Time Travel and Course Corrections
Mistakes happen. Git provides powerful tools to undo changes, from small typos to major course corrections.
Undoing Unstaged Changes
Discard changes in your working directory:
git restore filename.txt
# Or older Git:
git checkout -- filename.txtUnstaging Files
git restore --staged filename.txt
# Or:
git reset HEAD filename.txtAmending the Last Commit
git commit --amendThis adds staged changes to the previous commit and can also change the commit message.
Reverting a Commit
Create a new commit that undoes a previous one:
git revert abc123This is safe for public history because it does not rewrite existing commits.
Resetting
Soft Reset
git reset --soft HEAD~1Undoes the commit and keeps the changes staged.
Mixed Reset (Default)
git reset HEAD~1Undoes the commit and keeps the changes unstaged.
Hard Reset (Dangerous!)
git reset --hard HEAD~1Undoes the commit and discards tracked working-tree changes. Use with extreme caution.
Recovering Lost Commits
git reflogShows all HEAD movements and can help recover "lost" commits.
Safety Guidelines
- Never reset or rebase commits pushed to shared branches
- Use
revertfor public history --hardis destructive—use cautiously- When in doubt, create a backup branch first
Next: Timeline Rewriting
You can now fix mistakes. Next, learn rebasing—an advanced but powerful technique for maintaining clean history.