View Undo History

Introduction

Git is a powerful version control system that allows developers to track changes to their codebase. However, sometimes we make mistakes and need to undo changes that we've made. Git provides several ways to undo changes, but it can be difficult to keep track of all the actions we've taken. In this challenge, you'll learn how to view the "undo" history in Git using the git reflog command.

Skills Graph

View "Undo" History

As a developer, you may need to undo changes that you've made to your codebase. Git provides several ways to undo changes, such as using the git reset or git revert commands. However, it can be difficult to keep track of all the actions you've taken, especially if you've used more advanced commands like git rebase. This is where the git reflog command comes in handy.

The git reflog command displays the Git reference log, which is a record of all the actions you've taken in your repository. This includes not only commits, but also other actions like branch merges, rebases, and resets. By viewing the reference log, you can see a complete history of all the changes you've made to your repository, even if they don't show up in the commit history.

To view the "undo" history in Git, you can use the git reflog command. Let's say you've made some changes to a repository and want to undo them.

1. Navigate to the repository using the command line:

cd git-playground

2. Now, let's say you realize that you made a mistake and want to undo the last commit. You can use the git reset command to do this:

git reset HEAD~1

3. After running this command, you may realize that you've made another mistake and want to undo the reset. This is where the git reflog command comes in handy. You can use it to view the reference log and find the commit hash of the previous commit:

git reflog

This will display a list of all the actions you've taken in the repository, including the reset:

cf80005 (HEAD -> master) HEAD@{0}: reset: moving to HEAD~1
d22f46b (origin/master, origin/feature-branch, origin/HEAD) HEAD@{1}: clone: from https://github.com/labex-labs/git-playground.git

4. From this output, you can see that the previous commit hash is d22f46b. You can use this hash to reset the repository back to the previous commit:

git reset d22f46b

5. View historical commit records to verify results:

git log

Summary

In this challenge, you learned how to view the "undo" history in Git using the git reflog command. The reference log is a record of all the actions you've taken in your repository, including commits, merges, rebases, and resets. By viewing the reference log, you can see a complete history of all the changes you've made to your repository, even if they don't show up in the commit history. This can be especially useful when you need to undo changes that you've made to your codebase.