git revert & git reset
Undo a commit: revert and reset
Lesson 17 of 20 · 11 min · Module 5: Teamwork and fixing mistakes
Commits can be undone too. The right tool depends on one question: has anyone else got the commit yet?
Start this lesson →Free. No installation: you write and run the code in your browser, and it is checked automatically.
By the end, you’ll be able to…
- Undo a shared commit with git revert
- Undo local commits with git reset
- Recover with git reflog
The idea
git revert commit creates a new commit with the opposite changes. The history keeps both, so it is the safe way to undo a commit that is already pushed. git reset HEAD~1 moves your branch back one commit, as if it never happened; the changes stay in your files, unstaged. --soft keeps them staged, and --hard throws them away. Reset only commits you have not pushed. If a reset goes too far, git reflog remembers where HEAD has been.
git revert HEAD
git reset HEAD~1
git reflog01revert: undo with a new commit
git revert creates a commit with the opposite changes. Nobody's history is rewritten, so it is safe for commits that are already pushed. On your computer, Git opens your editor with a ready message; the practice terminal accepts it for you.
git revert HEAD~1[main 5027bc0] Revert "Add a pop-up banner"
1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)
delete mode 100644 banner.html02reset: move the branch back
git reset HEAD~1 moves the branch back one commit. Its changes stay in your files, unstaged, so you can rework them. --soft keeps them staged; --hard throws them away.
git reset HEAD~1
git status --shortUnstaged changes after reset:
M style.css
M style.css03The reflog remembers
git reflog lists every commit HEAD pointed to, even ones no branch points to any more. After a reset that went too far, git reset --hard HEAD@{1} goes back to where you were.
git reset --hard HEAD~1
git reflog -3HEAD is now at 93cc509 Add a pop-up banner
93cc509 (HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~1
8e7e025 HEAD@{1}: commit: Try a new font
93cc509 (HEAD -> main, origin/main, origin/HEAD) HEAD@{2}: commit: Add a pop-up bannerYour turn
Try a new font, exists only on this computer: undo the commit with git reset, but keep the change in style.css to finish later. The commit before it, Add a pop-up banner, is already on GitHub and visitors hate it: undo it with git revert and push the revert. Leave the font change uncommitted.What the checks look for
- The font commit is gone, but its change is still in style.css
- The banner is undone by a revert commit
- GitHub has the revert and keeps the original in its history
- The font change was never pushed
Take this with you
Pushed? Revert it. Only on your computer? Reset it.
Go a little further
Run git reset --hard HEAD~1, then find the lost commit in git reflog and bring it back with git reset --hard HEAD@{1}.