[git] Abort a Git Merge

I am working on a project using Git as the VCS. I got a branch xyz cut from the mainline branch of master. After working for a while, I committed my code and took a pull of the branch mainline.

The pull was fine. I then merged the code with master. After the merge, there were problems in certain files. I have not committed the code after merging. Can someone please guide as to how I can abort this merge and bring my branch where I am working currently to the state where it was before I merged it?

This question is related to git git-merge

The answer is


Truth be told there are many, many resources explaining how to do this already out on the web:

Git: how to reverse-merge a commit?

Git: how to reverse-merge a commit?

Undoing Merges, from Git's blog (retrieved from archive.org's Wayback Machine)

So I guess I'll just summarize some of these:

  1. git revert <merge commit hash>
    This creates an extra "revert" commit saying you undid a merge

  2. git reset --hard <commit hash *before* the merge>
    This reset history to before you did the merge. If you have commits after the merge you will need to cherry-pick them on to afterwards.

But honestly this guide here is better than anything I can explain, with diagrams! :)


If you do "git status" while having a merge conflict, the first thing git shows you is how to abort the merge.

output of git status while having a merge conflict