lesson ── git-labs ── ~22 мин ── 8 шагов

Undoing: reset, revert, reflog

The goal is to walk through three ways to "rewind" and learn when to use each one. reset rewrites history, which suits your own local branch. revert creates a compensating commit and is safe on a shared branch. reflog saves you once everything is already broken.

интерактивный sandbox

Поднимется контейнер gitlab/git-base с git, bash, pre-commit. В браузере откроется терминал, можно сразу git init. Каждый шаг проверяется автоматически. Сеть air-gapped, github.com недоступен.

запустить sandbox →

stack ── git · bash · 256 MB RAM · air-gapped · самоуничтожается через 30 мин простоя

Шаги

Create a repo with five commits

bash

cd /home/student/work

mkdir -p undo-lab && cd undo-lab

git init -b main

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do

  echo "line $i" >> file.txt

  git add file.txt

  git commit -m "line $i"

done

git log --oneline

Five commits, the file holds 5 lines. This is your practice range for undos.

✓ Five commits in place.

Run reset --soft by one commit

--soft drops the commit but keeps its content in the index.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git reset --soft HEAD~1       # --soft = move the branch only, do not touch index or working

git log --oneline             # log is 1 shorter

git status                    # content of the dropped commit is in the index

The log is now 4 commits. The index holds line 5 and is ready to recommit with a different message.

✓ Commit dropped, the change is in the index.

03
Run reset --mixed to clear the index
--mixed (the default) also clears the index. It leaves the working tree alone.
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
git reset HEAD~1 # no flag = --mixed: branch + index, do not touch working
git log --oneline
git status # changes in working as unstaged
The log is 3 commits. The index is empty. The working tree holds line 4 and line 5 as unstaged changes. Useful when a commit was made with the wrong files in the index.
✓ Index cleared. Changes are in working.
04
Run reset --hard to wipe everything
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
git reset --hard HEAD~1 # --hard = branch + index + working, all set to HEAD~1
git log --oneline
cat file.txt # only 2 lines, everything above is gone
git status # working tree clean
The log is 2 commits. file.txt holds only 2 lines. The working tree is clean. All the "lost" changes are no longer visible through log, but...
подсказка
Dangerous? Yes. But reflog still remembers.
✓ Hard reset done. History 'seems' lost.
05
Recover what was lost via reflog
reflog is a local journal of HEAD moves. All the "deleted" commits are still there.
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
git reflog # local log of every HEAD move (90 days)
You see entries HEAD@{0}, HEAD@{1}, and so on. These are your recent positions. Find the one where there were 5 commits:
bash
# HEAD@{n} = "where HEAD was n steps ago" per reflog
git reset --hard HEAD@{4}
git log --oneline # all 5 commits are back
All 5 commits are back. reflog keeps entries for 90 days by default.
✓ Five commits restored. reflog saved you.
06
Undo a commit via revert (without rewriting history)
Suppose commit line 3 is bad, and someone has already pushed it to shared. reset is dangerous here: it rewrites history. Use revert.
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
# awk '{print $1}' = first column of `log --oneline`, the short sha
SHA=$(git log --oneline | grep 'line 3' | awk '{print $1}')
git revert --no-edit $SHA # --no-edit = take the default message "Revert ..."
git log --oneline
cat file.txt # line 3 is gone, the rest are kept
The log grew by one commit (Revert "line 3"). History is preserved, and both of you can see what happened. file.txt now holds line 1, line 2, line 4, line 5, without line 3.
✓ Revert created an inverse commit. History was not rewritten.
07
Compare the revert result against what reset would have done
Remember the difference:
- reset removes commits from history. SHAs after the reset are rewritten. On a pushed branch this disrupts the team's work.
- revert adds a new commit that undoes the old one. History grows, but no SHAs change.
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
git log --oneline --graph
You see a linear history of 6 entries: 5 original ones plus the revert. No "missing" SHAs.
✓ Six commits. History intact, the mistake undone.
08
Run amend and recover the old version via reflog
Make a commit:
bash
cd /home/student/work/undo-lab
echo "extra" >> file.txt
git add file.txt && git commit -m "add extra"
git log --oneline | head -1
Note the SHA. Run amend:
bash
git commit --amend -m "add extra (corrected)" # replaces HEAD with a new commit
git log --oneline | head -1 # different SHA, new message
The commit's SHA is different. The old version is in reflog:
bash
git reflog | head -5 # top 5 entries: both commit and commit (amend) are visible
Both versions are visible: one commit:, the other commit (amend):. If you want to undo the amend, run git reset --hard HEAD@{1}. The lesson ends here: you know how to undo almost anything you did by accident.
✓ Amend and reflog worked. Most of what is 'lost' in Git can be brought back.

Что ты узнал

reset moves the branch pointer back (3 levels of aggressiveness). revert creates a commit that is the inverse by content. reflog keeps every HEAD position for the last 90 days, and even "deleted" commits are recovered from there.

команды

git reset --soft HEAD~1drop the commit, keep the index
git reset --hard <sha>move to a commit and wipe everything
git revert <sha>create an inverse commit
git refloglog of every HEAD position
git reset --hard HEAD@{n}restore a state from reflog

концепции

· reset rewrites history, revert adds to it
· reflog sees what log does not
· hard reset is dangerous, but reflog almost always saves you

Шаги

Create a repo with five commits

bash

cd /home/student/work

mkdir -p undo-lab && cd undo-lab

git init -b main

for i in 1 2 3 4 5; do

  echo "line $i" >> file.txt

  git add file.txt

  git commit -m "line $i"

done

git log --oneline

Five commits, the file holds 5 lines. This is your practice range for undos.

✓ Five commits in place.

Run reset --soft by one commit

--soft drops the commit but keeps its content in the index.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git reset --soft HEAD~1       # --soft = move the branch only, do not touch index or working

git log --oneline             # log is 1 shorter

git status                    # content of the dropped commit is in the index

The log is now 4 commits. The index holds line 5 and is ready to recommit with a different message.

✓ Commit dropped, the change is in the index.

Run reset --mixed to clear the index

--mixed (the default) also clears the index. It leaves the working tree alone.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git reset HEAD~1              # no flag = --mixed: branch + index, do not touch working

git log --oneline

git status                    # changes in working as unstaged

The log is 3 commits. The index is empty. The working tree holds line 4 and line 5 as unstaged changes. Useful when a commit was made with the wrong files in the index.

✓ Index cleared. Changes are in working.

Run reset --hard to wipe everything

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git reset --hard HEAD~1       # --hard = branch + index + working, all set to HEAD~1

git log --oneline

cat file.txt                  # only 2 lines, everything above is gone

git status                    # working tree clean

The log is 2 commits. file.txt holds only 2 lines. The working tree is clean. All the "lost" changes are no longer visible through log, but...

подсказка

Dangerous? Yes. But reflog still remembers.

✓ Hard reset done. History 'seems' lost.

Recover what was lost via reflog

reflog is a local journal of HEAD moves. All the "deleted" commits are still there.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git reflog                    # local log of every HEAD move (90 days)

You see entries HEAD@{0}, HEAD@{1}, and so on. These are your recent positions. Find the one where there were 5 commits:

bash

# HEAD@{n} = "where HEAD was n steps ago" per reflog

git reset --hard HEAD@{4}

git log --oneline             # all 5 commits are back

All 5 commits are back. reflog keeps entries for 90 days by default.

✓ Five commits restored. reflog saved you.

Undo a commit via revert (without rewriting history)

Suppose commit line 3 is bad, and someone has already pushed it to shared. reset is dangerous here: it rewrites history. Use revert.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

# awk '{print $1}' = first column of `log --oneline`, the short sha

SHA=$(git log --oneline | grep 'line 3' | awk '{print $1}')

git revert --no-edit $SHA     # --no-edit = take the default message "Revert ..."

git log --oneline

cat file.txt                  # line 3 is gone, the rest are kept

The log grew by one commit (Revert "line 3"). History is preserved, and both of you can see what happened. file.txt now holds line 1, line 2, line 4, line 5, without line 3.

✓ Revert created an inverse commit. History was not rewritten.

Compare the revert result against what reset would have done

Remember the difference:

reset removes commits from history. SHAs after the reset are rewritten. On a pushed branch this disrupts the team's work.
revert adds a new commit that undoes the old one. History grows, but no SHAs change.

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

git log --oneline --graph

You see a linear history of 6 entries: 5 original ones plus the revert. No "missing" SHAs.

✓ Six commits. History intact, the mistake undone.

Run amend and recover the old version via reflog

Make a commit:

bash

cd /home/student/work/undo-lab

echo "extra" >> file.txt

git add file.txt && git commit -m "add extra"

git log --oneline | head -1

Note the SHA. Run amend:

bash

git commit --amend -m "add extra (corrected)"   # replaces HEAD with a new commit

git log --oneline | head -1   # different SHA, new message

The commit's SHA is different. The old version is in reflog:

bash

git reflog | head -5          # top 5 entries: both commit and commit (amend) are visible

Both versions are visible: one commit:, the other commit (amend):. If you want to undo the amend, run git reset --hard HEAD@{1}. The lesson ends here: you know how to undo almost anything you did by accident.

✓ Amend and reflog worked. Most of what is 'lost' in Git can be brought back.

Что ты узнал

команды

git reset --soft HEAD~1drop the commit, keep the index
git reset --hard <sha>move to a commit and wipe everything
git revert <sha>create an inverse commit
git refloglog of every HEAD position
git reset --hard HEAD@{n}restore a state from reflog

концепции

· reset rewrites history, revert adds to it
· reflog sees what log does not
· hard reset is dangerous, but reflog almost always saves you