Go to particular revision

Before executing this command keep in mind that it will leave you in detached head status

Use git checkout <sha1> to check out a particular commit.

Where <sha1> is the commit unique number that you can obtain with git log

Here are some options after you are in detached head status:

• Copy the files or make the changes that you need to a folder outside your git folder, checkout the branch were you need them git checkout <existingBranch> and replace files
• Create a new local branch git checkout -b <new_branch_name> <sha1>

To go to a particular version/commit run following commands. HASH-CODE you can get from git log --oneline -n 10

git reset --hard HASH-CODE

Note - After reset to particular version/commit you can run git pull --rebase, if you want to bring back all the commits which are discarded.

You can get a graphical view of the project history with tools like gitk. Just run:

gitk --all

If you want to checkout a specific branch:

git checkout <branch name>

For a specific commit, use the SHA1 hash instead of the branch name. (See Treeishes in the Git Community Book, which is a good read, to see other options for navigating your tree.)

git log has a whole set of options to display detailed or summary history too.

I don't know of an easy way to move forward in a commit history. Projects with a linear history are probably not all that common. The idea of a "revision" like you'd have with SVN or CVS doesn't map all that well in Git.

Using a commit's SHA1 key, you could do the following:

• First, find the commit you want for a specific file:

  git log -n <# commits> <file-name>

  This, based on your <# commits>, will generate a list of commits for a specific file.

  TIP: if you aren't sure what commit you are looking for, a good way to find out is using the following command: git diff <commit-SHA1>..HEAD <file-name>. This command will show the difference between the current version of a commit, and a previous version of a commit for a specific file.

  NOTE: a commit's SHA1 key is formatted in the git log -n's list as:

commit <SHA1 id>

• Second, checkout the desired version:

  If you have found the desired commit/version you want, simply use the command: git checkout <desired-SHA1> <file-name>

  This will place the version of the file you specified in the staging area. To take it out of the staging area simply use the command: reset HEAD <file-name>

To revert back to where the remote repository is pointed to, simply use the command: git checkout HEAD <file-name>