GIT-RESET(1) Git Manual GIT-RESET(1)

NAME

git-reset - Reset current HEAD to the specified state

SYNOPSIS

git reset [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>...
git reset [-q] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]] [<tree-ish>]
git reset (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
git reset [--soft | --mixed [-N] | --hard | --merge | --keep] [-q] [<commit>]

DESCRIPTION

In the first three forms, copy entries from <tree-ish> to the index.
In the last form, set the current branch head (HEAD) to <commit>,
optionally modifying index and working tree to match. The
<tree-ish>/<commit> defaults to HEAD in all forms.

git reset [-q] [<tree-ish>] [--] <pathspec>..., git reset [-q]
[--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]] [<tree-ish>]
These forms reset the index entries for all paths that match the
<pathspec> to their state at <tree-ish>. (It does not affect the
working tree or the current branch.)

This means that git reset <pathspec> is the opposite of git add
<pathspec>. This command is equivalent to git restore
[--source=<tree-ish>] --staged <pathspec>....

After running git reset <pathspec> to update the index entry, you
can use git-restore(1) to check the contents out of the index to
the working tree. Alternatively, using git-restore(1) and
specifying a commit with --source, you can copy the contents of a
path out of a commit to the index and to the working tree in one
go.

git reset (--patch | -p) [<tree-ish>] [--] [<pathspec>...]
Interactively select hunks in the difference between the index
and <tree-ish> (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, i.e.
you can use it to selectively reset hunks. See the "Interactive
Mode" section of git-add(1) to learn how to operate the --patch
mode.

git reset [<mode>] [<commit>]
This form resets the current branch head to <commit> and possibly
updates the index (resetting it to the tree of <commit>) and the
working tree depending on <mode>. Before the operation, ORIG_HEAD
is set to the tip of the current branch. If <mode> is omitted,
defaults to --mixed. The <mode> must be one of the following:

--soft
Does not touch the index file or the working tree at all (but
resets the head to <commit>, just like all modes do). This
leaves all your changed files "Changes to be committed", as
git status would put it.

--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.

If -N is specified, removed paths are marked as intent-to-add
(see git-add(1)).

--hard
Resets the index and working tree. Any changes to tracked
files in the working tree since <commit> are discarded. Any
untracked files or directories in the way of writing any
tracked files are simply deleted.

--merge
Resets the index and updates the files in the working tree
that are different between <commit> and HEAD, but keeps those
which are different between the index and working tree (i.e.
which have changes which have not been added). If a file that
is different between <commit> and the index has unstaged
changes, reset is aborted.

In other words, --merge does something like a git read-tree
-u -m <commit>, but carries forward unmerged index entries.

--keep
Resets index entries and updates files in the working tree
that are different between <commit> and HEAD. If a file that
is different between <commit> and HEAD has local changes,
reset is aborted.

--[no-]recurse-submodules
When the working tree is updated, using --recurse-submodules
will also recursively reset the working tree of all active
submodules according to the commit recorded in the
superproject, also setting the submodules' HEAD to be
detached at that commit.

See "Reset, restore and revert" in git(1) for the differences between
the three commands.

OPTIONS

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

--refresh, --no-refresh
Refresh the index after a mixed reset. Enabled by default.

--pathspec-from-file=<file>
Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If
<file> is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec
elements are separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be
quoted as explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath
(see git-config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
--literal-pathspecs.

--pathspec-file-nul
Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
literally (including newlines and quotes).

--
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.

<pathspec>...
Limits the paths affected by the operation.

For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).

EXAMPLES

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
sound 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 or
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 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 git-commit(1).

Undo a commit, making it a topic branch

$ git branch topic/wip (1)
$ git reset --hard HEAD~3 (2)
$ git switch 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 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
git-rebase(1) for the
implications of doing
so.)

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 working 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 switch feature ;# you were working in "feature" branch and
$ work work work ;# got interrupted
$ git commit -a -m "snapshot WIP" (1)
$ git switch master
$ fix fix fix
$ git commit ;# commit with real log
$ git switch 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 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.

Keep changes in working tree while discarding some previous commits
Suppose you are working on something and you commit it, and then
you continue working a bit more, but now you think that what you
have in your working tree should be in another branch that has
nothing to do with what you committed previously. You can start a
new branch and reset it while keeping the changes in your working
tree.

$ git tag start
$ git switch -c branch1
$ edit
$ git commit ... (1)
$ edit
$ git switch -c branch2 (2)
$ git reset --keep start (3)

1. This commits your first
edits in branch1.
2. In the ideal world, you
could have realized that
the earlier commit did
not belong to the new
topic when you created
and switched to branch2
(i.e. git switch -c
branch2 start), but
nobody is perfect.
3. But you can use reset
--keep to remove the
unwanted commit after you
switched to branch2.

Split a commit apart into a sequence of commits
Suppose that you have created lots of logically separate changes
and committed them together. Then, later you decide that it might
be better to have each logical chunk associated with its own
commit. You can use git reset to rewind history without changing
the contents of your local files, and then successively use git
add -p to interactively select which hunks to include into each
commit, using git commit -c to pre-populate the commit message.

$ git reset -N HEAD^ (1)
$ git add -p (2)
$ git diff --cached (3)
$ git commit -c HEAD@{1} (4)
... (5)
$ git add ... (6)
$ git diff --cached (7)
$ git commit ... (8)

1. First, reset the history
back one commit so that
we remove the original
commit, but leave the
working tree with all the
changes. The -N ensures
that any new files added
with HEAD are still
marked so that git add -p
will find them.
2. Next, we interactively
select diff hunks to add
using the git add -p
facility. This will ask
you about each diff hunk
in sequence and you can
use simple commands such
as "yes, include this",
"No don't include this"
or even the very powerful
"edit" facility.
3. Once satisfied with the
hunks you want to
include, you should
verify what has been
prepared for the first
commit by using git diff
--cached. This shows all
the changes that have
been moved into the index
and are about to be
committed.
4. Next, commit the changes
stored in the index. The
-c option specifies to
pre-populate the commit
message from the original
message that you started
with in the first commit.
This is helpful to avoid
retyping it. The HEAD@{1}
is a special notation for
the commit that HEAD used
to be at prior to the
original reset commit (1
change ago). See
git-reflog(1) for more
details. You may also use
any other valid commit
reference.
5. You can repeat steps 2-4
multiple times to break
the original code into
any number of commits.
6. Now you've split out many
of the changes into their
own commits, and might no
longer use the patch mode
of git add, in order to
select all remaining
uncommitted changes.
7. Once again, check to
verify that you've
included what you want
to. You may also wish to
verify that git diff
doesn't show any
remaining changes to be
committed later.
8. And finally create the
final commit.

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 leave the file in the working tree in state A and in the index
in state B. It resets (i.e. moves) the HEAD (i.e. the tip of the
current branch, if you are on one) to target (which has the file in
state D).

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)
--keep (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)
--keep A C C

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
--keep (disallowed)

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
--keep B 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)
--keep (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
--keep B C C

reset --merge is meant to be used when resetting out of a conflicted
merge. Any mergy operation guarantees that the working tree file that
is involved in the merge does not have a local change with respect to
the index before it starts, and that it writes the result out to the
working tree. So if we see some difference between the index and the
target and also between the index and the working 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.

reset --keep is meant to be used when removing some of the last
commits in the current branch while keeping changes in the working
tree. If there could be conflicts between the changes in the commit
we want to remove and the changes in the working tree we want to
keep, the reset is disallowed. That's why it is disallowed if there
are both changes between the working tree and HEAD, and between HEAD
and the target. To be safe, it is also disallowed when there are
unmerged entries.

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
--keep (disallowed)

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
--keep (disallowed)

X means any state and U means an unmerged index.

GIT

Part of the git(1) suite

Git 2.48.1 2025-01-13 GIT-RESET(1)