Commit only part of a file in Git
When I make changes to a file in Git, how can I commit only some of the changes?
For example, how could I commit only 15 lines out of 30 lines that have been changed in a file?
Solution 1:
You can use git add --patch <filename>
(or -p
for short), and git will begin to break down your file into what it thinks are sensible "hunks" (portions of the file). It will then prompt you with this question:
Stage this hunk [y,n,q,a,d,/,j,J,g,s,e,?]?
Here is a description of each option:
- y stage this hunk for the next commit
- n do not stage this hunk for the next commit
- q quit; do not stage this hunk or any of the remaining hunks
- a stage this hunk and all later hunks in the file
- d do not stage this hunk or any of the later hunks in the file
- g select a hunk to go to
- / search for a hunk matching the given regex
- j leave this hunk undecided, see next undecided hunk
- J leave this hunk undecided, see next hunk
- k leave this hunk undecided, see previous undecided hunk
- K leave this hunk undecided, see previous hunk
- s split the current hunk into smaller hunks
-
e manually edit the current hunk
- You can then edit the hunk manually by replacing
+
/-
by#
(thanks veksen)
- You can then edit the hunk manually by replacing
- ? print hunk help
If the file is not in the repository yet, you can first do git add -N <filename>
. Afterwards you can go on with git add -p <filename>
.
Afterwards, you can use:
-
git diff --staged
to check that you staged the correct changes -
git reset -p
to unstage mistakenly added hunks -
git commit -v
to view your commit while you edit the commit message.
Note this is far different than the git format-patch
command, whose purpose is to parse commit data into a .patch
files.
Reference for future: Git Tools - Interactive Staging
Solution 2:
You can use git add --interactive
or git add -p <file>
, and then git commit
(not git commit -a
); see Interactive mode in git-add manpage, or simply follow instructions.
Modern Git has also git commit --interactive
(and git commit --patch
, which is shortcut to patch option in interactive commit).
If you prefer doing it from GUI, you can use git-gui. You can simply mark chunks which you want to have included in commit. I personally find it easier than using git add -i
. Other git GUIs, like QGit or GitX, might also have this functionality as well.
Solution 3:
git gui provides this functionality under the diff view. Just right click the line(s) you're interested in and you should see a "stage this line to commit" menu item.
Solution 4:
I believe that git add -e myfile
is the easiest way (my preference at least) since it simply opens a text editor and lets you choose which line you want to stage and which line you don't.
Regarding editing commands:
added content:
Added content is represented by lines beginning with "+". You can prevent staging any addition lines by deleting them.
removed content:
Removed content is represented by lines beginning with "-". You can prevent staging their removal by converting the "-" to a " " (space).
modified content:
Modified content is represented by "-" lines (removing the old content) followed by "+" lines (adding the replacement content). You can prevent staging the modification by converting "-" lines to " ", and removing "+" lines. Beware that modifying only half of the pair is likely to introduce confusing changes to the index.
Every details about git add
are available on git --help add
Solution 5:
If you are using vim, you may want to try the excellent plugin called fugitive.
You can see the diff of a file between working copy and index with :Gdiff
, and then add lines or hunks to the index using classic vim diff commands like dp
. Save the modifications in the index and commit with :Gcommit
, and you're done.
Very good introductory screencasts here (see esp. part 2).