Fixing your last Git commit

Since I’ve started using Git on the command line, there’s one ‘new’ thing that I’ve used more than any other: --amend. I can now amend the most recent commit on the branch I’m on. So far, I’ve used it for two things:

1. Fixing typos in a commit message
2. Adding missed files into a commit

First up, a big thank you to my friend Sam Beckham for putting me on to --amend – it has been invaluable.

Typos

Like most humans, I make typos. Most of time I know when I’ve made a spelling mistake in a commit message and fix the mistake, but every now and then I don’t notice until I’ve hit ⏎.

A simple git commit --amend opens up the last commit in my editor, allowing me to fix those typos or even change the whole commit message if I wasn’t happy with it before.

Adding missed files

This one’s pretty common too – I’ll have been working on a bunch of files but only select few make sense as a single commit. I’ll stage (add) them, commit, then realise I missed one. Luckily, it’s possible to add a file (or several files) to that last commit:

1. First, add the file(s):
   • For all remaining unstaged files, use git add .
   • If only one file has to be added in, git add path/to/file.html
   • To add multiple files, run git add path/to/file1.html path/to/file2.html, adding as many files as needed
2. Amend the commit with the files you’ve added: git commit --amend

You then get the chance to amend your commit message, but you can just save the commit and it’s done.

If you’re having a particularly bad day and make a new typo while you’re fixing that first one, or you add one new file and realise there’s a second one too, don’t fret! You can repeat the process as many times as you need to!

Removing files

“But what about removing files from a commit!?” I hear you ask. I’ve only needed to do this once or twice and it’s a wee bit different (and trickier) than using --amend.

1. First, undo the commit you just made with git reset --soft HEAD~1, which brings all the files from your last commit back to staging
2. Next, remove the files you didn’t want in that commit from the staging area: git reset HEAD path/to/file.html, or if there are several, use git reset HEAD path/to/file1.html path/to/file2.html
3. Now you want to make that commit again; this time without those files. Run git commit -c ORIG_HEAD which creates a new commit using the same (amendable) commit message that you undid in step 1

As for those files you took out of the commit, feel free to do whatever you want with them!