Git undo local branch delete
GitBranchGit BranchGit Problem Overview
I just deleted the wrong branch with some experimental changes I need with git branch -D branchName.
How do I recover the branch?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
You can use git reflog to find the SHA1 of the last commit of the branch. From that point, you can recreate a branch using
git branch branchName <sha1>
Edit: As @seagullJS says, the branch -D command tells you the sha1, so if you haven't closed the terminal yet it becomes real easy. For example this deletes and then immediately restores a branch named master2:
user@MY-PC /C/MyRepo (master)
$ git branch -D master2
Deleted branch master2 (was 130d7ba). <-- This is the SHA1 we need to restore it!
user@MY-PC /C/MyRepo (master)
$ git branch master2 130d7ba
Solution 2 - Git
If you know the last SHA1 of the branch, you can try
git branch branchName <SHA1>
You can find the SHA1 using git reflog, described in the solution --defect link--.
Solution 3 - Git
If you haven't push the deletion yet, you can simply do :
$ git checkout deletedBranchName
Solution 4 - Git
If you just deleted the branch, you will see something like this in your terminal:
Deleted branch branch_name(was e562d13)
> - where e562d13 is a unique ID (a.k.a. the "SHA" or "hash"), with this you can restore the deleted branch.
To restore the branch, use:
git checkout -b <branch_name> <sha>
for example:
git checkout -b branch_name e562d13
Solution 5 - Git
Follow these Steps:
1: Enter:
git reflog show
This will display all the Commit history, you need to select the sha-1 that has the last commit that you want to get back
2: create a branch name with the Sha-1 ID you selected eg: 8c87714
git branch your-branch-name 8c87714
Solution 6 - Git
First: back up your entire directory, including the .git directory.
Second: You can use git fsck --lost-found to obtain the ID of the lost commits.
Third: rebase or merge onto the lost commit.
Fourth: Always think twice before using -D or --force with git :)
You could also read this good discussion of how to recover from this kind of error.
EDIT: By the way, don't run git gc (or allow it to run by itself - i.e. don't run git fetch or anything similar) or you may lose your commits for ever.
Solution 7 - Git
Thanks, this worked.
> git branch new_branch_name sha1
> git checkout new_branch_name
//can see my old checked in files in my old branch
Solution 8 - Git
If you deleted a branch via Source Tree, you could easily find the SHA1 of the deleted branch by going to View -> Show Command History.
It should have the next format:
Deleting branch ...
...
Deleted branch %NAME% (was %SHA1%)
...
Then just follow the original answer.
git branch branchName <sha1>
Solution 9 - Git
This worked for me:
git fsck --full --no-reflogs --unreachable --lost-found
git show d6e883ff45be514397dcb641c5a914f40b938c86
git branch helpme 15e521b0f716269718bb4e4edc81442a6c11c139
Solution 10 - Git
if you deleted a branch using GUI of a Jetbrains IDE(Goland, phpstorm etc)
go to
git windows(left-down corner of IDE) -> console tab -> now you can see log of executed commands by IDE and find the branch name and SHA1 from this log