Revert the Last Commit in Git

Git is a widely used Version Control System (VCS) known for its versatility. Git utilizes local clones of central repositories to bring more effective collaboration. It also keeps track of all the committed changes along the way, so things are readily recoverable.

You might need that recoverability after an inadvertent commit, or to undo the most recent commit for any reason. Git has the ability to revert the last commit, and this tutorial shows you exactly how. It covers methods using both the revert and reset commands, and explains the differences.

Learn more about Git generally in our guide Git vs SVN: Pros and Cons of Each Version Control System.

For a more general, and thorough, coverage of reverting Git commits, take a look at our guide on How to Undo a Git Commit.

Before You Begin

This guide gives example output for the commands it describes. To get the best effect, you can follow along using a similar Git repository.

These next few steps set you up with an example Git repository similar to the one used for the examples in this tutorial. The commit IDs may be different, but the contents of the repository should otherwise be the same.

The steps presume you have already installed Git and done basic configuration (e.g. user email address and name). If you have not done this yet, you can learn how in our guide How to Install Git and Clone a GitHub Repository.

1. Create a new directory for your Git repository, and change into that directory. Here, the new directory, git-example is created in the current user’s home directory:

   mkdir ~/git-example
   cd ~/git-example
   

   From here on, you should execute the given commands while working in this directory.

2. Initialize the new Git repository:

   git init
   

3. Use the touch command to create some new empty files:

   touch example-file-1.txt
   touch example-file-2.txt
   

4. Add the files to the Git staging area, then commit the staged changes:

   git add .
   git commit -m "Initialized repo."
   

5. Make some changes to the first file, adding some content to it. Then stage and commit those changes:

   echo "Some example text for the first file." >> example-file-1.txt
   git add example-file-1.txt
   git commit -m "Added text to first file."
   

6. Do the same for the second file:

   echo "Some example text for the second file." >> example-file-2.txt
   git add example-file-2.txt
   git commit -m "Added text to second file."
   

7. You now have a Git repository with a couple of files and several commits, which you can see listed with:

   git log --oneline
   

   f4391b2 (HEAD -> master) Added text to second file.
   e3c534a Added text to first file.
   0b24777 Initialized repo.

How to Use revert on the Last Git Commit

Git’s revert command undoes a commit by comparing the changes made in that commit to the repository’s previous state. The command then creates a new commit that reverts the changes.

Thus, to use revert to undo the last commit, you first need the ID for that commit. You can get this with the log command. Here, the command is used with the --oneline option to make each commit display on a single line:

git log --oneline

f4391b2 (HEAD -> master) Added text to second file.
e3c534a Added text to first file.
0b24777 Initialized repo.

The line at the top of the screen, with an ID of f4391b2 in this example, represents the last commit.

From there, you can revert that commit using the revert command with that commit’s ID, as in:

git revert f4391b2

Git starts a new commit to revert the changes. It may present you with a text editor allowing you to edit the description for the new commit. When you are satisfied with the description, exit the text editor to complete the reversion.

[master e86542a] Revert "Added text to second file."
 1 file changed, 1 deletion(-)

Use the log command again, and you can see that there is now a new commit to revert the previous commit:

git log --oneline

e86542a (HEAD -> master) Revert "Added text to second file."
f4391b2 Added text to second file.
e3c534a Added text to first file.
0b24777 Initialized repo.

You can even check the modified file to see that the changes have been reversed. In this case, that is example-file-2.txt:

cat example-file-2.txt

How to Use reset to Undo Git Commits

Git’s reset command can also be used to revert the last commit. The command is more radical than revert and works by removing commits entirely from the repository’s commit history. Essentially, reset “rewinds” you to a previous commit, eliminating later commits and history along the way.

With the reset command, you have access to the HEAD~1 alias. This alias stands in for the ID of the previous commit, providing easy access when trying to revert to the last commit.

The reset command comes with three flags that define how the command deals with changed files in the working directory and staging area.

• Use the --soft option to roll back to a previous commit, while preserving file changes in the working directory and staging area.

  git reset --soft HEAD~1
  

• Use the --hard option to likewise roll back to a previous commit. However, this option results in all file changes being reverted as well. Changes to files in the working directory as well as staged changes are both discarded.

  git reset --hard HEAD~1
  

• Use the --mixed option to, again, roll back to a previous commit. Here, a middle ground is adopted for file changes. As with the --hard option, changes made to files in the working directory are discarded. However, like the --soft option, staged changes are preserved.

  git reset --mixed HEAD~1
  

After any of the above reset commands, you can see that the last commit has been removed from the Git commit history:

git log --oneline

e3c534a (HEAD -> master) Added text to first file.
0b24777 Initialized repo.

The difference is that, if you ran the --soft option with the command, you can still find the changes to the file in the working directory. For this example, that is the example-file-2.txt file:

cat example-file-2.txt

Some example text for the second file.

reset vs revert

The main difference between the revert and reset commands is the commit history.

The revert command aims to maintain a full commit history, undoing a commit by assessing changes and making a new commit that reverses them. This actually means that the revert command adds to the commit history. It gives you full transparency to past commits and their reversions.

The reset command, on the other hand, discards commits even from the commit history, making them impossible to recover later. And reset can even do the same for local file changes. This option keeps you from seeing reversions and the original commits that are reverted.

Generally, it is recommended that you use revert for backing out a commit. It keeps a record of the removed commit and leaves the possibility of assessing and accessing the commit history later.

By contrast, the reset command should be used sparingly. Take a good look at the situation to ensure that it cannot be remedied by the revert command before you make the decision to apply reset. The reset option might be preferred, however, for immediately undoing mistaken commits, when there is less chance that you need options for recovering the changes.

Conclusion

That covers all you need to revert recent Git commits. Moreover, the techniques covered in this tutorial can also help you manage Git commits more generally. The revert command can be useful for precisely removing past commits while retaining your commit history. The reset command, on the other hand, provides a more radical option, completely reverting a repository to a previous commit, including the commit history.

To keep learning, refer to the links at the beginning of this guide. These give you more on Git generally as well as more on the commands covered in this tutorial.

You may also want to look at our entire lineup of guides on version control. These cover everything from the fundamentals to particular use cases, and provide steps to deepen your version control knowledge.

More Information

You may wish to consult the following resources for additional information on this topic. While these are provided in the hope that they will be useful, please note that we cannot vouch for the accuracy or timeliness of externally hosted materials.

• freeCodeCamp: Git Revert Commit – How to Undo the Last Commit
• TechTarget: How to Revert a Git Commit