Move branch pointer to different commit without checkout

Question

To move the branch pointer of a checked out branch  one can use the git reset --hard command  But how to move the branch pointer of a not-checked out branch to point at a different commit  keeping all other stuff like tracked remote branch

User · Answer

You can also pass git reset --hard a commit reference   For example   git checkout branch-name git reset --hard new-tip-commit   I find I do something like this semi-frequently   Assuming this history    git log --decorate --oneline --graph   3daed46  HEAD  master  New thing I shouldn t have committed to master   a0d9687 This is the commit that I actually want to be master    Backup my latest commit to a wip branch   git branch wip doing stuff    Ditch that commit on this branch   git reset --hard HEAD     Now my changes are in a new branch   git log --decorate --oneline --graph   3daed46  wip doing stuff  New thing I shouldn t have committed to master   a0d9687  HEAD  master  This is the commit that I actually want to be master

User · Answer

Open the file  git refs heads  lt your branch name gt   and change the hash stored there to the one where you want to move the head of your branch  Just edit and save the file with any text editor  Just make sure that the branch to modify is not the current active one   Disclaimer  Probably not an advisable way to do it  but gets the job done

User · Answer

For the checked out branch  in the case the commit you want to point to is ahead of the current branch  which should be the case unless you want to undo the last commits of the current branch   you can simply do  git merge --ff-only  lt commit gt   This makes a softer alternative to git reset --hard  and will fail if you are not in the case described above  To do the same thing for a non checked out branch  the equivalent would be  git push    lt commit gt   lt branch gt

User · Answer

Honestly  I m surprised how nobody thought about the git push command   git push -f    lt destination gt   lt branch gt    The dot       refers the local repository  and you may need the -f option because the destination could be  behind its remote counterpart    Although this command is used to save your changes in your server  the result is exactly the same as if moving the remote branch   lt branch gt   to the same commit as the local branch   lt destination gt

User · Answer

In gitk --all    right click on the commit you want -  create new branch enter the name of an existing branch press return on the dialog that confirms replacing the old branch of that name    Beware that re-creating instead of modifying the existing branch will lose tracking-branch information    This is generally not a problem for simple use-cases where there s only one remote and your local branch has the same name as the corresponding branch in the remote   See comments for more details  thanks  mbdevpl for pointing out this downside    It would be cool if gitk had a feature where the dialog box had 3 options  overwrite  modify existing  or cancel     Even if you re normally a command-line junkie like myself  git gui and gitk are quite nicely designed for the subset of git usage they allow   I highly recommend using them for what they re good at  i e  selectively staging hunks into out of the index in git gui  and also just committing    ctrl-s to add a signed-off  line  ctrl-enter to commit    gitk is great for keeping track of a few branches while you sort out your changes into a nice patch series to submit upstream  or anything else where you need to keep track of what you re in the middle of with multiple branches   I don t even have a graphical file browser open  but I love gitk git gui

User · Answer

git branch -f  lt branch-name gt    lt new-tip-commit gt    If new-tip-commit is omitted it defaults to the current commit

User · Answer

The recommended solution git branch -f branch-pointer-to-move new-pointer in TortoiseGit     Git Show log  Check  All Branches  On the line you want the branch pointer to move to  new-pointer     Right click   Create Branch at this version  Beside  Branch   enter the name of the branch to move  branch-pointer-to-move  Under  Base On   check that the new pointer is correct Check  Force  Ok

User · Answer

Just to enrich the discussion  if you want to move myBranch branch to your current commit  just omit the second argument after -f  Example   git branch -f myBranch    I generally do this when I rebase while in a Detached HEAD state

User · Answer

You can do it for arbitrary refs  This is how to move a branch pointer  git update-ref -m  quot reset  Reset  lt branch gt  to  lt new commit gt  quot  refs heads  lt branch gt   lt commit gt   where -m adds a message to the reflog for the branch  The general form is git update-ref -m  quot reset  Reset  lt branch gt  to  lt new commit gt  quot   lt ref gt   lt commit gt   You can pick nits about the reflog message if you like - I believe the branch -f one is different from the reset --hard one  and this isn t exactly either of them

User · Answer

If you want to move a non-checked out branch to another commit  the easiest way is running the git branch command with -f option  which determines where the branch HEAD should be pointing to  git branch -f   Be careful as this won t work if the branch you are trying to move is your current branch  To move a branch pointer  run the following command  git update-ref -m  quot reset  Reset  to  quot  refs heads   The git update-ref command updates the object name stored in a ref safely  Hope  my answer helped you The source of information is this snippet

[git] Move branch pointer to different commit without checkout

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