Commits and history

Write useful messages and inspect what changed.

Beginner 12 min read Lesson 2 of 480 Challenge included

What you will be able to do

Write a conventional commit message
Read a diff
Undo a mistake safely

History is a tool for future you. A good commit message explains why a change exists, not just what files changed.

terminalTerminal

git diff
git diff --staged
git log --oneline --graph --all

# undo unstaged changes to one file
git restore index.html

# unstage, but keep the edits
git restore --staged index.html

Command	Use it to
git diff	See unstaged changes.
git log	Review the commit history.
git restore	Discard working-tree or staged changes.
git revert	Create a new commit that reverses an old one.
git reset --soft	Move HEAD back but keep changes staged.

Your turn

Write a useful message

Easy

Stage login.js and commit with a message that states the user-visible change.

BASH · starter

git add login.js

Check your understanding before moving on.

Knowledge checkQuestion 1

Which command safely undoes a pushed commit?

Select an answer to continue

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Next: Installing and configuring Git

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