Move commits from master onto a branch using git
GitCommitGit BranchGit ResetGit Problem Overview
I'm trying to learn how to use Git effectively and I'm wondering how I should (good practice/bad practice?) solve the following case:
Say I have the following chain of commits in master:
- Initial commit
- Commit 1
- Commit 2
- Commit 3
Then I realize that what's done in the last two commits is completely wrong and I need to start from Commit 1 again. Questions:
- How should I do that?
- Can I move Commit 2 and 3 to a separate branch to keep for future reference (say they weren't that bad after all) and continue working from Commit 1 on master?
Git Solutions
Solution 1 - Git
git branch tmp # mark the current commit with a tmp branch
git reset --hard Commit1 # revert to Commit1
The SO answer "What's the difference between 'git reset' and 'git checkout' in git?" is quite instructive for that kind of operation
A git reset --hard HEAD~2
would do the same thing (without needing to get back the SHA1 for Commit1
first).
Since Commit2
and Commit3
are still reference by a Git ref (here a branch), you can still revert to them anytime you want (git checkout tmp
).
Actually, Darien mentions in the comments (regarding moving Commit2
and Commit3
to another branch):
> Accidentally committed to the wrong branch, this let me move it, did:
git checkout correctbranch
git rebase tmp
git branch -d tmp
This works here since the initial branch has been reset to Commit1
, which means the git rebase tmp
will replay every commit after Commit1
(so here Commit2
and Commit3
) to the new 'correctbranch
'.