Git: Revert to previous commit status

Question

I'm confused. I want to go back to a previous commit that I identified in "git log".

But when I do "git checkout ", I don't get said commit. Nothing changes. It tells me I'm in detached HEAD mode, but the files I want are not there.

What the eff am I doing wrong?

MrB

Answer 1

git reset --hard <commit> From the manpage:

Matches the working tree and index to that of the tree being switched to. Any changes to tracked files in the working tree since are lost.

git checkout is for switching your working directory to a different branch or commit. This does not move the HEAD there.

Answer 2

DO NOT git reset -hard it is PERMANENT!

Please use

git stash -u 

instead! If you have a piece of work in there that you zapped by accident, you can still get it back. This never gets pushed to your remote unless you choose to do so by making a branch out of it and pushing it up.

Also, you are on the right track that you can use git checkout to accomplish the same thing. The syntax is

git checkout HEAD -- . 

But it has the same problem as git reset --hard. Stick with stash and you will save losing your hair in the future.

Longer answer

The above solutions revert all your changes. However, you asked how to get rid of some of the changes. I'll add this for completeness.

To do this, you can

git add file1 file2 file3
git stash save --patch

You will now be prompted for what exactly you want to make dissappear... down to what ever level of granularity. So you can safely "reject" only a few changes to a single file if you choose to do so.