What s the difference between Git Revert Checkout and Reset

Question

I am trying to learn how to restore or rollback files and projects to a prior state  and don t understand the difference between git revert  checkout  and reset   Why are there 3 different commands for seemingly the same purpose  and when should someone choose one over the other

User · Answer

git revert is used to undo a previous commit   In git  you can t alter or erase an earlier commit    Actually you can  but it can cause problems    So instead of editing the earlier commit  revert introduces a new commit that reverses an earlier one  git reset is used to undo changes in your working directory that haven t been comitted yet  git checkout is used to copy a file from some other commit to your current working tree   It doesn t automatically commit the file

User · Answer

These three commands have entirely different purposes  They are not even remotely similar   git revert  This command creates a new commit that undoes the changes from a previous commit  This command adds new history to the project  it doesn t modify existing history    git checkout  This command checks-out content from the repository and puts it in your work tree  It can also have other effects  depending on how the command was invoked  For instance  it can also change which branch you are currently working on  This command doesn t make any changes to the history   git reset  This command is a little more complicated  It actually does a couple of different things depending on how it is invoked  It modifies the index  the so-called  staging area    Or it changes which commit a branch head is currently pointing at  This command may alter existing history  by changing the commit that a branch references    Using these commands  If a commit has been made somewhere in the project s history  and you later decide that the commit is wrong and should not have been done  then git revert is the tool for the job  It will undo the changes introduced by the bad commit  recording the  undo  in the history   If you have modified a file in your working tree  but haven t committed the change  then you can use git checkout to checkout a fresh-from-repository copy of the file   If you have made a commit  but haven t shared it with anyone else and you decide you don t want it  then you can use git reset to rewrite the history so that it looks as though you never made that commit   These are just some of the possible usage scenarios  There are other commands that can be useful in some situations  and the above three commands have other uses as well

User · Answer

Let s say you had commits   C B A   git revert B  will create a commit that undoes changes in B   git revert A  will create a commit that undoes changes in A  but will not touch changes in B  Note that if changes in B are dependent on changes in A  the revert of A is not possible   git reset --soft A  will change the commit history and repository  staging and working directory will still be at state of C   git reset --mixed A  will change the commit history  repository  and staging  working directory will still be at state of C   git reset --hard A  will change the commit history  repository  staging and working directory  you will go back to the state of A completely

User · Answer

If you broke the tree but didn t commit the code  you can use git reset  and if you just want to restore one file  you can use git checkout    If you broke the tree and committed the code  you can use git revert HEAD   http   book git-scm com 4 undoing in git - reset  checkout and revert html

User · Answer

Reset -  On the commit-level  resetting is a way to move the tip of a branch to a different commit  This can be used to remove commits from the current branch   Revert - Reverting undoes a commit by creating a new commit  This is a safe way to undo changes  as it has no chance of re-writing the commit history  Contrast this with git reset  which does alter the existing commit history  For this reason  git revert should be used to undo changes on a public branch  and git reset should be reserved for undoing changes on a private branch   You can have a look on this link-  Reset  Checkout and Revert

User · Answer

git checkout modifies your working tree  git reset modifies which reference the branch you re on points to  git revert adds a commit undoing changes

[git] What's the difference between Git Revert, Checkout and Reset?

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