git commit

Save the staged changes to history as a new commit

What it does

A commit is a snapshot of the project with a message, an author and a date. git commit takes what is in the index and adds a new commit to the current branch. Pass the message with -m; without it git opens an editor.

-a stages every modified file git already tracks, so no separate git add is needed. It leaves new files alone. --amend replaces the last commit: use it to fix the message or add a forgotten file.

Careful. --amend replaces the last commit with a new one. If the old one is already on the server, the histories split and a plain git push fails. Do not amend commits other people already have.

Syntax

git commit -m "<message>"
git commit -am "<message>"
git commit --amend

Examples

• Commit the changes with the message fix: header

  git commit -m "fix: header"

  same as: git commit --message "fix: header", git commit -m 'fix: header'

  • commit — record the staged changes
  • -m — message right on the command line
  • "fix: header" — message text

• Commit every modified tracked file with the message update styles, without git add

  git commit -am "update styles"

  same as: git commit -a -m "update styles", git commit -am 'update styles'

  • -a — first stage every modified tracked file
  • -m — message
  • "update styles" — message text

• Change the last commit’s message to fix: header layout

  git commit --amend -m "fix: header layout"

  same as: git commit --amend --message "fix: header layout", git commit --amend -m 'fix: header layout'

  • --amend — rewrite the last commit
  • -m "fix: header layout" — new message

Related commands

• git add — Stage changes so they go into the next commit
• git push — Send your commits to the server
• git reset — Move the branch to another commit, for example to undo the last commits

Practise · All commands