1GIT-COMMIT(1) Git Manual GIT-COMMIT(1)
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6 git-commit - Record changes to the repository
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9 git commit [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
10 [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>]
11 [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
12 [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
13 [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
14 [-i | -o] [-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<file>...]
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18 Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along with a
19 log message from the user describing the changes.
20
21 The content to be added can be specified in several ways:
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23 1. by using git add to incrementally "add" changes to the index before
24 using the commit command (Note: even modified files must be
25 "added");
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27 2. by using git rm to remove files from the working tree and the
28 index, again before using the commit command;
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30 3. by listing files as arguments to the commit command (without
31 --interactive or --patch switch), in which case the commit will
32 ignore changes staged in the index, and instead record the current
33 content of the listed files (which must already be known to Git);
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35 4. by using the -a switch with the commit command to automatically
36 "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
37 listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
38 that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
39 actual commit;
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41 5. by using the --interactive or --patch switches with the commit
42 command to decide one by one which files or hunks should be part of
43 the commit in addition to contents in the index, before finalizing
44 the operation. See the “Interactive Mode” section of git-add(1) to
45 learn how to operate these modes.
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47 The --dry-run option can be used to obtain a summary of what is
48 included by any of the above for the next commit by giving the same set
49 of parameters (options and paths).
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51 If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after that,
52 you can recover from it with git reset.
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55 -a, --all
56 Tell the command to automatically stage files that have been
57 modified and deleted, but new files you have not told Git about are
58 not affected.
59
60 -p, --patch
61 Use the interactive patch selection interface to chose which
62 changes to commit. See git-add(1) for details.
63
64 -C <commit>, --reuse-message=<commit>
65 Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message and the
66 authorship information (including the timestamp) when creating the
67 commit.
68
69 -c <commit>, --reedit-message=<commit>
70 Like -C, but with -c the editor is invoked, so that the user can
71 further edit the commit message.
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73 --fixup=<commit>
74 Construct a commit message for use with rebase --autosquash. The
75 commit message will be the subject line from the specified commit
76 with a prefix of "fixup! ". See git-rebase(1) for details.
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78 --squash=<commit>
79 Construct a commit message for use with rebase --autosquash. The
80 commit message subject line is taken from the specified commit with
81 a prefix of "squash! ". Can be used with additional commit message
82 options (-m/-c/-C/-F). See git-rebase(1) for details.
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84 --reset-author
85 When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
86 conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
87 resulting commit now belongs to the committer. This also renews the
88 author timestamp.
89
90 --short
91 When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See git-
92 status(1) for details. Implies --dry-run.
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94 --branch
95 Show the branch and tracking info even in short-format.
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97 --porcelain
98 When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready format.
99 See git-status(1) for details. Implies --dry-run.
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101 --long
102 When doing a dry-run, give the output in the long-format. Implies
103 --dry-run.
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105 -z, --null
106 When showing short or porcelain status output, print the filename
107 verbatim and terminate the entries with NUL, instead of LF. If no
108 format is given, implies the --porcelain output format. Without the
109 -z option, filenames with "unusual" characters are quoted as
110 explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
111 config(1)).
112
113 -F <file>, --file=<file>
114 Take the commit message from the given file. Use - to read the
115 message from the standard input.
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117 --author=<author>
118 Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
119 standard A U Thor <author@example.com> format. Otherwise <author>
120 is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
121 commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
122 the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.
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124 --date=<date>
125 Override the author date used in the commit.
126
127 -m <msg>, --message=<msg>
128 Use the given <msg> as the commit message. If multiple -m options
129 are given, their values are concatenated as separate paragraphs.
130
131 The -m option is mutually exclusive with -c, -C, and -F.
132
133 -t <file>, --template=<file>
134 When editing the commit message, start the editor with the contents
135 in the given file. The commit.template configuration variable is
136 often used to give this option implicitly to the command. This
137 mechanism can be used by projects that want to guide participants
138 with some hints on what to write in the message in what order. If
139 the user exits the editor without editing the message, the commit
140 is aborted. This has no effect when a message is given by other
141 means, e.g. with the -m or -F options.
142
143 -s, --signoff
144 Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
145 log message. The meaning of a signoff depends on the project, but
146 it typically certifies that committer has the rights to submit this
147 work under the same license and agrees to a Developer Certificate
148 of Origin (see http://developercertificate.org/ for more
149 information).
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151 -n, --no-verify
152 This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks. See also
153 githooks(5).
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155 --allow-empty
156 Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its sole
157 parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you from
158 making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and is
159 primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.
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161 --allow-empty-message
162 Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign SCM
163 interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an empty
164 commit message without using plumbing commands like git-commit-
165 tree(1).
166
167 --cleanup=<mode>
168 This option determines how the supplied commit message should be
169 cleaned up before committing. The <mode> can be strip, whitespace,
170 verbatim, scissors or default.
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172 strip
173 Strip leading and trailing empty lines, trailing whitespace,
174 commentary and collapse consecutive empty lines.
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176 whitespace
177 Same as strip except #commentary is not removed.
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179 verbatim
180 Do not change the message at all.
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182 scissors
183 Same as whitespace except that everything from (and including)
184 the line found below is truncated, if the message is to be
185 edited. "#" can be customized with core.commentChar.
186
187 # ------------------------ >8 ------------------------
188
189 default
190 Same as strip if the message is to be edited. Otherwise
191 whitespace.
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193 The default can be changed by the commit.cleanup configuration
194 variable (see git-config(1)).
195
196 -e, --edit
197 The message taken from file with -F, command line with -m, and from
198 commit object with -C are usually used as the commit log message
199 unmodified. This option lets you further edit the message taken
200 from these sources.
201
202 --no-edit
203 Use the selected commit message without launching an editor. For
204 example, git commit --amend --no-edit amends a commit without
205 changing its commit message.
206
207 --amend
208 Replace the tip of the current branch by creating a new commit. The
209 recorded tree is prepared as usual (including the effect of the -i
210 and -o options and explicit pathspec), and the message from the
211 original commit is used as the starting point, instead of an empty
212 message, when no other message is specified from the command line
213 via options such as -m, -F, -c, etc. The new commit has the same
214 parents and author as the current one (the --reset-author option
215 can countermand this).
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217 It is a rough equivalent for:
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219 $ git reset --soft HEAD^
220 $ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
221 $ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD
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223 but can be used to amend a merge commit.
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225 You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
226 amend a commit that has already been published. (See the
227 "RECOVERING FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in git-rebase(1).)
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229 --no-post-rewrite
230 Bypass the post-rewrite hook.
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232 -i, --include
233 Before making a commit out of staged contents so far, stage the
234 contents of paths given on the command line as well. This is
235 usually not what you want unless you are concluding a conflicted
236 merge.
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238 -o, --only
239 Make a commit by taking the updated working tree contents of the
240 paths specified on the command line, disregarding any contents that
241 have been staged for other paths. This is the default mode of
242 operation of git commit if any paths are given on the command line,
243 in which case this option can be omitted. If this option is
244 specified together with --amend, then no paths need to be
245 specified, which can be used to amend the last commit without
246 committing changes that have already been staged. If used together
247 with --allow-empty paths are also not required, and an empty commit
248 will be created.
249
250 -u[<mode>], --untracked-files[=<mode>]
251 Show untracked files.
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253 The mode parameter is optional (defaults to all), and is used to
254 specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
255 default is normal, i.e. show untracked files and directories.
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257 The possible options are:
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259 · no - Show no untracked files
260
261 · normal - Shows untracked files and directories
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263 · all - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
264
265 The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
266 configuration variable documented in git-config(1).
267
268 -v, --verbose
269 Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what would be
270 committed at the bottom of the commit message template to help the
271 user describe the commit by reminding what changes the commit has.
272 Note that this diff output doesn’t have its lines prefixed with #.
273 This diff will not be a part of the commit message. See the
274 commit.verbose configuration variable in git-config(1).
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276 If specified twice, show in addition the unified diff between what
277 would be committed and the worktree files, i.e. the unstaged
278 changes to tracked files.
279
280 -q, --quiet
281 Suppress commit summary message.
282
283 --dry-run
284 Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are to be
285 committed, paths with local changes that will be left uncommitted
286 and paths that are untracked.
287
288 --status
289 Include the output of git-status(1) in the commit message template
290 when using an editor to prepare the commit message. Defaults to on,
291 but can be used to override configuration variable commit.status.
292
293 --no-status
294 Do not include the output of git-status(1) in the commit message
295 template when using an editor to prepare the default commit
296 message.
297
298 -S[<keyid>], --gpg-sign[=<keyid>]
299 GPG-sign commits. The keyid argument is optional and defaults to
300 the committer identity; if specified, it must be stuck to the
301 option without a space.
302
303 --no-gpg-sign
304 Countermand commit.gpgSign configuration variable that is set to
305 force each and every commit to be signed.
306
307 --
308 Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
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310 <file>...
311 When files are given on the command line, the command commits the
312 contents of the named files, without recording the changes already
313 staged. The contents of these files are also staged for the next
314 commit on top of what have been staged before.
315
317 The GIT_AUTHOR_DATE, GIT_COMMITTER_DATE environment variables and the
318 --date option support the following date formats:
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320 Git internal format
321 It is <unix timestamp> <time zone offset>, where <unix timestamp>
322 is the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch. <time zone offset>
323 is a positive or negative offset from UTC. For example CET (which
324 is 1 hour ahead of UTC) is +0100.
325
326 RFC 2822
327 The standard email format as described by RFC 2822, for example
328 Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:13:13 +0200.
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330 ISO 8601
331 Time and date specified by the ISO 8601 standard, for example
332 2005-04-07T22:13:13. The parser accepts a space instead of the T
333 character as well.
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335 Note
336 In addition, the date part is accepted in the following
337 formats: YYYY.MM.DD, MM/DD/YYYY and DD.MM.YYYY.
338
340 When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in your
341 working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area called the
342 "index" with git add. A file can be reverted back, only in the index
343 but not in the working tree, to that of the last commit with git reset
344 HEAD -- <file>, which effectively reverts git add and prevents the
345 changes to this file from participating in the next commit. After
346 building the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
347 git commit (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what has
348 been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the command. An
349 example:
350
351 $ edit hello.c
352 $ git rm goodbye.c
353 $ git add hello.c
354 $ git commit
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356
357 Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can tell git
358 commit to notice the changes to the files whose contents are tracked in
359 your working tree and do corresponding git add and git rm for you. That
360 is, this example does the same as the earlier example if there is no
361 other change in your working tree:
362
363 $ edit hello.c
364 $ rm goodbye.c
365 $ git commit -a
366
367
368 The command git commit -a first looks at your working tree, notices
369 that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c, and performs
370 necessary git add and git rm for you.
371
372 After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
373 changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to git commit. When
374 pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that only records the
375 changes made to the named paths:
376
377 $ edit hello.c hello.h
378 $ git add hello.c hello.h
379 $ edit Makefile
380 $ git commit Makefile
381
382
383 This makes a commit that records the modification to Makefile. The
384 changes staged for hello.c and hello.h are not included in the
385 resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost — they are still
386 staged and merely held back. After the above sequence, if you do:
387
388 $ git commit
389
390
391 this second commit would record the changes to hello.c and hello.h as
392 expected.
393
394 After a merge (initiated by git merge or git pull) stops because of
395 conflicts, cleanly merged paths are already staged to be committed for
396 you, and paths that conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would
397 have to first check which paths are conflicting with git status and
398 after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would stage the
399 result as usual with git add:
400
401 $ git status | grep unmerged
402 unmerged: hello.c
403 $ edit hello.c
404 $ git add hello.c
405
406
407 After resolving conflicts and staging the result, git ls-files -u would
408 stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done, run git commit
409 to finally record the merge:
410
411 $ git commit
412
413
414 As with the case to record your own changes, you can use -a option to
415 save typing. One difference is that during a merge resolution, you
416 cannot use git commit with pathnames to alter the order the changes are
417 committed, because the merge should be recorded as a single commit. In
418 fact, the command refuses to run when given pathnames (but see -i
419 option).
420
422 Though not required, it’s a good idea to begin the commit message with
423 a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the change,
424 followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description. The text
425 up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated as the commit
426 title, and that title is used throughout Git. For example, git-format-
427 patch(1) turns a commit into email, and it uses the title on the
428 Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.
429
430 Git is to some extent character encoding agnostic.
431
432 · The contents of the blob objects are uninterpreted sequences of
433 bytes. There is no encoding translation at the core level.
434
435 · Path names are encoded in UTF-8 normalization form C. This applies
436 to tree objects, the index file, ref names, as well as path names
437 in command line arguments, environment variables and config files
438 (.git/config (see git-config(1)), gitignore(5), gitattributes(5)
439 and gitmodules(5)).
440
441 Note that Git at the core level treats path names simply as
442 sequences of non-NUL bytes, there are no path name encoding
443 conversions (except on Mac and Windows). Therefore, using non-ASCII
444 path names will mostly work even on platforms and file systems that
445 use legacy extended ASCII encodings. However, repositories created
446 on such systems will not work properly on UTF-8-based systems (e.g.
447 Linux, Mac, Windows) and vice versa. Additionally, many Git-based
448 tools simply assume path names to be UTF-8 and will fail to display
449 other encodings correctly.
450
451 · Commit log messages are typically encoded in UTF-8, but other
452 extended ASCII encodings are also supported. This includes
453 ISO-8859-x, CP125x and many others, but not UTF-16/32, EBCDIC and
454 CJK multi-byte encodings (GBK, Shift-JIS, Big5, EUC-x, CP9xx etc.).
455
456 Although we encourage that the commit log messages are encoded in
457 UTF-8, both the core and Git Porcelain are designed not to force UTF-8
458 on projects. If all participants of a particular project find it more
459 convenient to use legacy encodings, Git does not forbid it. However,
460 there are a few things to keep in mind.
461
462 1. git commit and git commit-tree issues a warning if the commit log
463 message given to it does not look like a valid UTF-8 string, unless
464 you explicitly say your project uses a legacy encoding. The way to
465 say this is to have i18n.commitencoding in .git/config file, like
466 this:
467
468 [i18n]
469 commitEncoding = ISO-8859-1
470
471 Commit objects created with the above setting record the value of
472 i18n.commitEncoding in its encoding header. This is to help other
473 people who look at them later. Lack of this header implies that the
474 commit log message is encoded in UTF-8.
475
476 2. git log, git show, git blame and friends look at the encoding
477 header of a commit object, and try to re-code the log message into
478 UTF-8 unless otherwise specified. You can specify the desired
479 output encoding with i18n.logOutputEncoding in .git/config file,
480 like this:
481
482 [i18n]
483 logOutputEncoding = ISO-8859-1
484
485 If you do not have this configuration variable, the value of
486 i18n.commitEncoding is used instead.
487
488 Note that we deliberately chose not to re-code the commit log message
489 when a commit is made to force UTF-8 at the commit object level,
490 because re-coding to UTF-8 is not necessarily a reversible operation.
491
493 The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
494 GIT_EDITOR environment variable, the core.editor configuration
495 variable, the VISUAL environment variable, or the EDITOR environment
496 variable (in that order). See git-var(1) for details.
497
499 This command can run commit-msg, prepare-commit-msg, pre-commit,
500 post-commit and post-rewrite hooks. See githooks(5) for more
501 information.
502
504 $GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG
505 This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress. If
506 git commit exits due to an error before creating a commit, any
507 commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in an
508 editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
509 overwritten by the next invocation of git commit.
510
512 git-add(1), git-rm(1), git-mv(1), git-merge(1), git-commit-tree(1)
513
515 Part of the git(1) suite
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519Git 2.18.1 05/14/2019 GIT-COMMIT(1)