What s the difference between git reset --mixed --soft and --hard

Question

I m looking to split a commit up and not sure which reset option to use   I was looking at the page In plain English  what does  quot git reset quot  do   but I realized I don t really understand what the git index or staging area is and thus the explanations didn t help   Also  the use cases for --mixed and --soft look the same to me in that answer  when you want to fix and recommit   Can someone break it down even more   I realize --mixed is probably the option to go with  but I want to know why  Lastly  what about --hard   Can someone give me a workflow example of how selecting the 3 options would happen

User · Answer

Three types of regret

A lot of the existing answers don't seem to answer the actual question. They are about what the commands do, not about what you (the user) want — the use case. But that is what the OP asked about!

It might be more helpful to couch the description in terms of what it is precisely that you regret at the time you give a git reset command. Let's say we have this:

A - B - C - D <- HEAD

Here are some possible regrets and what to do about them:

1. I regret that B, C, and D are not one commit.

git reset --soft A. I can now immediately commit and presto, all the changes since A are one commit.

2. I regret that B, C, and D are not ten commits.

git reset --mixed A. The commits are gone and the index is back at A, but the work area still looks as it did after D. So now I can add-and-commit in a whole different grouping.

3. I regret that B, C, and D happened on this branch; I wish I had branched after A and they had happened on that other branch.

Make a new branch otherbranch, and then git reset --hard A. The current branch now ends at A, with otherbranch stemming from it.

(Of course you could also use a hard reset because you wish B, C, and D had never happened at all.)

User · Answer

You don t have to force yourself to remember differences between them  Think of how you actually made a commit   Make some changes   git add    git commit -m  quot I did Something quot    Soft  Mixed and Hard is the way enabling you to give up the operations you did from 3 to 1   Soft  quot pretended quot  to never see you have did git commit  Mixed  quot pretended quot  to never see you have did git add   Hard  quot pretended quot  to never see you have made file changes

User · Answer

--mixed vs --soft vs --hard  --mixed      Delete changes from the local repository and staging area      It won t touch the working directory      Possible to revert back changes by using the following commands        - git add       - git commit     Working tree won t be clean   --soft       Deleted changes only from the local repository       It won t touch the staging area and working directory       Possible to revert back changes by using the following command        - git commit       Working tree won t be clean  --hard       Deleted changes from everywhere       Not possible to revert changes       The working tree will be clean   NOTE  If the commits are confirmed to the local repository and to discard those commits we can use    git reset command    But if the commits are confirmed to the remote repository then not recommended to use the reset command and we have to use the revert command to discard the remote commits

User · Answer

All the other answers are great  but I find it best to understand them by breaking down files into three categories  unstaged  staged  commit    --hard should be easy to understand  it restores everything --mixed  default      unstaged files  don t change staged files  move to unstaged commit files  move to unstaged  --soft    unstaged files  don t change staged files  dont  change commit files  move to staged    In summary     --soft option will move everything  except unstaged files  into staging area --mixed option will move everything into unstaged area

User · Answer

Here is a basic explanation for TortoiseGit users   git reset --soft and --mixed leave your files untouched    git reset --hard actually change your files to match the commit you reset to   In TortoiseGit  The concept of the index is very hidden by the GUI  When you modify a file  you don t have to run git add to add the change to the staging area index   When simply dealing with modifications to existing files that are not changing file names  git reset --soft and --mixed are the same  You will only notice a difference if you added new files or renamed files  In this case  if you run git reset --mixed  you will have to re-add your file s  from the Not Versioned Files list

User · Answer

A short answer in what context the 3 options are used   To keep the current changes in the code but to rewrite the commit history    soft  You can commit everything at once and create a new commit with a new description  if you use torotise git or any most other GUIs  this is the one to use  as you can still tick which files you want in the commit and make multiple commits that way with different files  In Sourcetree all files would be staged for commit   mixed  You will have to add the individual files again to the index before you make commits  in Sourcetree all the changed files would be unstaged    To actually lose your changes in the code as well    hard  you don t just rewrite history but also lose all your changes up to the point you reset

User · Answer

In these cases I like a visual that can hopefully explain this   git reset -- hard mixed soft       So each effect different scopes   Hard    WorkingDir   Index   HEAD Mixed    Index   HEAD Soft    HEAD only  index and working dir unchanged

User · Answer

mkarasek s Answer is great  in simple terms we can say      git reset --soft   set the HEAD to the intended commit but keep your changes staged from last commits git reset --mixed   it s same as git reset --soft but the only difference is it un stage your changes from last commits git reset --hard   set your HEAD on the commit you specify and reset all your changes from last commits including un committed changes

User · Answer

In the simplest terms    --soft  uncommit changes  changes are left staged  index   --mixed  default   uncommit   unstage changes  changes are left in working tree  --hard  uncommit   unstage   delete changes  nothing left

User · Answer

--soft  Tells Git to reset HEAD to another commit  so index and the working directory will not be altered in any way  All of the files changed between the original HEAD and the commit will be staged   --mixed  Just like the soft  this will reset HEAD to another commit  It will also reset the index to match it while working directory will not be touched  All the changes will stay in the working directory and appear as modified  but not staged   --hard  This resets everything - it resets HEAD back to another commit  resets the index to match it  and resets the working directory to match it as well   The main difference between --mixed and --soft is whether or not your index is also modified  Check more about this here

User · Answer

When you modify a file in your repository  the change is initially unstaged  In order to commit it  you must stage it   that is  add it to the index   using git add  When you make a commit  the changes that are committed are those that have been added to the index   git reset changes  at minimum  where the current branch  HEAD  is pointing  The difference between --mixed and --soft is whether or not your index is also modified  So  if we re on branch master with this series of commits   - A - B - C  master    HEADpoints to C and the index matches C   When we run git reset --soft B  master  and thus HEAD  now points to B  but the index still has the changes from C  git status will show them as staged  So if we run git commit at this point  we ll get a new commit with the same changes as C     Okay  so starting from here again   - A - B - C  master    Now let s do git reset --mixed B   Note  --mixed is the default option   Once again  master and HEAD point to B  but this time the index is also modified to match B  If we run git commit at this point  nothing will happen since the index matches HEAD  We still have the changes in the working directory  but since they re not in the index  git status shows them as unstaged  To commit them  you would git add and then commit as usual     And finally  --hard is the same as --mixed  it changes your HEAD and index   except that --hard also modifies your working directory  If we re at C and run git reset --hard B  then the changes added in C  as well as any uncommitted changes you have  will be removed  and the files in your working copy will match commit B  Since you can permanently lose changes this way  you should always run git status before doing a hard reset to make sure your working directory is clean or that you re okay with losing your uncommitted changes     And finally  a visualization

User · Answer

Basic difference between various options of git reset command are as below    --soft  Only resets the HEAD to the commit you select  Works basically the same as git checkout  but does not create a detached head state  --mixed  default option   Resets the HEAD to the commit you select in both the history and undoes the changes in the index  --hard  Resets the HEAD to the commit you select in both the history  undoes the changes in the index  and undoes the changes in your working directory

User · Answer

There are a number of answers here with a misconception about git reset --soft  While there is a specific condition in which git reset --soft will only change HEAD  starting from a detached head state   typically  and for the intended use   it moves the branch reference you currently have checked out  Of course it can t do this if you don t have a branch checked out  hence the specific condition where git reset --soft will only change HEAD      I ve found this to be the best way to think about git reset  You re not just moving HEAD  everything does that   you re also moving the branch ref  e g   master  This is similar to what happens when you run git commit  the current branch moves along with HEAD   except instead of creating  and moving to  a new commit  you move to a prior commit   This is the point of reset  changing a branch to something other than a new commit  not changing HEAD   You can see this in the documentation example      Undo a commit  making it a topic branch              git branch topic wip      1              git reset --hard HEAD 3   2              git checkout topic wip    3           You have made some commits  but realize they were premature to be in the  master  branch  You want to continue polishing them in a topic branch  so create  topic wip  branch off of the current HEAD    Rewind the master branch to get rid of those three commits    Switch to  topic wip  branch and keep working       What s the point of this series of commands  You want to move a branch  here master  so while you have master checked out  you run git reset   The top voted answer here is generally good  but I thought I d add this to correct the several answers with misconceptions   Change your branch  git reset --soft  lt ref gt   resets the branch pointer for the currently checked out branch to the commit at the specified reference   lt ref gt   Files in your working directory and index are not changed  Committing from this stage will take you right back to where you were before the git reset command   Change your index too  git reset --mixed  lt ref gt   or equivalently  git reset  lt ref gt    Does what --soft does AND also resets the index to the match the commit at the specified reference  While git reset --soft HEAD does nothing  because it says move the checked out branch to the checked out branch   git reset --mixed HEAD  or equivalently git reset HEAD  is a common and useful command because it resets the index to the state of your last commit   Change your working directory too  git reset --hard  lt ref gt   does what --mixed does AND also overwrites your working directory  This command is similar to git checkout  lt ref gt   except that  and this is the crucial point about reset  all forms of git reset move the branch ref HEAD is pointing to   A note about  such and such command moves the HEAD    It is not useful to say a command moves the HEAD   Any command that changes where you are in your commit history moves the HEAD  That s what the HEAD is  a pointer to wherever you are  HEADis you  and so will move whenever you do

User · Answer

I   m not a git expert and just arrived on this forum to understand it  Thus maybe my explanation is not perfect  sorry for that  I found all the other answer helpful and I will just try to give another perspective  I will modify a bit the question since I guess that it was maybe the intent of the author     I   m new to git  Before using git  I was renaming my files like this  main c  main 1 c  main 2 c when i was performing majors changes in order to be able to go back in case of trouble  Thus  if I decided to come back to main 1 c  it was easy and I also keep main 2 c and main 3 c since I could also need them later  How can I easily do the same thing using git     For my answer  I mainly use the    regret number three    of  the great answer of Matt above because I also think that the initial question is about    what do I do if I have regret when using git      At the beginning  the situation is like that  A-B-C-D  master   The first main point is to create a new branch  git branch mynewbranch  Then one get   A-B-C-D  master and mynewbranch   Let   s suppose now that one want to come back to A  3 commits before   The second main point is to use the command git reset --hard even if one can read on the net that it is dangerous  Yes  it   s dangerous but only for uncommitted changes  Thus  the way to do is   Git reset --hard thenumberofthecommitA or Git reset --hard master 3 Then one obtains  A  master      B     C     D  mynewbranch  Then  it   s possible to continue working and commit from A  master  but still can get an easy access to the other versions by checking out on the other branch  git checkout mynewbranch  Now  let   s imagine that one forgot to create a new branch before the command git reset --hard  Is the commit B  C  D are lost  No  but there are not stored in any branches  To find them again  one may use the command   git reflog that is consider as    a safety command        in case of trouble  keep calm and use git reflog      This command will list all commits even those that not belong to any branches  Thus  it   s a convenient way to find the commit B  C or D

User · Answer

Before going into these three option one must understand 3 things   1  History HEAD  2  Stage index  3  Working directory  reset --soft   History changed  HEAD changed  Working directory is not changed   reset --mixed   History changed  HEAD changed  Working directory changed with unstaged data   reset --hard   History changed  HEAD changed  Working directory is changed with lost data   It is always safe to go with Git --soft  One should use other option in complex requirement

User · Answer

Please be aware  this is a simplified explanation intended as a first step in seeking to understand this complex functionality  May be helpful for visual learners who want to visualise what their project state looks like after each of these commands  Given  - A - B - C  master   For those who use Terminal with colour turned on  git config --global color ui auto   git reset --soft A and you will see B and C s stuff in green  staged and ready to commit  git reset --mixed A  or git reset A  and you will see B and C s stuff in red  unstaged and ready to be staged  green  and then committed  git reset --hard A and you will no longer see B and C s changes anywhere  will be as if they never existed   Or for those who use a GUI program like  Tower  or  SourceTree  git reset --soft A and you will see B and C s stuff in the  staged files  area ready to commit git reset --mixed A  or git reset A  and you will see B and C s stuff in the  unstaged files  area ready to be moved to staged and then committed git reset --hard A and you will no longer see B and C s changes anywhere  will be as if they never existed

[git] What's the difference between git reset --mixed, --soft, and --hard?

Three types of regret

1. I regret that B, C, and D are not one commit.

2. I regret that B, C, and D are not ten commits.

3. I regret that B, C, and D happened on this branch; I wish I had branched after A and they had happened on that other branch.

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