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How to Backtrack in Git

Showing Latest Commit Log

In Git, the commit you are currently on is known as the HEAD commit.

The output of the git show HEAD command will display everything the git log command displays for the HEAD commit, plus all the file changes that were committed.

$ git show HEAD
commit 735359632f3ca3fe572484a4ec3e0d7b0d9c8f2d
Author: codecademy <[email protected]>
Date:   Wed Jul 6 10:20:58 2016 -0400


    scene-5.txt


diff --git a/scene-5.txt b/scene-5.txt
index b12dd97..5dd5d4e 100644
--- a/scene-5.txt
+++ b/scene-5.txt
@@ -12,3 +12,7 @@ Hamlet:
I will.




+Ghost:
+My hour is almost come,
+When I to sulphurous and tormenting flames
+Must render up myself.
\ No newline at end of file

Git Reset Using SHA

In Git, the git reset commit_SHA command can be used to set HEAD to the commit_SHA commit. The commit_SHA argument is the first seven digits of a previous commit’s SHA. In this example, the HEAD was reset to the commit made on Wed Jan 6.

You can use git log to see a record of previous commits and their SHA values.

$ git log
commit 9d63f80111447544c303e9f1776fa08593a87310
Author: codecademy <[email protected]>
Date:   Wed Jan 13 18:55:53 2021 +0000


    Added updates to the file


commit 3ba6efbeece6ed530d85de5e313e52123fdf8cb4
Author: codecademy <[email protected]>
Date:   Wed Jan 6 10:11:13 2021 -0400


    Completed first line of dialogue


$ git reset 3ba6efb

Staging Multiple Files

In Git, the git add filename_1 filename_2 command is used to add multiple files to the staging area at once.

You can use git status to check if you properly added your files to the staging area.

$ git add scene-5.txt scene-7.txt
$ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
  (use ""git reset HEAD <file>..."" to unstage)


        modified:   scene-5.txt
        modified:   scene-7.txt

Remove File from Staging

In Git, the git reset HEAD filename command will remove filename from the staging area. Note that this command does not discard file changes from the working directory. You might use this command if you’ve added a file to the staging area, but the file includes incorrect edits.

You can use the git status command to make sure your file was properly removed from the staging area.

$ git reset HEAD scene-3.txt
Unstaged changes after reset:
M       scene-3.txt

Rolling Back to Last Commit

In Git, the git checkout HEAD filename command rolls back all changes that have been made to filename since the last commit. In other words, this command will change your working directory to look exactly as it did when you last made a commit.

You can use the git diff command to see if the rollback was successful. If git diff doesn’t output anything, this means your working directory matches your last commit.

$ git checkout HEAD scene-5.txt
$ git diff
$
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