Documentation/git-reset.txt - jrn/git - Git at Google

 git-reset(1)
 ============

 NAME
 ----
 git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state

 SYNOPSIS
 --------
 [verse]
 'git reset' [--mixed | --soft | --hard | --merge] [-q] [<commit>]
 'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>...
 'git reset' --patch [<commit>] [--] [<paths>...]

 DESCRIPTION
 -----------
 Sets the current head to the specified commit and optionally resets the
 index and working tree to match.

 This command is useful if you notice some small error in a recent
 commit (or set of commits) and want to redo that part without showing
 the undo in the history.

 If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch,
 linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend.

 The second and third forms with 'paths' and/or --patch are used to
 revert selected paths in the index from a given commit, without moving
 HEAD.


 OPTIONS
 -------
 --mixed::
 	Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files
 	are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not
 	been updated. This is the default action.

 --soft::
 	Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all, but
 	requires them to be in a good order. This leaves all your changed
 	files "Changes to be committed", as 'git status' would
 	put it.

 --hard::
 	Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being
 	switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree
 	since <commit> are lost.

 --merge::
 	Resets the index to match the tree recorded by the named commit,
 	and updates the files that are different between the named commit
 	and the current commit in the working tree.

 -p::
 --patch::
 	Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
 	and <commit> (defaults to HEAD).  The chosen hunks are applied
 	in reverse to the index.
 +
 This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p` (see
 linkgit:git-add[1]).

 -q::
 --quiet::
 	Be quiet, only report errors.

 <commit>::
 	Commit to make the current HEAD. If not given defaults to HEAD.

 DISCUSSION
 ----------

 The tables below show what happens when running:

 ----------
 git reset --option target
 ----------

 to reset the HEAD to another commit (`target`) with the different
 reset options depending on the state of the files.

 In these tables, A, B, C and D are some different states of a
 file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a
 file is in state A in the working tree, in state B in the index, in
 state C in HEAD and in state D in the target, then "git reset --soft
 target" will put the file in state A in the working tree, in state B
 in the index and in state D in HEAD.

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        A       B     C    D     --soft   A       B     D
 				--mixed  A       D     D
 				--hard   D       D     D
 				--merge (disallowed)

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        A       B     C    C     --soft   A       B     C
 				--mixed  A       C     C
 				--hard   C       C     C
 				--merge (disallowed)

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        B       B     C    D     --soft   B       B     D
 				--mixed  B       D     D
 				--hard   D       D     D
 				--merge  D       D     D

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        B       B     C    C     --soft   B       B     C
 				--mixed  B       C     C
 				--hard   C       C     C
 				--merge  C       C     C

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        B       C     C    D     --soft   B       C     D
 				--mixed  B       D     D
 				--hard   D       D     D
 				--merge (disallowed)

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        B       C     C    C     --soft   B       C     C
 				--mixed  B       C     C
 				--hard   C       C     C
 				--merge  B       C     C

 "reset --merge" is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
 merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the work tree file that is
 involved in the merge does not have local change wrt the index before
 it starts, and that it writes the result out to the work tree. So if
 we see some difference between the index and the target and also
 between the index and the work tree, then it means that we are not
 resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing
 with a conflict. That is why we disallow --merge option in this case.

 The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged
 entries:

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        X       U     A    B     --soft  (disallowed)
 				--mixed  X       B     B
 				--hard   B       B     B
 				--merge  B       B     B

       working index HEAD target         working index HEAD
       ----------------------------------------------------
        X       U     A    A     --soft  (disallowed)
 				--mixed  X       A     A
 				--hard   A       A     A
 				--merge  A       A     A

 X means any state and U means an unmerged index.

 Examples
 --------

 Undo a commit and redo::
 +
 ------------
 $ git commit ...
 $ git reset --soft HEAD^      <1>
 $ edit                        <2>
 $ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD  <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
 just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
 message, or both.  Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
 <2> Make corrections to working tree files.
 <3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the
 commit by starting with its log message.  If you do not need to
 edit the message further, you can give -C option instead.
 +
 See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1].

 Undo commits permanently::
 +
 ------------
 $ git commit ...
 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3   <1>
 ------------
 +
 <1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad
 and you do not want to ever see them again.  Do *not* do this if
 you have already given these commits to somebody else.  (See the
 "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for
 the implications of doing so.)

 Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
 +
 ------------
 $ git branch topic/wip     <1>
 $ git reset --hard HEAD~3  <2>
 $ git checkout topic/wip   <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
 to be in the "master" branch.  You want to continue polishing
 them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the
 current HEAD.
 <2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
 <3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working.

 Undo add::
 +
 ------------
 $ edit                                     <1>
 $ git add frotz.c filfre.c
 $ mailx                                    <2>
 $ git reset                                <3>
 $ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol  <4>
 ------------
 +
 <1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
 in these files are in good order.  You do not want to see them
 when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files
 and changes with these files are distracting.
 <2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging.
 <3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
 not match the HEAD commit).  But you know the pull you are going
 to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the
 index changes for these two files.  Your changes in working tree
 remain there.
 <4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c
 changes still in the working tree.

 Undo a merge or pull::
 +
 ------------
 $ git pull                         <1>
 Auto-merging nitfol
 CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
 Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
 $ git reset --hard                 <2>
 $ git pull . topic/branch          <3>
 Updating from 41223... to 13134...
 Fast-forward
 $ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD       <4>
 ------------
 +
 <1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
 conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
 right now, so you decide to do that later.
 <2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard"
 which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess
 from the index file and the working tree.
 <3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
 in a fast-forward.
 <4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
 consumption yet.  "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
 tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it
 brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
 and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.

 Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty work tree::
 +
 ------------
 $ git pull                         <1>
 Auto-merging nitfol
 Merge made by recursive.
  nitfol                |   20 +++++----
  ...
 $ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD      <2>
 ------------
 +
 <1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
 working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know
 that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
 them.
 <2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
 that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory.  Running
 "git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you
 were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
 want.  "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes.


 Interrupted workflow::
 +
 Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
 are in the middle of a large change.  The files in your
 working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
 need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
 +
 ------------
 $ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
 $ work work work       ;# got interrupted
 $ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP"                 <1>
 $ git checkout master
 $ fix fix fix
 $ git commit ;# commit with real log
 $ git checkout feature
 $ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state  <2>
 $ git reset                                       <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
 <2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
     your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
 <3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
     committed as 'snapshot WIP'.  This updates the index to show your
     WIP files as uncommitted.
 +
 See also linkgit:git-stash[1].

 Reset a single file in the index::
 +
 Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
 want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
 while keeping your changes with git reset.
 +
 ------------
 $ git reset -- frotz.c                      <1>
 $ git commit -m "Commit files in index"     <2>
 $ git add frotz.c                           <3>
 ------------
 +
 <1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
     directory.
 <2> This commits all other changes in the index.
 <3> Adds the file to the index again.

 Author
 ------
 Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

 Documentation
 --------------
 Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

 GIT
 ---
 Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite
	git-reset(1)
	============

	NAME
	----
	git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state

	SYNOPSIS
	--------
	[verse]
	'git reset' [--mixed \| --soft \| --hard \| --merge] [-q] [<commit>]
	'git reset' [-q] [<commit>] [--] <paths>...
	'git reset' --patch [<commit>] [--] [<paths>...]

	DESCRIPTION
	-----------
	Sets the current head to the specified commit and optionally resets the
	index and working tree to match.

	This command is useful if you notice some small error in a recent
	commit (or set of commits) and want to redo that part without showing
	the undo in the history.

	If you want to undo a commit other than the latest on a branch,
	linkgit:git-revert[1] is your friend.

	The second and third forms with 'paths' and/or --patch are used to
	revert selected paths in the index from a given commit, without moving
	HEAD.


	OPTIONS
	-------
	--mixed::
	Resets the index but not the working tree (i.e., the changed files
	are preserved but not marked for commit) and reports what has not
	been updated. This is the default action.

	--soft::
	Does not touch the index file nor the working tree at all, but
	requires them to be in a good order. This leaves all your changed
	files "Changes to be committed", as 'git status' would
	put it.

	--hard::
	Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being
	switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree
	since <commit> are lost.

	--merge::
	Resets the index to match the tree recorded by the named commit,
	and updates the files that are different between the named commit
	and the current commit in the working tree.

	-p::
	--patch::
	Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
	and <commit> (defaults to HEAD). The chosen hunks are applied
	in reverse to the index.
	+
	This means that `git reset -p` is the opposite of `git add -p` (see
	linkgit:git-add[1]).

	-q::
	--quiet::
	Be quiet, only report errors.

	<commit>::
	Commit to make the current HEAD. If not given defaults to HEAD.

	DISCUSSION
	----------

	The tables below show what happens when running:

	----------
	git reset --option target
	----------

	to reset the HEAD to another commit (`target`) with the different
	reset options depending on the state of the files.

	In these tables, A, B, C and D are some different states of a
	file. For example, the first line of the first table means that if a
	file is in state A in the working tree, in state B in the index, in
	state C in HEAD and in state D in the target, then "git reset --soft
	target" will put the file in state A in the working tree, in state B
	in the index and in state D in HEAD.

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	A B C D --soft A B D
	--mixed A D D
	--hard D D D
	--merge (disallowed)

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	A B C C --soft A B C
	--mixed A C C
	--hard C C C
	--merge (disallowed)

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	B B C D --soft B B D
	--mixed B D D
	--hard D D D
	--merge D D D

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	B B C C --soft B B C
	--mixed B C C
	--hard C C C
	--merge C C C

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	B C C D --soft B C D
	--mixed B D D
	--hard D D D
	--merge (disallowed)

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	B C C C --soft B C C
	--mixed B C C
	--hard C C C
	--merge B C C

	"reset --merge" is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
	merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the work tree file that is
	involved in the merge does not have local change wrt the index before
	it starts, and that it writes the result out to the work tree. So if
	we see some difference between the index and the target and also
	between the index and the work tree, then it means that we are not
	resetting out from a state that a mergy operation left after failing
	with a conflict. That is why we disallow --merge option in this case.

	The following tables show what happens when there are unmerged
	entries:

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	X U A B --soft (disallowed)
	--mixed X B B
	--hard B B B
	--merge B B B

	working index HEAD target working index HEAD
	----------------------------------------------------
	X U A A --soft (disallowed)
	--mixed X A A
	--hard A A A
	--merge A A A

	X means any state and U means an unmerged index.

	Examples
	--------

	Undo a commit and redo::
	+
	------------
	$ git commit ...
	$ git reset --soft HEAD^ <1>
	$ edit <2>
	$ git commit -a -c ORIG_HEAD <3>
	------------
	+
	<1> This is most often done when you remembered what you
	just committed is incomplete, or you misspelled your commit
	message, or both. Leaves working tree as it was before "reset".
	<2> Make corrections to working tree files.
	<3> "reset" copies the old head to .git/ORIG_HEAD; redo the
	commit by starting with its log message. If you do not need to
	edit the message further, you can give -C option instead.
	+
	See also the --amend option to linkgit:git-commit[1].

	Undo commits permanently::
	+
	------------
	$ git commit ...
	$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <1>
	------------
	+
	<1> The last three commits (HEAD, HEAD^, and HEAD~2) were bad
	and you do not want to ever see them again. Do not do this if
	you have already given these commits to somebody else. (See the
	"RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1] for
	the implications of doing so.)

	Undo a commit, making it a topic branch::
	+
	------------
	$ git branch topic/wip <1>
	$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 <2>
	$ git checkout topic/wip <3>
	------------
	+
	<1> You have made some commits, but realize they were premature
	to be in the "master" branch. You want to continue polishing
	them in a topic branch, so create "topic/wip" branch off of the
	current HEAD.
	<2> Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits.
	<3> Switch to "topic/wip" branch and keep working.

	Undo add::
	+
	------------
	$ edit <1>
	$ git add frotz.c filfre.c
	$ mailx <2>
	$ git reset <3>
	$ git pull git://info.example.com/ nitfol <4>
	------------
	+
	<1> You are happily working on something, and find the changes
	in these files are in good order. You do not want to see them
	when you run "git diff", because you plan to work on other files
	and changes with these files are distracting.
	<2> Somebody asks you to pull, and the changes sounds worthy of merging.
	<3> However, you already dirtied the index (i.e. your index does
	not match the HEAD commit). But you know the pull you are going
	to make does not affect frotz.c nor filfre.c, so you revert the
	index changes for these two files. Your changes in working tree
	remain there.
	<4> Then you can pull and merge, leaving frotz.c and filfre.c
	changes still in the working tree.

	Undo a merge or pull::
	+
	------------
	$ git pull <1>
	Auto-merging nitfol
	CONFLICT (content): Merge conflict in nitfol
	Automatic merge failed; fix conflicts and then commit the result.
	$ git reset --hard <2>
	$ git pull . topic/branch <3>
	Updating from 41223... to 13134...
	Fast-forward
	$ git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD <4>
	------------
	+
	<1> Try to update from the upstream resulted in a lot of
	conflicts; you were not ready to spend a lot of time merging
	right now, so you decide to do that later.
	<2> "pull" has not made merge commit, so "git reset --hard"
	which is a synonym for "git reset --hard HEAD" clears the mess
	from the index file and the working tree.
	<3> Merge a topic branch into the current branch, which resulted
	in a fast-forward.
	<4> But you decided that the topic branch is not ready for public
	consumption yet. "pull" or "merge" always leaves the original
	tip of the current branch in ORIG_HEAD, so resetting hard to it
	brings your index file and the working tree back to that state,
	and resets the tip of the branch to that commit.

	Undo a merge or pull inside a dirty work tree::
	+
	------------
	$ git pull <1>
	Auto-merging nitfol
	Merge made by recursive.
	nitfol \| 20 +++++----
	...
	$ git reset --merge ORIG_HEAD <2>
	------------
	+
	<1> Even if you may have local modifications in your
	working tree, you can safely say "git pull" when you know
	that the change in the other branch does not overlap with
	them.
	<2> After inspecting the result of the merge, you may find
	that the change in the other branch is unsatisfactory. Running
	"git reset --hard ORIG_HEAD" will let you go back to where you
	were, but it will discard your local changes, which you do not
	want. "git reset --merge" keeps your local changes.


	Interrupted workflow::
	+
	Suppose you are interrupted by an urgent fix request while you
	are in the middle of a large change. The files in your
	working tree are not in any shape to be committed yet, but you
	need to get to the other branch for a quick bugfix.
	+
	------------
	$ git checkout feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
	$ work work work ;# got interrupted
	$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" <1>
	$ git checkout master
	$ fix fix fix
	$ git commit ;# commit with real log
	$ git checkout feature
	$ git reset --soft HEAD^ ;# go back to WIP state <2>
	$ git reset <3>
	------------
	+
	<1> This commit will get blown away so a throw-away log message is OK.
	<2> This removes the 'WIP' commit from the commit history, and sets
	your working tree to the state just before you made that snapshot.
	<3> At this point the index file still has all the WIP changes you
	committed as 'snapshot WIP'. This updates the index to show your
	WIP files as uncommitted.
	+
	See also linkgit:git-stash[1].

	Reset a single file in the index::
	+
	Suppose you have added a file to your index, but later decide you do not
	want to add it to your commit. You can remove the file from the index
	while keeping your changes with git reset.
	+
	------------
	$ git reset -- frotz.c <1>
	$ git commit -m "Commit files in index" <2>
	$ git add frotz.c <3>
	------------
	+
	<1> This removes the file from the index while keeping it in the working
	directory.
	<2> This commits all other changes in the index.
	<3> Adds the file to the index again.

	Author
	------
	Written by Junio C Hamano <gitster@pobox.com> and Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>

	Documentation
	--------------
	Documentation by Junio C Hamano and the git-list <git@vger.kernel.org>.

	GIT
	---
	Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite