GIT-COMMIT(1) Git Manual GIT-COMMIT(1)
NAME
git-commit - Record changes to the repository
SYNOPSIS
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] [--pathspec-from-file=<file> [--pathspec-file-nul]]
[-S[<keyid>]] [--] [<pathspec>...]
DESCRIPTION
Create a new commit containing the current contents of the index and
the given log message describing the changes. The new commit is a
direct child of HEAD, usually the tip of the current branch, and the
branch is updated to point to it (unless no branch is associated with
the working tree, in which case HEAD is "detached" as described in git-
checkout(1)).
The content to be committed can be specified in several ways:
1. by using git-add(1) to incrementally "add" changes to the index
before using the commit command (Note: even modified files must be
"added");
2. by using git-rm(1) 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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
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 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 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 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.
--pathspec-from-file=<file>
Pathspec is passed in <file> instead of commandline args. If <file>
is exactly - then standard input is used. Pathspec elements are
separated by LF or CR/LF. Pathspec elements can be quoted as
explained for the configuration variable core.quotePath (see git-
config(1)). See also --pathspec-file-nul and global
--literal-pathspecs.
--pathspec-file-nul
Only meaningful with --pathspec-from-file. Pathspec elements are
separated with NUL character and all other characters are taken
literally (including newlines and quotes).
-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:
o no - Show no untracked files
o normal - Shows untracked files and directories
o all - Also shows individual files in untracked directories.
The default can be changed using the status.showUntrackedFiles
configuration variable documented in 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 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 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 git-status(1) in the commit message
template when using an editor to prepare the default commit
message.
-S[<keyid>], --gpg-sign[=<keyid>], --no-gpg-sign
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 is useful to countermand
both commit.gpgSign configuration variable, and earlier --gpg-sign.
--
Do not interpret any more arguments as options.
<pathspec>...
When pathspec is given on the command line, commit the contents of
the files that match the pathspec without recording the changes
already added to the index. The contents of these files are also
staged for the next commit on top of what have been staged before.
For more details, see the pathspec entry in gitglossary(7).
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
restore --staged <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).
COMMIT INFORMATION
Author and committer information is taken from the following
environment variables, if set:
GIT_AUTHOR_NAME
GIT_AUTHOR_EMAIL
GIT_AUTHOR_DATE
GIT_COMMITTER_NAME
GIT_COMMITTER_EMAIL
GIT_COMMITTER_DATE
(nb "<", ">" and "\n"s are stripped)
The author and committer names are by convention some form of a
personal name (that is, the name by which other humans refer to you),
although Git does not enforce or require any particular form. Arbitrary
Unicode may be used, subject to the constraints listed above. This name
has no effect on authentication; for that, see the credential.username
variable in git-config(1).
In case (some of) these environment variables are not set, the
information is taken from the configuration items user.name and
user.email, or, if not present, the environment variable EMAIL, or, if
that is not set, system user name and the hostname used for outgoing
mail (taken from /etc/mailname and falling back to the fully qualified
hostname when that file does not exist).
The author.name and committer.name and their corresponding email
options override user.name and user.email if set and are overridden
themselves by the environment variables.
The typical usage is to set just the user.name and user.email
variables; the other options are provided for more complex use cases.
DATE FORMATS
The GIT_AUTHOR_DATE, GIT_COMMITTER_DATE environment variables and the
--date option support the following date formats:
Git internal format
It is <unix timestamp> <time zone offset>, where <unix timestamp>
is the number of seconds since the UNIX epoch. <time zone offset>
is a positive or negative offset from UTC. For example CET (which
is 1 hour ahead of UTC) is +0100.
RFC 2822
The standard email format as described by RFC 2822, for example
Thu, 07 Apr 2005 22:13:13 +0200.
ISO 8601
Time and date specified by the ISO 8601 standard, for example
2005-04-07T22:13:13. The parser accepts a space instead of the T
character as well. Fractional parts of a second will be ignored,
for example 2005-04-07T22:13:13.019 will be treated as
2005-04-07T22:13:13.
Note
In addition, the date part is accepted in the following
formats: YYYY.MM.DD, MM/DD/YYYY and DD.MM.YYYY.
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, 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.
Git is to some extent character encoding agnostic.
o The contents of the blob objects are uninterpreted sequences of
bytes. There is no encoding translation at the core level.
o Path names are encoded in UTF-8 normalization form C. This applies
to tree objects, the index file, ref names, as well as path names
in command line arguments, environment variables and config files
(.git/config (see git-config(1)), gitignore(5), gitattributes(5)
and gitmodules(5)).
Note that Git at the core level treats path names simply as
sequences of non-NUL bytes, there are no path name encoding
conversions (except on Mac and Windows). Therefore, using non-ASCII
path names will mostly work even on platforms and file systems that
use legacy extended ASCII encodings. However, repositories created
on such systems will not work properly on UTF-8-based systems (e.g.
Linux, Mac, Windows) and vice versa. Additionally, many Git-based
tools simply assume path names to be UTF-8 and will fail to display
other encodings correctly.
o Commit log messages are typically encoded in UTF-8, but other
extended ASCII encodings are also supported. This includes
ISO-8859-x, CP125x and many others, but not UTF-16/32, EBCDIC and
CJK multi-byte encodings (GBK, Shift-JIS, Big5, EUC-x, CP9xx etc.).
Although we encourage that the commit log messages are encoded in
UTF-8, both the core and Git Porcelain are designed not to force UTF-8
on projects. If all participants of a particular project find it more
convenient to use legacy encodings, Git does not forbid it. However,
there are a few things to keep in mind.
1. git commit and git commit-tree issues a warning if the commit log
message given to it does not look like a valid UTF-8 string, unless
you explicitly say your project uses a legacy encoding. The way to
say this is to have i18n.commitencoding in .git/config file, like
this:
[i18n]
commitEncoding = ISO-8859-1
Commit objects created with the above setting record the value of
i18n.commitEncoding in its encoding header. This is to help other
people who look at them later. Lack of this header implies that the
commit log message is encoded in UTF-8.
2. git log, git show, git blame and friends look at the encoding
header of a commit object, and try to re-code the log message into
UTF-8 unless otherwise specified. You can specify the desired
output encoding with i18n.logOutputEncoding in .git/config file,
like this:
[i18n]
logOutputEncoding = ISO-8859-1
If you do not have this configuration variable, the value of
i18n.commitEncoding is used instead.
Note that we deliberately chose not to re-code the commit log message
when a commit is made to force UTF-8 at the commit object level,
because re-coding to UTF-8 is not necessarily a reversible operation.
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 git-var(1) for details.
HOOKS
This command can run commit-msg, prepare-commit-msg, pre-commit,
post-commit and post-rewrite hooks. See 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
git-add(1), git-rm(1), git-mv(1), git-merge(1), git-commit-tree(1)
GIT
Part of the git(1) suite
Git 2.27.0 06/01/2020 GIT-COMMIT(1)