stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done,
+run `git commit` to finally record the merge:
+
+------------
+$ git commit
+------------
+
+As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
+option to save typing. One difference is that during a merge
+resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
+alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
+should be recorded as a single commit. In fact, the command
+refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).
+
+
+DISCUSSION
----------
-`git commit` without _any_ parameter commits the tree structure
-recorded by the current index file. This is a whole-tree commit
-even the command is invoked from a subdirectory.
-
-`git commit --include paths...` is equivalent to
-
- git update-index --remove paths...
- git commit
-
-That is, update the specified paths to the index and then commit
-the whole tree.
-
-`git commit paths...` largely bypasses the index file and
-commits only the changes made to the specified paths. It has
-however several safety valves to prevent confusion.
-
-. It refuses to run during a merge (i.e. when
- `$GIT_DIR/MERGE_HEAD` exists), and reminds trained git users
- that the traditional semantics now needs -i flag.
-
-. It refuses to run if named `paths...` are different in HEAD
- and the index (ditto about reminding). Added paths are OK.
- This is because an earlier `git diff` (not `git diff HEAD`)
- would have shown the differences since the last `git
- update-index paths...` to the user, and an inexperienced user
- may mistakenly think that the changes between the index and
- the HEAD (i.e. earlier changes made before the last `git
- update-index paths...` was done) are not being committed.
-
-. It reads HEAD commit into a temporary index file, updates the
- specified `paths...` and makes a commit. At the same time,
- the real index file is also updated with the same `paths...`.
+Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
+with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
+change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
+Tools that turn commits into email, for example, use the first line
+on the Subject: line and the rest of the commit in the body.
+
+include::i18n.txt[]
+
+ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
+---------------------------------------
+The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
+GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
+VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment variable (in that
+order).
+
+HOOKS
+-----
+This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
+and `post-commit` hooks. See link:hooks.html[hooks] for more
+information.
-`git commit --all` updates the index file with _all_ changes to
-the working tree, and makes a whole-tree commit, regardless of
-which subdirectory the command is invoked in.
+SEE ALSO
+--------
+linkgit:git-add[1],
+linkgit:git-rm[1],
+linkgit:git-mv[1],
+linkgit:git-merge[1],
+linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]
Author
------
GIT
---
-Part of the gitlink:git[7] suite
+Part of the linkgit:git[7] suite