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).
-U<n>, --unified=<n>
Generate diffs with <n> lines of context. Defaults to diff.context
or 3 if the config option is unset.
--inter-hunk-context=<n>
Show the context between diff hunks, up to the specified <number>
of lines, thereby fusing hunks that are close to each other.
Defaults to diff.interHunkContext or 0 if the config option is
unset.
--
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
git 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.
git 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 2.51.0 2025-08-17 GIT-RESET(1)
git reset \- Reset current HEAD to the specified state