git-commit.txt

git-commit(1)
=============

NAME
----
git-commit - Record changes to the repository

SYNOPSIS
--------
[verse]
'git commit' [-a | --interactive | --patch] [-s] [-v] [-u<mode>] [--amend]
 [--dry-run] [(-c | -C | --fixup | --squash) <commit>]
 [-F <file> | -m <msg>] [--reset-author] [--allow-empty]
 [--allow-empty-message] [--no-verify] [-e] [--author=<author>]
 [--date=<date>] [--cleanup=<mode>] [--[no-]status]
 [-i | -o] [-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<file>...]

DESCRIPTION
-----------
Stores the current contents of the index in a new commit along
with a log message from the user describing the changes.

The content to be added can be specified in several ways:

1. by using 'git add' to incrementally "add" changes to the
 index before using the 'commit' command (Note: even modified
 files must be "added");

2. by using 'git rm' to remove files from the working tree
 and the index, again before using the 'commit' command;

3. by listing files as arguments to the 'commit' command
 (without --interactive or --patch switch), in which
 case the commit will ignore changes staged in the index, and instead
 record the current content of the listed files (which must already
 be known to Git);

4. by using the -a switch with the 'commit' command to automatically
 "add" changes from all known files (i.e. all files that are already
 listed in the index) and to automatically "rm" files in the index
 that have been removed from the working tree, and then perform the
 actual commit;

5. by using the --interactive or --patch switches with the 'commit' command
 to decide one by one which files or hunks should be part of the commit
 in addition to contents in the index,
 before finalizing the operation. See the ``Interactive Mode'' section of
 linkgit:git-add[1] to learn how to operate these modes.

The `--dry-run` option can be used to obtain a
summary of what is included by any of the above for the next
commit by giving the same set of parameters (options and paths).

If you make a commit and then find a mistake immediately after
that, you can recover from it with 'git reset'.


OPTIONS
-------
-a::
--all::
Tell the command to automatically stage files that have
been modified and deleted, but new files you have not
told Git about are not affected.

-p::
--patch::
Use the interactive patch selection interface to chose
which changes to commit. See linkgit:git-add[1] for
details.

-C <commit>::
--reuse-message=<commit>::
Take an existing commit object, and reuse the log message
and the authorship information (including the timestamp)
when creating the commit.

-c <commit>::
--reedit-message=<commit>::
Like '-C', but with `-c` the editor is invoked, so that
the user can further edit the commit message.

--fixup=<commit>::
Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
The commit message will be the subject line from the specified
commit with a prefix of "fixup! ". See linkgit:git-rebase[1]
for details.

--squash=<commit>::
Construct a commit message for use with `rebase --autosquash`.
The commit message subject line is taken from the specified
commit with a prefix of "squash! ". Can be used with additional
commit message options (`-m`/`-c`/`-C`/`-F`). See
linkgit:git-rebase[1] for details.

--reset-author::
When used with -C/-c/--amend options, or when committing after a
conflicting cherry-pick, declare that the authorship of the
resulting commit now belongs to the committer. This also renews
the author timestamp.

--short::
When doing a dry-run, give the output in the short-format. See
linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies `--dry-run`.

--branch::
Show the branch and tracking info even in short-format.

--porcelain::
When doing a dry-run, give the output in a porcelain-ready
format. See linkgit:git-status[1] for details. Implies
`--dry-run`.

--long::
When doing a dry-run, give the output in the long-format.
Implies `--dry-run`.

-z::
--null::
When showing `short` or `porcelain` status output, print the
filename verbatim and terminate the entries with NUL, instead of LF.
If no format is given, implies the `--porcelain` output format.
Without the `-z` option, filenames with "unusual" characters are
quoted as explained for the configuration variable `core.quotePath`
(see linkgit:git-config[1]).

-F <file>::
--file=<file>::
Take the commit message from the given file. Use '-' to
read the message from the standard input.

--author=<author>::
Override the commit author. Specify an explicit author using the
standard `A U Thor <author@example.com>` format. Otherwise <author>
is assumed to be a pattern and is used to search for an existing
commit by that author (i.e. rev-list --all -i --author=<author>);
the commit author is then copied from the first such commit found.

--date=<date>::
Override the author date used in the commit.

-m <msg>::
--message=<msg>::
Use the given <msg> as the commit message.
If multiple `-m` options are given, their values are
concatenated as separate paragraphs.
+
The `-m` option is mutually exclusive with `-c`, `-C`, and `-F`.

-t <file>::
--template=<file>::
When editing the commit message, start the editor with the
contents in the given file. The `commit.template` configuration
variable is often used to give this option implicitly to the
command. This mechanism can be used by projects that want to
guide participants with some hints on what to write in the message
in what order. If the user exits the editor without editing the
message, the commit is aborted. This has no effect when a message
is given by other means, e.g. with the `-m` or `-F` options.

-s::
--signoff::
Add Signed-off-by line by the committer at the end of the commit
log message. The meaning of a signoff depends on the project,
but it typically certifies that committer has
the rights to submit this work under the same license and
agrees to a Developer Certificate of Origin
(see http://developercertificate.org/ for more information).

-n::
--no-verify::
This option bypasses the pre-commit and commit-msg hooks.
See also linkgit:githooks[5].

--allow-empty::
Usually recording a commit that has the exact same tree as its
sole parent commit is a mistake, and the command prevents you
from making such a commit. This option bypasses the safety, and
is primarily for use by foreign SCM interface scripts.

--allow-empty-message::
 Like --allow-empty this command is primarily for use by foreign
 SCM interface scripts. It allows you to create a commit with an
 empty commit message without using plumbing commands like
 linkgit:git-commit-tree[1].

--cleanup=<mode>::
This option determines how the supplied commit message should be
cleaned up before committing. The '<mode>' can be `strip`,
`whitespace`, `verbatim`, `scissors` or `default`.
+
--
strip::
Strip leading and trailing empty lines, trailing whitespace,
commentary and collapse consecutive empty lines.
whitespace::
Same as `strip` except #commentary is not removed.
verbatim::
Do not change the message at all.
scissors::
Same as `whitespace` except that everything from (and including)
the line found below is truncated, if the message is to be edited.
"`#`" can be customized with core.commentChar.

# ------------------------ >8 ------------------------

default::
Same as `strip` if the message is to be edited.
Otherwise `whitespace`.
--
+
The default can be changed by the `commit.cleanup` configuration
variable (see linkgit:git-config[1]).

-e::
--edit::
The message taken from file with `-F`, command line with
`-m`, and from commit object with `-C` are usually used as
the commit log message unmodified. This option lets you
further edit the message taken from these sources.

--no-edit::
Use the selected commit message without launching an editor.
For example, `git commit --amend --no-edit` amends a commit
without changing its commit message.

--amend::
Replace the tip of the current branch by creating a new
commit. The recorded tree is prepared as usual (including
the effect of the `-i` and `-o` options and explicit
pathspec), and the message from the original commit is used
as the starting point, instead of an empty message, when no
other message is specified from the command line via options
such as `-m`, `-F`, `-c`, etc. The new commit has the same
parents and author as the current one (the `--reset-author`
option can countermand this).
+
--
It is a rough equivalent for:
------
$ git reset --soft HEAD^
$ ... do something else to come up with the right tree ...
$ git commit -c ORIG_HEAD

------
but can be used to amend a merge commit.
--
+
You should understand the implications of rewriting history if you
amend a commit that has already been published. (See the "RECOVERING
FROM UPSTREAM REBASE" section in linkgit:git-rebase[1].)

--no-post-rewrite::
Bypass the post-rewrite hook.

-i::
--include::
Before making a commit out of staged contents so far,
stage the contents of paths given on the command line
as well. This is usually not what you want unless you
are concluding a conflicted merge.

-o::
--only::
Make a commit by taking the updated working tree contents
of the paths specified on the
command line, disregarding any contents that have been
staged for other paths. This is the default mode of operation of
'git commit' if any paths are given on the command line,
in which case this option can be omitted.
If this option is specified together with `--amend`, then
no paths need to be specified, which can be used to amend
the last commit without committing changes that have
already been staged. If used together with `--allow-empty`
paths are also not required, and an empty commit will be created.

-u[<mode>]::
--untracked-files[=<mode>]::
Show untracked files.
+
The mode parameter is optional (defaults to 'all'), and is used to
specify the handling of untracked files; when -u is not used, the
default is 'normal', i.e. show untracked files and directories.
+
The possible options are:
+
- 'no' - Show no untracked files
- 'normal' - Shows untracked files and directories
- 'all' - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
+
The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
configuration variable documented in linkgit:git-config[1].

-v::
--verbose::
Show unified diff between the HEAD commit and what
would be committed at the bottom of the commit message
template to help the user describe the commit by reminding
what changes the commit has.
Note that this diff output doesn't have its
lines prefixed with '#'. This diff will not be a part
of the commit message. See the `commit.verbose` configuration
variable in linkgit:git-config[1].
+
If specified twice, show in addition the unified diff between
what would be committed and the worktree files, i.e. the unstaged
changes to tracked files.

-q::
--quiet::
Suppress commit summary message.

--dry-run::
Do not create a commit, but show a list of paths that are
to be committed, paths with local changes that will be left
uncommitted and paths that are untracked.

--status::
Include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the commit
message template when using an editor to prepare the commit
message. Defaults to on, but can be used to override
configuration variable commit.status.

--no-status::
Do not include the output of linkgit:git-status[1] in the
commit message template when using an editor to prepare the
default commit message.

-S[<keyid>]::
--gpg-sign[=<keyid>]::
GPG-sign commits. The `keyid` argument is optional and
defaults to the committer identity; if specified, it must be
stuck to the option without a space.

--no-gpg-sign::
Countermand `commit.gpgSign` configuration variable that is
set to force each and every commit to be signed.

\--::
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.

<file>...::
When files are given on the command line, the command
commits the contents of the named files, without
recording the changes already staged. The contents of
these files are also staged for the next commit on top
of what have been staged before.

:git-commit: 1
include::date-formats.txt[]

EXAMPLES
--------
When recording your own work, the contents of modified files in
your working tree are temporarily stored to a staging area
called the "index" with 'git add'. A file can be
reverted back, only in the index but not in the working tree,
to that of the last commit with `git reset HEAD -- <file>`,
which effectively reverts 'git add' and prevents the changes to
this file from participating in the next commit. After building
the state to be committed incrementally with these commands,
`git commit` (without any pathname parameter) is used to record what
has been staged so far. This is the most basic form of the
command. An example:

------------
$ edit hello.c
$ git rm goodbye.c
$ git add hello.c
$ git commit
------------

Instead of staging files after each individual change, you can
tell `git commit` to notice the changes to the files whose
contents are tracked in
your working tree and do corresponding `git add` and `git rm`
for you. That is, this example does the same as the earlier
example if there is no other change in your working tree:

------------
$ edit hello.c
$ rm goodbye.c
$ git commit -a
------------

The command `git commit -a` first looks at your working tree,
notices that you have modified hello.c and removed goodbye.c,
and performs necessary `git add` and `git rm` for you.

After staging changes to many files, you can alter the order the
changes are recorded in, by giving pathnames to `git commit`.
When pathnames are given, the command makes a commit that
only records the changes made to the named paths:

------------
$ edit hello.c hello.h
$ git add hello.c hello.h
$ edit Makefile
$ git commit Makefile
------------

This makes a commit that records the modification to `Makefile`.
The changes staged for `hello.c` and `hello.h` are not included
in the resulting commit. However, their changes are not lost --
they are still staged and merely held back. After the above
sequence, if you do:

------------
$ git commit
------------

this second commit would record the changes to `hello.c` and
`hello.h` as expected.

After a merge (initiated by 'git merge' or 'git pull') stops
because of conflicts, cleanly merged
paths are already staged to be committed for you, and paths that
conflicted are left in unmerged state. You would have to first
check which paths are conflicting with 'git status'
and after fixing them manually in your working tree, you would
stage the result as usual with 'git add':

------------
$ git status | grep unmerged
unmerged: hello.c
$ edit hello.c
$ git add hello.c
------------

After resolving conflicts and staging the result, `git ls-files -u`
would stop mentioning the conflicted path. When you are done,
run `git commit` to finally record the merge:

------------
$ git commit
------------

As with the case to record your own changes, you can use `-a`
option to save typing. One difference is that during a merge
resolution, you cannot use `git commit` with pathnames to
alter the order the changes are committed, because the merge
should be recorded as a single commit. In fact, the command
refuses to run when given pathnames (but see `-i` option).


DISCUSSION
----------

Though not required, it's a good idea to begin the commit message
with a single short (less than 50 character) line summarizing the
change, followed by a blank line and then a more thorough description.
The text up to the first blank line in a commit message is treated
as the commit title, and that title is used throughout Git.
For example, linkgit:git-format-patch[1] turns a commit into email, and it uses
the title on the Subject line and the rest of the commit in the body.

include::i18n.txt[]

ENVIRONMENT AND CONFIGURATION VARIABLES
---------------------------------------
The editor used to edit the commit log message will be chosen from the
`GIT_EDITOR` environment variable, the core.editor configuration variable, the
`VISUAL` environment variable, or the `EDITOR` environment variable (in that
order). See linkgit:git-var[1] for details.

HOOKS
-----
This command can run `commit-msg`, `prepare-commit-msg`, `pre-commit`,
`post-commit` and `post-rewrite` hooks. See linkgit:githooks[5] for more
information.

FILES
-----

`$GIT_DIR/COMMIT_EDITMSG`::
This file contains the commit message of a commit in progress.
If `git commit` exits due to an error before creating a commit,
any commit message that has been provided by the user (e.g., in
an editor session) will be available in this file, but will be
overwritten by the next invocation of `git commit`.

SEE ALSO
--------
linkgit:git-add[1],
linkgit:git-rm[1],
linkgit:git-mv[1],
linkgit:git-merge[1],
linkgit:git-commit-tree[1]

GIT
---
Part of the linkgit:git[1] suite