How do i revert a file back to a previous commit in git?

giraffelife

Similar to the way you can run git diff on various commits: https://lightnetics.nodebb.com/topic/926/how-do-i-look-at-differences-between-different-commits-in-git you can also get back to a specific commit using the git checkout

If i want to go back one commit.

Let's see what I have now:

$ git status
On branch master
nothing to commit, working directory clean
$ cat README.md 
First Line: Today i woke up and went running

Second Line: When I get back from running I'm tired

Third Line: I got straight to bed

Fourth Line: and I dream of running the marathon

Show all my commits

$ git log --oneline
f1f04a2 I didn't mean to add the last line, so deleted it
cc9e080 I want to keep the changes to my fith line
08c6bb5 My Super duper forth line message
afa0b05 More than one line this is another line
dbaade7 Added a second line to my file
2561e02 Initial commit of repository

I want to go back to the one where I have my Fifth line back in the file.

$ git checkout HEAD~1 README.md
$ git status
On branch master
Changes to be committed:
  (use "git reset HEAD <file>..." to unstage)

	modified:   README.md

$ cat README.md 
First Line: Today i woke up and went running

Second Line: When I get back from running I'm tired

Third Line: I got straight to bed

Fourth Line: and I dream of running the marathon

Fifth Line:  but I don't dress up in a silly costume I'm a serious runner

As we have reverted back to a previous commit, the status show modified and ready to commit, the colour, of the modified are either red or green, (although this text does not show it) this is green, meaning, it's staged already and ready to commit, if it had not been staged the modified text would be red.

The git diff shows the current and the staged differences

$ git diff --staged
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 4ba7d0a..9f28333 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -5,3 +5,5 @@ Second Line: When I get back from running I'm tired
 Third Line: I got straight to bed
 
 Fourth Line: and I dream of running the marathon
+
+Fifth Line:  but I don't dress up in a silly costume I'm a serious runner