Undo a Git Pull (4 Step Process) — Beginners Guide
There are a few ways to undo one in your local Git repository, all of which utilize the git reset command. In this guide, we will look at different aspects of the process along with safety measures, alternatives commands and real-life scenarios.
Understanding Git Reset
Git Reset – Git reset is a powerful command to revert your repository back to the prior stage. They can be evaluated in different modes:
It will erase all changes since the designated commit, even uncommitted ones (Hard reset) BEWARE — This might cost you to loose your data.
After a soft reset, the changes in your staging area are preserved but commit history was refreshed.
Or git reset –mixed : It resets the commit history but keeps changes in working tree.undo git pull (ad)
How to Perform a Hard Reset
Find the Commit Hash:- Please provided git logs and find our commit hash which we desire back.
Run git reset –hard with the following command to return your repository:
This command is used to remove all the commits made after given commit hence can be seen as undoing any merges or pulls that has been done since then12.
Preparation Tips before Reset
Precautions Before Performing Hard Reset
This increases the size of a repository with tracking information for each new client depending on how many uncommitted changes are still in your system (also consider git stash-ing). git stash apply will re-apply them later.
View Branch Status: Run git status to make sure that any important changes haven’t been lost during the reset35.
Alternative Approaches
For less drastic methods than a hard reset, you can try these:
git revert command : Creates a new commit that undoes the changes made by another specified revision. This maintains historical correctness and virtually eliminates unintended changes.
Checkout Specific FilesMerge will overwrite everything in the targeted branch If you only delivery specific files, use git checkout — has an ability to revert back certain changes and keep rest as it is.
The Common uses of Git reset
After an accident merge: If a pull request causes conflicts, or was merged against the wrong target — resetting will reset your branch back to where it left of.
Clearing Local Commits: Sometimes, you need to experiment with the features locally and use discard a number of commits before pushing them into shared repository.
With that, using git reset –hard is a powerful command to undo pulls and merges in Git; however users should be extremely cautious about its side-effects and use it as a last resort when there are no alternative left.