Git Reset

The git reset command moves the current branch to another commit. It is mostly used to undo the last commits. It has three modes: --soft, --mixed (default) and --hard. They are the same in moving the branch, but different in what they do with your files.

The three modes

Mode	Branch moves back	Staging area	Working directory
--soft	Yes	Keeps the changes staged	Not changed
--mixed (default)	Yes	Cleared (changes unstaged)	Not changed
--hard	Yes	Cleared	Changes are deleted

Prepare an example

git reset –soft

It undoes the commit, but keeps the changes in the staging area. Good when you want to redo the commit, or join some commits into one.

The last commit is gone, but the line “multiply” is still in the file and is staged. We can commit it again with the same message:

git reset –mixed (default)

It undoes the commit and also unstages the changes, but the file is not changed.

git reset –hard

This undoes the commit and also deletes the changes from the files. Use it very carefully.

The line “multiply” is gone from the file, too. The commit can still be found with git reflog for some time, see Git Reflog.

Reset one file (unstage)

git reset HEAD file.txt

It does the same as git restore --staged file.txt.

Reset to a specific commit

git reset --hard a3f9c1e
git reset --hard origin/main

The second line makes your local branch the same as the remote one, and throws away your local commits and changes.

Reset or revert?

Reset changes the history. So do not use it on commits which are already pushed and shared. For those, use git revert, which makes a new commit that undoes the old one.

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